BOULTON PARTNERSHIP
After Watt was restored to himself the first subject which we find
attracting him was the misfortunes of Roebuck, whose affairs were now in
the hands of his creditors. "My heart bleeds for him," says Watt, "but I
can do nothing to help him. I have stuck by him, indeed, until I have
hurt myself." Roebuck's affairs were far too vast to be affected by all
that Watt had or could have borrowed. For the thousand pounds Watt had
paid on Roebuck's account to secure the patent, he was still in debt to
Black. This was subsequently paid, however, with interest, when Watt
became prosperous.
We now bid farewell to Roebuck with genuine regret. He had proved
himself a fine character throughout, just the kind of partner Watt
needed. It was a great pity that he had to relinquish his interest in
the patent, when, as we shall see, it would soon have saved him from
bankruptcy and secured him a handsome competence. He must ever rank as
one of the men almost indispensable to Watt in the development of his
engine, and a dear, true friend.
The darkest hour comes before the dawn, and so it proved here. As
Roebuck retired, there appeared a star of hope of the first magnitude,
in no less a person than the celebrated Matthew Boulton of Birmingham,
of whom we must say a few words by way of introduction to our readers,
for in all the world there was not his equal as a partner for Watt, who
was ever fortunate in his friends. Of course Watt was sure to have
friends, for he was through and through the devoted friend himself, and
won the hearts of those worth winning. "If you wish to make a friend, be
one," is the sure recipe.
Boulton was not only obviously the right man but he came from the right
place, for Birmingham was the headquarters of mechanical industry. At
this time, 1776, there was at last a good road to London. As late as
1747 the coach was advertised to run there in two days only "if the
roads permit."
If skilled mechanics, Watt's greatest need, were to be found anywhere,
it was here in the centre of mechanical skill, and especially was it in
the celebrated works of Boulton, which had been bequeathed from worthy
sire to worthy son, to be largely extended and more than ever
preeminent.
Boulton left school early to engage in his father's business. When only
seventeen years old, he had made several improvements in the manufacture
of buttons, watch chains, and various trinkets, and had invented the
inlaid steel buckles, which became so fashionable. It is stated that in
that early day it was found necessary to export them in large quantities
to France to be returned and sold in Britain as the latest productions
of French skill and taste. It is well to get a glimpse of human nature
as seen here. Fashion decides for a time with supreme indifference to
quality. It is a question of the name.
At his father's death, the son inherited the business. Great credit
belongs to him for unceasingly laboring to improve the quality of his
products and especially to raise the artistic standard, then so low as
to have already caused "Brummagem" to become a term of reproach. He not
only selected the cleverest artisans, but he employed the best artists,
Flaxman being one, to design the artistic articles produced. The natural
result followed. Boulton's work soon gained high reputation. New and
larger factories became necessary, and the celebrated Soho works arose
in 1762. The spirit in which Boulton pursued business is revealed in a
letter to his partner at Soho from London. "The prejudice that
Birmingham hath so justly established against itself makes every fault
conspicuous in all articles that have the least pretensions to taste."
It may interest American readers familiar with One Dollar watches,
rendered possible by production upon a large scale, that it was one of
Boulton's leading ideas in that early day that articles in common use
could be produced much better and cheaper "if manufactured by the help
of the best machinery upon a large scale, and this could be successfully
done in the making of clocks and timepieces." He promptly erected the
machinery and started this new branch of business. Both King and Queen
received him cordially and became his patrons. Soho works soon became
famous and one of the show places of the country; princes, philosophers,
poets, authors and merchants from foreign lands visited them and were
hospitably received by Boulton.
He was besieged with requests to take gentlemen apprentices into the
works, hundreds of pounds sometimes being offered as premium, but he
resolutely declined, preferring to employ boys whom he could train up as
workmen. He replies to a gentleman applicant, "I have built and
furnished a house for the reception of one class of apprentices--fatherless
children, parish apprentices, and hospital boys; and gentlemen's sons
would probably find themselves out of place in such companionship."
It is not to be inferred that Boulton grew up an uncultured man because
he left school very early. On the contrary, he steadily educated
himself, devoting much time to study, so that with his good looks,
handsome presence, the manners of the gentleman born, and knowledge much
beyond the average of that class, he had little difficulty in winning
for his wife a lady of such position in the county as led to some
opposition on the part of members of her family to the suitor, but only
"on account of his being in trade." There exists no survival of this
objection in these days of American alliances with heirs of the highest
British titles. We seem now to have as its substitute the condition that
the father of the bride must be in trade and that heavily and to some
purpose.
Boulton, like most busy men, had time, and an open mind, for new ideas.
