Editing James Nasmyth (section)

===Other inventions===
[[File:Nasmyth milling machine 1829-1830--001.png|thumb|upright|The milling machine built by James Nasmyth between 1829 and 1831, with indexing fixture.]]

Apart from the steam hammer, Nasmyth created several other important machine tools, including the [[shaper]], an adaptation of the [[Planer (metalworking)|planer]] which is still used in [[tool and die]] making. Another innovation was a [[hydraulic press]] which used water pressure to force tight-fitting machine parts together. All of these machines became popular in manufacturing, and all are still in use in modified form.

Nasmyth was also one of the first toolmakers to offer a standardised range of machine tools; before this, manufacturers constructed tools according to individual clients' specifications with little regard to standardisation, which caused compatibility problems. Nasmyth was arguably the last of the early pioneers of the [[machine tool]] industry.

Among Nasmyth's other inventions, most of which he never patented, were a means of transmitting rotary motion by means of a flexible shaft made of coiled wire, a machine for cutting key grooves, self-adjusting bearings, and the [[screw ladle]] for moving molten metal which could safely and efficiently be handled by two men instead of the six previously required. Nasmyth's idea of a [[Anti-Invasion Floating Mortar|steam ram]] for naval warfare was never put into production.

In 1844 he, together with engineer Charles May, patented the first [[Vacuum brake]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JQELAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA345 |title=The Repertory of Patent Inventions: And Other Discoveries and Improvements in Arts, Manufactures, and Agriculture; Being a Continuation, on an Enlarged Plan, of the Repertory of Arts & Manufactures |date=1845 |publisher=proprietors |language=en}}</ref>

Although [[milling machine]]s were no longer novel by 1830, an example built by Nasmyth around that time stands out for its prescience. It was tooled to mill the six sides of a hex nut that was mounted in a six-way [[Indexing (motion)|indexing]] fixture.{{sfn|Woodbury|1972|p=24-26}}

He also worked on a project for the conversion of iron which was not dis-similar to that which was eventually patented by [[Henry Bessemer]]. A reluctant patentor, and in this instance still working through some problems in his method, Nasmyth abandoned the project after hearing of Bessemer's ideas in 1856. Bessemer, however, acknowledged the efforts of Nasmyth by offering him a one-third share of the value of his patent for the eponymous [[Bessemer process]]. Nasmyth turned it down as he had decided to retire.{{sfn|Lord|1945|p=164}}