predisposer

Updated: June 18, 2025

These ponderous parts rest on the shoulders of the pile H all the while it is being driven, the pile in this respect being the only support of the apparatus A B C. So that, besides the eighty blows per minute that the four-ton steam hammer energetically deals out to the head of the pile from a four foot fall the dead weight of the apparatus constantly acts as a most effective "predisposer" to the sinking of the pile into the ground; the hoisting chain D being let slack the while, so as to allow A B C to "follow down" the pile H, while the eighty blows per minute are incessantly showered on its head.

James Nasmyth - James Nasmyth: Engineer; an autobiography