None at this time interested him so deeply as that of the steam engine.
Want of water-power proved a serious difficulty at Soho. He wrote to a
friend, "The enormous expense of the horse-power" (it was also irregular
and sometimes failed) "put me upon thinking of turning the mill by fire.
I made many fruitless experiments on the subject."
Boulton wrote Franklin, February 22, 1766, in London, about this, and
sent a model he had made. Franklin replies a month later, apologising
for the delay on account of "the hurry and anxiety I have been engaged
in with our American affairs."[1]
Tamer of lightning and tamer of steam, Franklin and Watt--one of the
new, the other of the old branch of our English-speaking
race--co-operating in enlarging the powers of man and pushing forward
the chariot of progress--fit subject, this, for the sculptor and
painter!
How much further the steam engine is to be the hand-maid of electricity
cannot be told, for it seems impossible to set limits to the future
conquests of the latter, which is probably destined to perform miracles
un-dreamt of to-day, perhaps coupled in some unthought-of way, with
radium, the youngest sprite of the weird, uncanny tribe of mysterious
agents. Uranium, the supposed basis of the latest discovery, Radium, has
only one-millionth part of the heat of the latter. The slow-moving earth
takes twenty-four hours to turn upon its axis. Radium covers an equal
distance while we pronounce its name. One and one-quarter seconds, and
twenty-five thousand miles are traversed. Puck promises to put his
"girdle round the earth in forty minutes." Radium would pass the fairy
girdlist in the spin round sixteen hundred times. Thus truth, as it is
being evolved in our day, becomes stranger than the wildest imaginings
of fiction. Our century seems on the threshold of discoveries and
advances, not less revolutionary, perhaps more so, than those that have
sprung from steam and electricity. "Canst thou send lightnings to say
'Lo, here I am'?" silenced man. It was so obviously beyond his power
until last century. Now he smiles as he reads the question. Is Tyndal's
prophecy to be verified that "the potency of all things is yet to be
found in matter"?
We may be sure the searching, restless brains of Franklin and Watt would
have been meditating upon strange things these days if they were now
alive.
Boulton is entitled to rank, so far as the writer knows, as the first
man in the world worthy to wear Carlyle's now somewhat familiar title,
"Captain of Industry" for he was in his day foremost in the industrial
field, and before that, industrial organisations had not developed far
enough to create or require captains, in Carlyle's sense.
Roebuck, while Watt's partner, was one of Boulton's correspondents, and
told him of Watt's progress with the model engine which proved so
successful. Boulton was deeply interested, and expressed a desire that
Watt should visit him at Soho. This he did, on his return from a visit
to London concerning the patent. Boulton was not at home, but his
intimate friend, Dr. Small, then residing at Birmingham, a scientist and
philosopher, whom Franklin had recommended to Boulton, took Watt in
charge. Watt was amazed at what he saw, for this was his first meeting
with trained and skilled mechanics, the lack of whom had made his life
miserable. The precision of both tools and workmen sank deep. Upon a
subsequent visit, he met the captain himself, his future partner, and of
course, as like draws to like, they drew to each other, a case of
mutual liking at first sight. We meet one stranger, and stranger he
remains to the end of the chapter. We meet another, and ere we part he
is a kindred soul. Magnetic attraction is sudden. So with these two,
who, by a kind of free-masonry, knew that each had met his affinity. The
Watt engine was exhaustively canvassed and its inventor was delighted
that the great, sagacious, prudent and practical manufacturer should
predict its success as he did. Shortly after this, Professor Robison
visited Soho, which was a magnet that attracted the scientists in those
days. Boulton told him that he had stopped work upon his proposed
pumping engine. "I would necessarily avail myself of what I learned from
Mr. Watt's conversation, and this would not be right without his
consent."
It is such a delicate sense of honor as is here displayed that marks the
man, and finally makes his influence over others commanding in business.
It is not sharp practice and smart bargaining that tell. On the
contrary, there is no occupation in which not only fair but liberal
dealing brings greater reward. The best bargain is that good for both
parties. Boulton and Watt were friends. That much was settled. They had
business transactions later, for we find Watt sending a package
containing "one dozen German flutes" (made of course by him in Glasgow),
"at 5s. each, and a copper digester, _L_1:10." Boulton's people probably
wished samples.
Much correspondence followed between Dr. Small and Watt, the latter
constantly expressing the wish that Mr. Boulton could be induced to
become partner with himself and Roebuck in his patents. Naturally the
sagacious manufacturer was disinclined to associate himself with Mr.
