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Thumbnail of James Bicheno Francis (source)
James Bicheno Francis
(18 May 1815 - 18 Sep 1892)

British-American engineer who originated the scientific method of testing hydraulic machinery.


James Bicheno Francis.

OBITUARY

from Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1893)

James Bicheno Francis
James Bicheno Francis (source)

[p.333] James Bicheno Francis was born at Southleigh, Oxfordshire, England, May 18, 1815. He was sent to school at an early age, but when his father was elected Superintendent of Construction of the Porth Cawl South Wales Harbor Works, the lad, anxious for practical work, applied for the position of, and became an assistant to, the engineer. Later he was employed in the construction of the Great Western Canal in Derbyshire.

The works of inland navigation, the improvement of harbors, and the construction of canals, afforded the great opening at that time for engineers. But as a means of transport the canal could only be availed of when a sufficient water supply could be secured, and the speed of transit was not equal to the growing demands of manufacturers and commerce. It was evident from the experience of coal railways, which had been in use for a century, that this system of transport, in its general application throughout a country, was superior to that of canals. With confidence in this decision, enterprising men had undertaken the construction of railways in this country as well as abroad.

Cable traction and the locomotive had been used for some time on coal roads, but their success on long routes had not been established. When the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was undertaken, and till nearly complete, the motor power had not been settled. At last the board of directors decided to refer the matter to a commission of engineers, who reported favorably on the adoption of the locomotive, and drew up a specification for its construction. The report was adopted by the directors, and a prize of £500 was offered for a locomotive to be tested on the railway, complying with the terms of the specification.

The results of the trial of the competitive locomotives, which took place in October, 1829, settled the motor power for railways, and gave an additional impulse to their construction and extension in this country.

Of the practical knowledge of the laying out of railroads and their construction little was of course known anywhere, and especially here. Graduates and students of West Point were detailed, or resigned from the army, to accept positions on railroads; canal engineers of more or less experience and surveyors were drawn from their works at home and abroad, — among others, young Francis, who [.334]  landed in New York City, April 15, 1833, consigned with letters of introduction to Phelps, Dodge, & Co.

Confident in himself, he sought Mr. George W. Whistler, then in charge of the construction of the Stonington Railroad, who was so favorably impressed by the appearance of the youth that he sent him at once to Mr. James P. Kirkwood, the resident engineer. When Mr. Whistler, the following year, was called to Lowell by the Proprietors of the Locks and Canals on Merrimac River as their engineer, strongly confirmed in his estimation of the capacity and intelligence of Mr. Francis, he offered him the position of his assistant and that of surveyor of the company.

English locomotives had already been imported and set up by this company; but it was decided to build locomotives larger and of a new type, and for the designing of these especially Mr. Whistler had been called to Lowell. Under his charge successful locomotives were built for the Western and Providence Railroads, and in Mr. Francis he found an able assistant.

In 1837 Mr. Whistler resigned his position as engineer, and was succeeded by Mr. Francis, who married Miss Sarah Brownell, and settled permanently at Lowell.

He had already found that, in his anxiety to get early into practical work, his school life was incomplete, and that he needed a more extended mathematical education, and undertook to obtain this by his own study, with the result that in this branch his education was beyond any college requirements of the time.

As engineer of the company he finished the Boott Canal, and the Boott and the Massachusetts Mills, which completed the laying out as contemplated by the original proprietors.

The Boston Manufacturing Company at Waltham supplied stockholders and mechanics, machinery and mills, for the enterprise at Lowell. There were improvements and extensions, but the type was preserved. Continued success made the management conservative, and it was not till about 1841, after the death of most of the earlier directors of the corporations, that it was thought necessary to investigate what had been done outside by manufacturers in this country and abroad, and a radical change in spinning machinery was adopted; more space was required per pound of product, the canals were of too small capacity, and more economy in the use of water was now of importance. The water-wheels of the best patterns of the times, and giving a large percentage of effect on the single fall, were becoming old and worn, and not adapted to the change expected to be made in the canals.

[.335] It was at this time Mr. Francis came in full charge as engineer, and he was the right man for the time and place; eminently conservative, he made up his mind only by thorough study of the conditions and requirements of the subject.

He hunted up the records of the Merrimac River, its high and low water marks, investigated the facilities for storage by reservoirs and flashing, and the condition of the canals, to determine the then available flow, and how much would be obtained by careful watching to prevent loss of head and waste of water. He tested the water-wheels in use, and collected all data pertinent to the improvement of the water power.

In 1845 the Locks and Canals Company sold their machine shop and most of their real estate to outside parties; the balance of the real estate, with the canals and franchise, were transferred to the different manufacturing companies, who became proprietors and members of the corporation under its old title, with interests in proportion to the number of mill powers originally purchased by them.

