He drifted about, a jack-of-all-trades--turner, millwright, pattern maker and wheelwright--to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and finally up to London, where, after being with Holtzapffel for a short time, he found work with Maudslay in 1814 and remained with him several years. His experience here was valuable as he came in contact with the best mechanical practice. The memoir of Roberts in the “Transactions of the Institution of Civil Engineers”[57] states that he worked on the Portsmouth block machinery, but this could hardly have been true, as that machinery was in operation by 1808. He ceased roving and did so well that he determined to return to the North and begin business for himself. [57] Vol. XXIV, p. 536. 1864. He started at Manchester in 1817 and there he spent the best years of his life. Few inventors have been more prolific or more versatile. Within a year or two he had made one of the first planers, already described; had invented the back-geared headstock, having the cone pulley running loose upon the main spindle,[58] shown in Fig. 21, and made other improvements in the screw-cutting lathe; invented the first successful gas meter and built gear-cutting, broaching and slotting machines and an improved beam-scale. Holtzapffel says: “Probably no individual has originated so many useful varieties of drilling machines as Mr. Richard Roberts.” Throughout his book he frequently illustrates and describes tools and machinery designed by Roberts, crediting him with the invention of the slotter and key-seater, which he thinks was an outgrowth of Brunel’s mortising machine, Fig. 11. Roberts’ punching and shearing machinery was the standard for that time.[59] [58] _Ibid._, p. 537. [59] Holtzapffel: “Turning and Mechanical Manipulation,” Vol. II, pp. 568, 900, 920-922. London, 1847. [Illustration: FIGURE 20. ROBERTS’ PLANER, BUILT IN 1817] [Illustration: FIGURE 21. ROBERTS’ BACK-GEARED LATHE]