Roebuck, then in financial straits, but the position changed when he had
become bankrupt and affairs were in the hands of creditors. Watt
therefore renewed the subject and agreed to go and settle in Birmingham,
as he had been urged to do. Roebuck's pitiable condition he keenly felt,
and had done everything possible to ameliorate.
What little I can do for him is purchased by denying myself the
conveniences of life my station requires, or by remaining in
debt, which it galls me to the bone to owe. I shall be content
to hold a very small share in the partnership, or none at all,
provided I am to be freed from my pecuniary obligations to
Roebuck and have any kind of recompense for even a part of the
anxiety and ruin it has involved me in.
Thus wrote Watt to his friend Small, August 30, 1772. Small's reply
pointed out one difficulty which deserves notice and commendation. "It
is impossible for Mr. Boulton and me, or any other honest man, to
purchase, especially from two particular friends, what has no market
price, and at a time when they might be inclined to part with the
commodity at an under value." This is an objection which to
stock-exchange standards may seem "not well taken," and far too
fantastical for the speculative domain, and yet it is neither
surprising nor unusual in the realms of genuine business, in which men
are concerned with or creating only intrinsic values.
The result so ardently desired by Watt was reached in this unexpected
fashion. It was found that in the ordinary course of business Roebuck
owed Boulton a balance of $6,000. Boulton agreed to take the Roebuck
interest in the Watt patent for the debt. As the creditors considered
the patent interest worthless, they gladly accepted. As Watt said, "it
was only paying one bad debt with another."
Boulton asked Watt to act as his attorney in the matter, which he did,
writing Boulton that "the thing is now a shadow; 'tis merely ideal, and
will cost time and money to realise it." This as late as March 29, 1773,
after eight years of constant experimentation, with many failures and
disappointments, since the discovery of the separate condenser in 1765,
which was then hailed, and rightly so, as the one thing needed. It
remained the right and only foundation upon which to develop the steam
engine, but many minor obstacles intervened, requiring Watt's inventive
and mechanical genius to overcome.
The transfer of Roebuck's two-third interest to Boulton afterward
carried with it the formation of the celebrated firm of Boulton and
Watt. The latter arranged his affairs as quickly as possible. He had
only made $1,000 for a whole year spent in surveying, and part of that
he gave to Roebuck in his necessity, "so that I can barely support
myself and keep untouched the small sum I have allotted for my visit to
you." (Watt to Small, July 25, 1773). This is pitiable indeed--Watt
pressed for money to pay his way to Birmingham upon important business.
The trial engine was shipped from Kinneil to Soho and Watt arrived in
May, 1774, in Birmingham. Here a new life opened before him, still
enveloped in clouds, but we may please ourselves by believing that
through these the wearied and harassed inventor did not fail to catch
alluring visions of the sun. Let us hope he remembered the words of the
beautiful hymn he had no doubt often sung in his youth:
"Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
With blessings on your head."
Partnership requires not duplicates, but opposites--a union of different
qualities. He who proves indispensable as a partner to one man might be
wholly useless, or even injurious, to another. Generals Grant and
Sherman needed very different chiefs of staff. One secret of Napoleon's
success arose from his being free to make his own appointments, choosing
the men who had the qualities which supplemented his and cured his own
shortcomings, for every man has shortcomings. The universal genius who
can manage all himself has yet to appear. Only one with the genius to
recognise others of different genius and harness them to his own car can
approach the "universal." It is a case of different but cooperating
abilities, each part of the complicated machine fitting into its right
place, and there performing its duty without jarring.
Never were two men more "supplementary" to each other than Boulton and
Watt, and hence their success. One possessed in perfection the qualities
the other lacked. Smiles sums this up so finely that we must quote him:
Different though their characters were in most respects, Boulton
at once conceived a hearty liking for him. The one displayed in
perfection precisely those qualities which the other wanted.
Boulton was a man of ardent and generous temperament, bold and
enterprising, undaunted by difficulty, and possessing an almost
boundless capacity for work. He was a man of great tact, clear
perception, and sound judgment. Moreover, he possessed that
indispensable quality of perseverance, without which the best
talents are of comparatively little avail in the conduct of
important affairs. While Watt hated business, Boulton loved it.
