It was in 1769 that Watt invented the steam engine, but that great event did not mark the dawn of the present era of machinery. For a quarter of a century thereafter there was little progress in the development of machine tools. A boring machine was built that did fair work. There were a few sawmills in which wind power was employed to drive the saw. But lathes were still driven by foot power and the cutting tool was still held and guided by hand. MAUDSLEY’S “GO-CART” The real father of the present era was a very clever British mechanical engineer, Henry Maudsley, who undertook to eliminate the uncertainties of the human hand by clamping the cutting tool of the lathe in a rest and arranging the rest to slide along the length of the lathe or transversely toward or away from the center. These two motions made it possible to accomplish all that the workman could accomplish by hand and at the same time the tool was held so firmly that accuracy and precision of turning was assured. Furthermore, he provided this slide rest with a nut that engaged a screw driven through suitable gearing by the lathe spindle. Then, as the work revolved, the slide rest was compelled to move along the bed of the lathe at a uniform rate. By varying the gearing, the speed of the slide rest and the tool it carried could be varied at will, thus making it possible to cut screw threads of any pitch desired with a degree of accuracy unattainable by hand. Remarkable as was this improvement, it met with the usual opposition that every real advance in machinery received in those days. People referred to the slide rest as Maudsley’s “go-cart,” but it proved such an important element of the lathe and so very valuable that before long it was universally adopted. From that time on the skill of the workman began to lose its importance. The man began to give way to the machine. Precision was possible in large as well as small work. The human element was also dispensed with in the driving of the lathe. The foot pedal was superseded by the steam engine, and the machine came to be known as the engine lathe.