Although Mr. Francis had but little to do with the running of the machine shop and the construction of machinery, yet with the advice in new constructions and care and division of a large real estate, a great deal of his time was taken up. With the change incident to the sale, he became agent also of the company, and had opportunity and greater support in carrying out changes for the improvement of the water power which had long been recognized as of vital importance.

The interest of the new proprietors of the old company was now essentially a Lowell interest, and a mutual one, to secure as large and as permanent a water power as possible. Mr. Francis, by his experience and studies, was well posted in the potentialities of the Merrimac River at Lowell. He was personally acquainted and intimate with the board of directors, who had implicit confidence in his integrity and capacity.

Although Mr. Francis well knew what would be required for the improvements of the water power, and what in the end would be his complete design, yet in his recommendations he was economical and progressive, following out the line he had laid out, and securing those advantages which were first needed and most readily obtainable.

In 1846, the Locks and Canals Company together with the Essex Company at Lawrence organized the Lake Company, and secured the control of the outlet of Lake Winnipiseogee, with other ponds and lakes in the vicinity. The object of the purchase was to improve the storage capacity of the lake by raising the water in it, and by [.336] providing suitable sluiceways for drawing the water out in dry seasons, to be used for power at Lowell and Lawrence when the Merrimac River was low. This advantage was secured in part at once, and appliances were soon constructed for regulation, by which the water could be retained or supplied at need.

This arrangement was continued till 1889, when the Lake Company was transferred to a syndicate of New Hampshire manufacturers, who naturally were more in accord with their own Legislature, with relief from taxation of the Massachusetts proprietors and little change in the conservative use of the water; whilst now slight irregularities of flow could be readily met by the improved means of pondage and distribution of water at Lowell and Lawrence.

Under the new proprietorship of the Locks and Canals Company it was necessary that all the mills should, as near as possible, have the proportion of water to which they were entitled. To effect this Mr. Francis designed and constructed the Northern Canal, a very large and independent feeder, with branches to all the other canals. This work was begun and finished with thoroughness and economy, and still remains, with its massive walls and gates, its ample dimensions and permanency of construction, as a worthy monument to its engineer.

As it was of great advantage to be able to shut and open the head gates with but little manual labor, this was effected by a turbine wheel moving nuts on vertical screws attached to the gates. With the construction of the fire service reservoir, ample power was readily available from the mains for hydraulic lifts, which are now applied to other head gates.

The head gates of the old canal consisted of the usual slide gates and a lock for the purpose of navigation. From the records of high water of the last century, Mr. Francis was satisfied that the coping of these locks was not high enough to restrain a like freshet*, and that it would flow over, destroy the work, and sweep out the business part of the city of Lowell. He therefore raised the walls of the lock, and constructed grooves in them from its floor to a height well above the freshet mark, and in the grooves he hung a solid timber portcullis or slide gate not interfering with navigation. Two years after its completion (1850) Mr. Francis’s expected freshet came, the flood was fast approaching the danger height at the coping, the iron strap was cut, and the gate fell; and although the water continued to rise even above the old mark, the city of Lowell was safe. The gate has now been raised and set again.

[.337] Although Mr. Francis recognized the possibility of such a freshet, and made his designs and personally carried them out to prevent disaster, it was not then considered necessary by most of the citizens; yet it was his nature not to undertake any risks; he studied up well the problem presented and omitted no known factors in the solution.

The repairs, renewal, and maintenance of the canals, and the prevention of water waste, was a constant source of care. A new dam was built on the site of the old one, rights of higher flashing secured and consequent pondage, and a portion of Hunt’s Fall was removed for the increase of the fall and the relief of the mills on the river’s level.

With the organization of a mutual fire insurance by the mill-owners Mr. Francis became its head, to build a fire-service reservoir with the full plant. Turbines, engines, and pumps, mains and hydrants, and the mill appliances of pipes, valves, sprinklers were constructed and placed under his direction and inspection, and maintained under his rules and regulations; and so well were these kept that the loss by fire was less than one tenth of one per cent.

For the preservation of the bridges and other wooden structures, of which there were many belonging to the company, he introduced the Kyanizing and Burnettizing processes, which are still continued for the use of the Lowell companies and others, and form a profitable industry.

In 1844, Mr. Uriah A. Boyden constructed his first turbine for the Appleton Company, which proved successful. Mr. Francis assisted at the test, as he did also at that of two other wheels for the same company in 1848, when the maximum effect was determined and paid for at the rate of 88 per cent of the water expended. Mr. Boyden continued to build wheels, testing the same often with Mr. Francis’s assistance and always with his cognizance of the changes of construction and results. Impressed with the great advantage of the adoption of this wheel at Lowell, at his recommendation the manufacturing companies purchased of Mr. Boyden the rights to his improvements relating to turbines and other hydraulic motors. After that, it devolved on Mr. Francis to design and superintend the construction of such turbines as might be wanted for their mills. To this work he brought his accustomed industry, assisted by Mr. Boyden’s drawings, but more by his own comparison and analysis of the most successful designs.