He had, indeed, a genius for business--a gift almost as rare as
that for poetry, for art, or for war. He possessed a marvellous
power of organisation. With a keen eye for details, he combined
a comprehensive grasp of intellect. While his senses were so
acute, that when sitting in his office at Soho he could detect
the slightest stoppage or derangement in the machinery of that
vast establishment, and send his message direct to the spot
where it had occurred, his power of imagination was such as
enabled him to look clearly along extensive lines of possible
action in Europe, America, and the East. _For there is a poetic
as well as a commonplace side to business; and the man of
business genius lights up the humdrum routine of daily life by
exploring the boundless region of possibility wherever it may
lie open before him._
This tells the whole story, and once again reminds us that without
imagination and something of the romantic element, little great or
valuable is to be done in any field. He "runs his business as if it were
a romance," was said upon one occasion. The man who finds no element of
romance in his occupation is to be pitied. We know how radically
different Watt was in his nature to Boulton, whose judgment of men was
said to be almost unerring. He recognised in Watt at their first
interview, not only the original inventive genius, but the
indefatigable, earnest, plodding and thorough mechanic of tenacious
grip, and withal a fine, modest, true man, who hated bargaining and all
business affairs, who cared nothing for wealth beyond a very modest
provision for old age, and who was only happy if so situated that
without anxiety for money to supply frugal wants, he could devote his
life to the development of the steam engine. Thus auspiciously started
the new firm.
But Boulton was more than a man of business, continues Smiles;
he was a man of culture, and the friend of educated men. His
hospitable mansion at Soho was the resort of persons eminent in
art, in literature, and in science; and the love and admiration
with which he inspired such men affords one of the best proofs
of his own elevation of character. Among the most intimate of
his friends and associates were Richard Lovell Edgeworth, a
gentleman of fortune, enthusiastically devoted to his
long-conceived design of moving land-carriages by steam; Captain
Keir, an excellent practical chemist, a wit and a man of
learning; Dr. Small, the accomplished physician, chemist and
mechanist; Josiah Wedgwood, the practical philosopher and
manufacturer, founder of a new and important branch of skilled
industry; Thomas Day, the ingenious author of "Sandford and
Merton"; Dr. Darwin, the poet-physician; Dr. Withering, the
botanist; besides others who afterward joined the Soho circle,
not the least distinguished of whom were Joseph Priestley and
James Watt.
The first business in hand was the reconstruction of the engine brought
from Kinneil, which upon trial performed much better than before, wholly
on account of the better workmanship attainable at Soho; but there still
recurs the unceasing complaint that runs throughout the long eight years
of trial--lack of accurate tools and skilled workmen, the difference in
accuracy between the blacksmith standard and that of the
mathematical-instrument maker. Watt and Boulton alike agreed that the
inventions were scientifically correct and needed only proper
construction. In our day it is not easy to see the apparently
insuperable difficulty of making anything to scale and perfectly
accurate, but we forget what the world of Watt was and how far we have
advanced since.
Watt wrote to his father at Greenock, November, 1774: "The business I am
here about has turned out rather successful; that is to say, the
fire-engine I have invented is now going, and answers much better than
any other that has yet been made." This is as is usual with the Scotch
in speech, in a low key and extremely modest, on a par with the verdict
rendered by the Dunfermline critic who had ventured to attend "the
playhouse" in Edinburgh to see Garrick in Hamlet--"no bad." The truth
was that, so pronounced were the results of proper workmanship, coupled
with some of those improvements which Watt was constantly devising, the
engine was so satisfactory as to set both Boulton and Watt to thinking
about the patent which protected the invention. Six of the fourteen
years for which it was granted had already passed. Some years would
still be needed to ensure its general use, and it was feared that before
the patent expired little return might be received. Much interest was
aroused by the successful trial. Enquiries began to pour in for pumping
engines for mines. The Newcomen had proved inadequate to work the mines
as they became deeper, and many were being abandoned in consequence. The
necessity for a new power had set many ingenious men to work besides
Watt, and some of these were trying to adopt Watt's principles while
avoiding his patent. Hatley, one of Watt's workmen upon the trial engine
at the Carron works, had stolen and sold the drawings.
All this put Boulton and Watt on their guard, and the former hesitated
to build the new works intended for the manufacture of steam engines
upon a large scale with improved machinery. An extension of the patent
seemed essential, and to secure this Watt proceeded to London and spent
some time there, busy in his spare moments visiting the mathematical
instrument shops of his youth, and attending to numerous commissions
from Boulton. A second visit was paid to London, during which the sad
intelligence of the death of his dear friend, Dr. Small, reached him. In
the bitterness of his grief, Boulton writes him: "If there were not a
few other objects yet remaining for me to settle my affections upon, I
should wish also to take up my abode in the mansions of the dead."
Watt's sympathetic reply reminds Boulton of the sentiments held by their
departed friend--that, instead of indulging in unavailing sorrow, the
best refuge is the more sedulous performance of duties. "Come, my dear
sir," he writes, "and immerse yourself in this sea of business as soon
as possible. Pay a proper respect to your friend by obeying his
precepts. No endeavour of mine shall be wanting to make life agreeable
to you."
