Abstract
This autobiographical note was written by Edward Herbert a few years before his death, and gives an account of a lifetime devoted to research, mainly on the hardness and machinability of metals. Though taking an important part in the engineering business that bore his name, Herbert was essentially a research worker rather than a business man, and towards the close of his life he withdrew more and more into the laboratory which he had equipped at his home.
The present note emphasizes the continuity of Herbert's work. Thus his original automatic saw was converted into the first experimental file testing machine; the study of the cutting action of file teeth suggested the tool steel tester, the anomalous results of which led to the tool-work thermocouple and the “Pendulum” hardness tester. Then followed in logical sequence his work on critical work-hardening temperatures, the work-hardening capacity of hard steels, the “Cloudburst” process, the age-hardening of superhardened steel, periodic ageing fluctuations and the effects of magnetic treatments; and finally, the invention of the continuous hardness tester and the scanning of diamond scratches as a means of recording fluctuations in hardness due to ageing.
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