This analysis of the working of turbines was continued by testing them as they were applied to the different mills to determine the quantities of water used, the percentage of effect obtained, and the [.338] forms of construction most durable and convenient of application. Records of all the data necessary for this were carefully taken and kept, and selections made from them by Mr. Francis, and published in 1855 under the title of “ Lowell Hydraulic Experiments.” In addition to the turbines there were some records of experiments on the flow of water through rectangular channels, which was important to the different manufacturing establishments to enable them to secure their respective rights.

It was necessary that the gaugings should be frequent, that they should involve no stoppage of any works, nor impairment of the power, and that it should be made under the normal conditions of working. This was so secured by rectangular channels and the use of deep tube floats.

The practical application of the system and the results, together with some experiments on submerged orifices and diverging tubes, were given in a second edition of the “Hydraulic Experiments,” published in 1868.

By this work the reputation of Mr. Francis was extended beyond this country. Here he was well known not only as an engineer of the most important water power in the United States, to the success of which he had contributed so much, but by his extensive consulting and expert practice, (which continued to increase till his health was impaired,) and his many contributions to the Journal of the Franklin Institute, the Transactions of the Society of Civil Engineers, and published reports. Mr. Francis was a man of method, and studied carefully not only matters of engineering, but all the numerous subjects on which he was consulted outside of his profession. Of most of these, the data obtained are preserved with his calculations; and so varied and important are they that it has been thought expedient to file and index them, which has been done by his son and successor, Colonel James Francis, and they are now kept in the office of the Proprietors of Locks and Canals, open to all who have an interest in these subjects.

His friend, the eminent engineer Uriah A. Boyden, appointed Mr. Francis and Hon. William G. Russell trustees of his estate, inventoried at $180,000, for the establishment and maintenance of a mountain peak observatory or to aid in the same. In investigating observatories Mr. Francis visited the principal ones in the United States, taking them in the line of what he called his vacations, and with but little charge to the estate. Through economies of administration the trustees turned over to Harvard College $232,560, to be used by the [.339] Cambridge Observatory for the establishment of an observatory at Arequipa, Peru.

It was Mr. Francis’s fortune to be known and appreciated; he was one of the earliest members of the American Society of Civil Engineers, its President, and an Honorary Member; President of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers; member of the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, of the Boston Society of Natural History, of the Winchester Historical Society, of the Arkwright Club, of the Trinity Historical Society, Dallas, Texas, and of the American Society of Irrigation Engineers, of Salt Lake City, Utah. He received the honorary degree of Master of Arts from Dartmouth College in 1851, and from Harvard College in 1858. He was a member of the Corporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; President of the Stony Brook Railroad for twenty years; Director of the Railroad Bank for thirty-two years, and of the Lowell Gas Light Company for forty-three years.

Mr. Francis was elected a Fellow of this Academy on the 13th of November, 1844, and served as a member of the Rumford Committee from 1868 to 1878. He contributed to the sixth volume of our Proceedings an important paper, “On the Strength of Cast-iron Pillars,” afterwards reprinted and published as a separate volume by D. Van Nostrand.

Never desirous of political office, as a matter of duty he served one term in the Legislature, longer in the City Government and on the School Committee, as a Director of the City Library, and as Commissioner for the erection of the new City Hall.

Mr. Francis resigned the office of agent and engineer of the Proprietors of Locks and Canals on Merrimac River, January 1, 1883, and was appointed consulting engineer, which position he held at the time of his death, September 18, 1892. Although affected for some time with a complaint dangerous to any man of his years, he continued almost to the day of his death his interest in his usual pursuits, and died, leaving a widow, four children, and grandchildren.

Mr. Francis, in the many positions to which he was called with varied duties, showed himself an admirable executive and administrative officer, and in his published works and reports a close and careful investigator, suggestive in his methods, and of good judgment. Often chosen from his established integrity referee and commissioner, not only in the line of his profession, but outside, his decisions were without bias. As leading hydraulic expert of this country and often retained in suits, he never considered himself the attorney of his client, but [.340] gave his evidence honorably, agreeably to the facts and scientific precedents. In this his example is worthy of imitation, and suggestive as to whether it would not be an improvement in the present practice if like men should be retained by the court rather than by the contestants.

In private life Mr. Francis was honest, sympathetic, neighborly, not hasty in forming or giving opinions, but always consistent and decided, liberal, a good citizen and Christian gentleman, contributing largely to the honor and welfare of the city, whose memory will be long and gratefully preserved by its inhabitants.

1893. W. E. Worthen.

[* freshet is a sudden flooding of a river, stream or waterway resulting from a heavy rain or a Spring thaw.]

Photo added (not in original article) from Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers (1893), 19, 74 (source). Text from W. E. Worthen, 'James Bicheno Francis' (Obituary), in American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1893), 28, 333-340. (source)


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