Beautiful partnership this, not only of business, but also entering into
the soul close and deep, comprehending all of life and all we know of
death.
Professor Small, born 1734, was a Scot, who went to Williamsburg
University, Virginia, as Professor of mathematics and natural
philosophy. Thomas Jefferson was among his pupils. His health suffered,
and he returned to the old home. Franklin introduced him to Boulton,
writing (May 22, 1765):
I beg leave to introduce my friend Doctor Small to your
acquaintance, and to recommend him to your civilities. I would
not take this freedom if I were not sure it would be agreeable
to you; and that you will thank me for adding to the number of
those who from their knowledge of you must respect you, one who
is both an ingenious philosopher and a most worthy, honest man.
If anything new in magnetism or electricity, or any other branch
of natural knowledge, has occurred to your fruitful genius since
I last had the pleasure of seeing you, you will by communicating
it greatly oblige me.
This man must have been one of the finest characters revealed in Watt's
life. Altho he left little behind him to ensure permanent remembrance,
the extraordinary tributes paid his memory by friends establish his
right to high rank among the coterie of eminent men who surrounded Watt
and Boulton. Boulton records that "there being nothing which I wish to
fix in my mind so permanently as the remembrance of my dear departed
friend, I did not delay to erect a memorial in the prettiest but most
obscure part of my garden, from which you see the church in which he was
interred." Dr. Darwin contributed the verses inscribed. Upon hearing of
Small's illness Day hastened from Brussels to be present at the last
hour.
Keir writes, announcing Small's death to his brother, the Rev. Robert
Small, in Dundee, "It is needless to say how universally he is lamented;
for no man ever enjoyed or deserved more the esteem of mankind. We loved
him with the tenderest affection and shall ever revere his memory."
Watt's voluminous correspondence with Professor Small, previous to his
partnership with Boulton, proves Small at that time to have been his
intimate friend and counsellor. We scarcely know in all literature of a
closer union between two men. Many verses of Tennyson's Memorial to
Hallam could be appropriately applied to their friendship. Watt did not
apparently give way to lamentations as Boulton and others did who were
present at Small's death, probably because the receipt of Boulton's
heart-breaking letter impressed Watt with the need of assuming the part
of comforter to his partner, who was face to face with death, and had to
bear the direct blow. Watt's tribute to his dear friend came later.
Future operations necessarily depended upon the extension of the patent.
Boulton, of course, could not proceed with the works. There was as yet
no agreement between Watt and Boulton beyond joint ownership in the
patent. At this time, Watt's most intimate friend of youthful years in
Glasgow University, Professor Robison, was Professor of mathematics in
the Government Naval School, Kronstadt. He secured for Watt an
appointment at $5,000 per annum, a fortune to the poor inventor; but
although this would have relieved him from dependence upon Boulton, and
meant future affluence, he declined, alleging that "Boulton's favours
were so gracefully conferred that dependence on him was not felt." He
made Watt feel "that the obligation was entirely upon the side of the
giver." Truly we must canonise Boulton. He was not only the first
"Captain of Industry," but also a model for all others to follow.
The bill extending the patent was introduced in Parliament February,
1775. Opposition soon developed. The mining interest was in serious
trouble owing to the deepening of the mines and the unbearable expense
of pumping the water. They had looked forward to the Watt engine soon to
be free of patent rights to relieve them. "No monopoly," was their cry,
nor were they without strong support, for Edmund Burke pleaded the cause
of his mining constituents near Bristol.[2]
We need not follow the discussion that ensued upon the propriety of
granting the patent extension. Suffice to say it was finally granted for
a term of twenty-four years, and the path was clear at last. Britain was
to have probably for the first time great works and new tools specially
designed for a specialty to be produced upon a large scale. Boulton had
arranged to pay Roebuck $5,000 out of the first profits from the patent
in addition to the $6,000 of debt cancelled. He now anticipated payment
of the thousand, at the urgent request of Roebuck's assignees, giving
in so doing pretty good evidence of his faith in prompt returns from the
engines, for which orders came pouring in. New mechanical facilities
followed, as well as a supply of skilled mechanics.
The celebrated Wilkinson now appears upon the scene, first builder of
iron boats, and a leading iron-founder of his day, an original Captain
of Industry of the embryonic type, who began working in a forge for
three dollars a week. He cast a cylinder eighteen inches in diameter,
and invented a boring machine which bored it accurately, thus remedying
one of Watt's principal difficulties. This cylinder was substituted for
the tin-lined cylinder of the triumphant Kinneil engine. Satisfactory as
were the results of the engine before, the new cylinder improved upon
these greatly. Thus Wilkinson was pioneer in iron ships, and also in
ordering the first engine built at Soho--truly an enterprising man.
Great pains were taken by Watt that this should be perfect, as so much
depended upon a successful start. Many concerns suspended work upon
Newcomen engines, countermanded orders, or refrained from placing them,
awaiting anxiously the performance of this heralded wonder, the Watt
engine. As it approached completion, Watt became impatient to test its
powers, but the prudent, calm Boulton insisted that not one stroke be
made until every possible hindrance to successful working had been
removed. He adds, "then, in the name of God, fall to and do your best."
Admirable order of battle! It was "Be sure you're right, then go ahead,"
in the vernacular. Watt acted upon this, and when the trial came the
engines worked "to the admiration of all." The news of this spread
rapidly. Enquiries and orders for engines began to flow in. No wonder
when we read that of thirty engines of former makers in one coal-mining
district only eighteen were at work. The others had failed. Boulton
wrote Watt to
tell Wilkinson to get a dozen cylinders cast and bored ... I
have fixed my mind upon making from twelve to fifteen
reciprocating engines and fifty rotative engines per annum. Of
all the toys and trinkets we manufacture at Soho, none shall
take the place of fire-engines in respect of my attention.
The captain was on deck, evidently. Sixty-five engines per
year--prodigious for these days--nothing like this was ever heard of
before. Two thousand per year is the record of one firm in Philadelphia
to-day, but let us boast not. Perhaps one hundred and twenty-nine years
hence will have as great a contrast to show. The day of small factories,
as of small nations, is past. Increasing magnitude, to which it is hard
to set a limit, is the order of the day.
So far all was well, the heavy clouds that had so long hovered
menacingly over Boulton and Watt had been displaced once more by clear
skies. But no new machinery or new manufacturing business starts
without accidents, delays and unexpected difficulties. There was
necessarily a long period of trial and disappointment for which the
sanguine partners were not prepared. As before, the chief trouble lay in
the lack of skilled workmen, for although the few original men in Soho
were remarkably efficient, the increased demand for engines had
compelled the employment of many new hands, and the work they could
perform was sadly defective. Till this time, it is to be remembered
there had been neither slide lathes, planing machines, boring tools, nor
any of the many other devices which now ensure accuracy. All depended
upon the mechanics' eye and hand, if mechanics they could be called.
Most of the new hands were inexpert and much given to drink.
Specialisation had to be resorted to--one thing for each workman, in the
fashioning of which practice made perfect. This system was introduced
with success, but the training of the men took time. Meanwhile work
already turned out and that in progress was not up to standard, and this
caused infinite trouble. One very important engine was "The Bow" for
London, which was shipped in September. The best of the experts, Joseph
Harrison, was sent to superintend its erection. Verbal instructions Watt
would not depend upon; Harrison was supplied in writing with detailed
particulars covering every possible contingency. Constant communication
between them was kept up by letter, for the engine did not work
satisfactorily, and finally Watt himself proceeded to London in November
and succeeded in overcoming the defects. Harrison's anxieties disabled
him, and Boulton wrote to Dr. Fordyce, a celebrated doctor of that day,
telling him to take good care of Harrison, "let the expense be what it
will." Watt writes Boulton that Harrison must not leave London, as "a
relapse of the engine would ruin our reputation here and elsewhere." The
Bow engine had a relapse, however, which happened in this way. Smeaton,
then the greatest of the engineers, requested Boulton's London agent to
take him to see the new engine. He carefully examined it, called it a
"very pretty engine," but thought it too complicated a piece of
machinery for practical use. There was apparently much to be said for
this opinion, for we clearly see that Watt was far in advance of his day
in mechanical requirements. Hence his serious difficulties in the
construction of the complex engine, and in finding men capable of doing
the delicately accurate work which was absolutely indispensable for
successful working.
Before leaving, Smeaton made the engineer a gift of money, which he
spent in drink. The drunken engineman let the engine run wild, and it
was thrown completely out of order. The valves--the part of the
complicated machine that required the most careful treatment--were
broken. He was dismissed, and, repairs being made, the engine worked
satisfactorily at last. In Watt's life, we meet drunkenness often as a
curse of the time. We have the satisfaction of knowing that our day is
much freer from it. We have certainly advanced in the cure of this evil,
for our working-men may now be regarded as on the whole a steady sober
class, especially in America, where intemperance has not to be reckoned
with.
We see the difference between the reconstructed Kinneil engine where
Boulton's "mathematical instrument maker's" standard of workmanship was
possible "because his few trained men capable of such work were
employed." The Kinneil engine, complicated as it was in its parts, being
thus accurately reconstructed, did the work expected and more. The Bow
engines and some others of the later period, constructed by ordinary
workmen capable only of the "blacksmith's" standard of finish, proved
sources of infinite trouble.
Watt had several cases of this kind to engross his attention, all
traceable to the one root, lack of the skilled, sober workmen, and the
tools of precision which his complex (for his day, very complex) steam
engine required. The truth is that Watt's engine in one sense was born
before its time. Our class of instrument-making mechanics and several
new tools should have preceded it; then, the science of the invention
being sound, its construction would have been easy. The partners
continued working in the right direction and in the right way to create
these needful additions and were finally successful, but they found that
success brought another source of annoyance. Escaping Scylla they struck
Charybdis. So high did the reputation of their chief workmen rise, that
they were early sought after and tempted to leave their positions. Even
the two trained fitters sent to London to cure the Bow engine we have
just spoken of were offered strong inducements to take positions in
Russia. Watt writes Boulton, May 3, 1777, that he had just heard a great
secret to the effect that Carless and Webb were probably going beyond
sea, $5,000 per year having been offered for six years. They were
promptly ordered home to Soho and warrants obtained for those who had
attempted to induce them to abscond (strange laws these days!), "even
though Carless be a drunken and comparatively useless fellow." Consider
Watt's task, compelled to attempt the production of his new engines,
complicated beyond the highest existing standard, without proper tools
and with such workmen as Carless, whom he was glad to get and determined
to keep, drunken and useless as he was.
French agents appeared and tried to bribe some of the men to go to Paris
and communicate Watt's plans to the contractor who had undertaken to
pump water from the Seine for the supply of Paris. The German states
sent emissaries for a similar purpose, and Baron Stein was specially
ordered by his government to master the secret of the Watt engine, to
obtain working plans, and bring away workmen capable of constructing it,
the first step taken being to obtain access to the engine-rooms by
bribing the workmen. All this is so positively stated by Smiles that we
must assume that he quotes from authentic records. It is clear at all
events that the attention of other nations was keenly drawn to the
advent of an agency that promised to revolutionise existing conditions.
Watt himself, at a critical part of his career (1773), as we have seen,
had been tempted to accept an offer to enter the imperial service of
Russia, carrying the then munificent salary of $5,000 per annum. Boulton
wrote him: "Your going to Russia staggers me.... I wish to advise you
for the best without regard to self, but I find I love myself so well
that I should be very sorry to have you go, and I begin to repent
sounding your trumpet at the Ambassador's."
The imperial family of Russia were then much interested in the Soho
works. The empress stayed for some time at Boulton's house, "and a
charming woman she is," writes her host. Here is a glimpse of imperial
activity and wise attention to what was going on in other lands which it
was most desirous to transplant to their own. The emperor, and no less
his wife, evidently kept their eyes open during their travels abroad.
Imperial progresses we fear are seldom devoted to such practical ends,
although the present king of Britain and his nephew the German emperor
would not be blind to such things. It is a strange coincidence that the
successor of this emperor, Tsar Nicholas, when grand duke, should have
been denied admission to Soho works. Not that he was personally objected
to, but that certain people of his suite might not be disinclined to
take advantage of any new processes discovered. So jealously were
improvements guarded in these days.
Another source of care to the troubled Watt lay here. Naturally, only a
few such men had been developed as could be entrusted to go to distant
parts in charge of fellow-workmen and erect the finished engines. A
union of many qualities was necessary here. Managers of erection had to
be managers of men, by far the most complicated and delicate of all
machinery, exceeding even the Watt engine in complexity. When the rare
man was revealed, and the engine under his direction had proved itself
the giant it was reputed, ensuring profitable return upon capital
invested in works hitherto unproductive, as it often did, the sagacious
owner would not readily consent to let the engineer leave. He could well
afford to offer salary beyond the dreams of the worker, to a rider who
knew his horse and to whom the horse took so kindly. The engineer loved
_his_ engine, the engine which _he_ had seen grow in the shop under his
direction and which _he_ had wholly erected.
McAndrew's Song of Steam tells the story of the engineer's devotion to
his engine, a song which only Kipling in our day could sing. The Scotch
blood of the MacDonalds was needed for that gem; Kipling fortunately has
it pure from his mother. McAndrew is homeward bound patting _his_ mighty
engine as she whirls, and crooning over his tale:
That minds me of our Viscount loon--Sir Kenneth's kin--the chap
Wi' Russia leather tennis-shoon an' spar-decked yachtin'-cap.
I showed him round last week, o'er all--an' at the last says he:
"Mister M'Andrew, don't you think steam spoils romance at sea?"
Damned ijjit! I'd been doon that morn to see what ailed the throws,
Manholin', on my back--the cranks three inches off my nose.
Romance! Those first-class passengers they like it very well,
Printed an' bound in little books; but why don't poets tell?
I'm sick of all their quirks an' turns--the loves and doves they
dream--
Lord, send a man like Robbie Burns to sing the Song o' Steam!
To match wi' Scotia's noblest speech yon orchestra sublime,
Whaurto--uplifted like the Just--the tail-rods mark the time.
The crank-throws give the double-bass, the feed-pump sobs an' heaves,
An' now the main eccentrics start their quarrel on the sheaves:
Her time, her own appointed time, the rocking link-head bides,
Till--hear that note?--the rod's return whings glimmerin' through
the guides.
They're all awa'! True beat, full power, the clangin' chorus goes
Clear to the tunnel where they sit, my purrin' dynamos.
Interdependence absolute, foreseen, ordained, decreed,
To work, ye'll note, at any tilt an' every rate o' speed.
Fra' skylight lift to furnace-bars, backed, bolted, braced an' stayed,
An' singin' like the Mornin' Stars for joy that they are made;
While, out o' touch o' vanity, the sweatin' thrust-block says:
"Not unto us the praise, oh man, not unto us the praise!"
Now, a' together, hear them lift their lesson--theirs an' mine:
"Law, Order, Duty an' Restraint, Obedience, Discipline!"
Mill, forge an' try-pit taught them that when roarin' they arose,
An' whiles I wonder if a soul was gied them wi' the blows.
Oh for a man to weld it then, in one trip-hammer strain,
Till even first-class passengers could tell the meanin' plain!
But no one cares except mysel' that serve an' understand
My seven-thousand horse-power here. Eh, Lord!
They're grand--they're grand!
Uplift am I? When first in store the new-made beasties stood,
Were ye cast down that breathed the Word declarin' all things good?
Not so! O' that world-liftin' joy no after-fall could vex,
Ye've left a glimmer still to cheer the Man--the Artifex!
_That_ holds, in spite o' knock and scale, o' friction, waste an' slip,
An' by that light--now, mark my word--we'll build the Perfect Ship.
I'll never last to judge her lines or take her curve--not I.
But I ha' lived and I ha' worked. Be thanks to Thee, Most High!
So the McAndrews of Watt's day were loth to part from _their_ engines,
this feeling being in the blood of true engineers. On the other hand,
just such men, in numbers far beyond the supply, were needed by the
builders, who in one sense were almost if not quite as deeply concerned
as the owners, in having proved, capable, engine managers remain in
charge of their engines, thus enhancing their reputation. Endless
trouble ensued from the lack of managing enginemen, a class which had
yet to be developed, but which was sure to arise in time through the
educative policy adopted, which was already indeed slowly producing
fruit.
Meanwhile, to meet the present situation, Watt resolved to simplify the
engine, taking a step backward, which gives foundation for Smeaton's
acute criticism upon its complexity. We have seen that the working of
steam expansively was one of Watt's early inventions. Some of the new
engines were made upon this plan, which involved the adoption of some of
the most troublesome of the machinery. It was ultimately decided that
to operate this was beyond the ability of the obtainable enginemen of
the day.
It must not be understood that expansion was abandoned. On the contrary,
it was again introduced by Watt at a later stage and in better form.
Since his time it has extended far beyond what he could have ventured
upon under the conditions of that day. "Yet," as Kelvin says, "the
triple and quadruple expansion engine of our day all lies in the
principle Watt had so fully developed in his day."
[1] If those in London had only listened to Franklin and taken his
advice when he pleaded for British liberties for British subjects in
America! It is refreshing to read in our day how completely the view
regarding colonies has changed in Britain. These are now pronounced
"Independent nations, free to go or stay in the empire, as they choose,"
the very surest way to prolong the connection. This is true
statesmanship. Being free, the chains become decorations and cease to
chafe the wearer, unless great growth comes, when the colony must at its
maturity perforce either merge with the motherland under one joint
government or become a free and independent nation, giving her sons a
country of their own for which to live, and, if necessary, to die.
[2] The mention of Burke and Bristol so soon after the note of Boulton
upon Dr. Small's passing, recalls one of Burke's many famous sentences,
one perhaps unequalled under the circumstances. The candidate opposing
him for Parliament died during the canvass. When Burke next addressed
the people after the sad event, his first words were:
"What shadows we are; what shadows we pursue."