BOULTON AND WATT BEGIN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEAM-ENGINES.
Watt now arranged to take up his residence in Birmingham until the issue
of the steam-engine enterprise could be ascertained, and he went down
to Glasgow to bring up his two children, whom he had left in charge of
their relatives. Boulton had taken a house on Harper’s Hill, which was in
readiness for the reception of the family on their arrival about the end
of August, 1775. Regent’s-place, Harper’s Hill, was then the nearest house
to Soho on that side of Birmingham. It was a double house, substantially
built in brick, with stone facings, standing on the outskirts of the town,
surrounded by fields and gardens. St. Paul’s, the nearest church, was not
built until four years after Watt took up his abode there. But the house
at Harper’s Hill is in the country no longer: it is now surrounded in
all directions by dense masses of buildings, and is itself inhabited by
working people.
The first engine made at Soho was one ordered by John Wilkinson to
blow the bellows of his ironworks at Broseley. Great interest was,
of course, felt in the success of this engine. Watt took great pains
with the drawings; the workmen did their best to execute the several
parts accurately, for it was understood that many orders depended upon
whether it worked satisfactorily or not. Wilkinson’s iron-manufacturing
neighbours, who were contemplating the erection of Newcomen engines,
suspended their operations until they had an opportunity of seeing
what Boulton and Watt’s engine could do; and all looked forward to its
completion with the most eager interest. When all was ready at Soho, the
materials were packed up and sent to Broseley, Watt accompanying them
to superintend the erection. He had as yet no assistant to whom he could
intrust such a piece of work, on which so much depended. The engine was
erected and ready for use about the beginning of 1776. As it approached
completion Watt became increasingly anxious to make a trial of its powers.
But Boulton wrote to him not to hurry--not to let the engine make a stroke
until every possible hinderance to its successful action had been removed;
“and then,” said he, “in the name of God, fall to and do your best.” The
result of the extreme care taken with the construction and erection of
the engine was entirely satisfactory. It worked to the admiration of all
who saw it, and the fame of Boulton and Watt became great in the midland
counties.
While Watt was thus occupied, Boulton was pushing on the new buildings
at Soho. He kept his partner fully advised of all that was going on.
“The new forging-shop,” he wrote, “looks very formidable: the roof is
nearly put on, and the hearths are both built.” Tools and machinery were
being prepared, and all looked hopeful for the future. Orders were coming
in for engines. One in hand for Bloomfield Colliery was well advanced.
Many inquiries had come from Cornwall. Mr. Papps, of Truro, was anxious
to introduce the engine in that county. Out of forty engines there,
only eighteen were in work; so that there was a fine field for future
operations. “Pray tell Mr. Wilkinson,” Boulton added, “to get a dozen
cylinders cast and bored, from 12 to 50 inches diameter, and as many
condensers of suitable sizes. The latter must be sent here, as we will
keep them ready fitted up, and then an engine can be turned out of hand
in two or three weeks. I have fixed my mind upon making from twelve to
fifteen reciprocating and fifty rotative engines per annum. I assure you
that of all the toys and trinkets which we manufacture at Soho, none shall
take the place of fire-engines in respect of my attention.”[143]
Boulton was not, however, exclusively engrossed by engine affairs. Among
other things he informed Watt that he had put his little boy Jamie to a
good school, and that he was very much occupied, as usual, in entertaining
visitors. “The Empress of Russia,” he wrote, “is now at my house,
and a charming woman she is.” The Empress afterwards sent Boulton her
portrait, and it was long one of the ornaments of Soho. Amidst his various
occupations he contrived to find leisure for experiments on minerals,
having received from a correspondent in Wales a large assortment of
iron-ores to assay. He was also trying experiments on the model engine,
the results of which were duly communicated to his partner.[144]
[143] Boulton to Watt, 24th February, 1776. Boulton MSS.
[144] Watt was himself occupied, during his temporary residence at
Broseley, in devising improvements in the details of his engine.
Boulton says--“I observe you are thinking of making an inverted
cylinder. Pray how are you to counterbalance the descent of
the piston and pump rods, which will be a vast weight? If by a
counterweight you gain nothing. But if you can employ the power
that arises from the descent of that vast weight to strain a
spring that will repay its debts--if by it you can compress
air in an iron cylinder which in its return will contribute to
overcome the _vis inertiæ_ of the column of water to be raised,
you will thereby get rid of that unmechanical tax, and very
much improve the reciprocating engine.”--Boulton to Watt, 24th
February, 1776. Boulton MSS.
On Watt’s return to Soho, Boulton proceeded to London on financial
affairs, as well as to look after engine orders. He there found reports
in circulation among the engineering class that the new engine had proved
a failure. The Society of Engineers in Holborn, of which Smeaton was the
great luminary, had settled it that neither the tools nor the workmen
existed that could manufacture so complex a machine with sufficient
precision, and it was asserted that all the ingenuity and skill of Soho
had been unable to conquer the defects of the piston. “So said Holmes, the
clockmaker,” wrote Boulton,--Holmes being the intimate friend of Smeaton;
“but no language will be sufficiently persuasive on that head except the
good performance of the engines themselves.”[145] Boulton, therefore,
urged the completion of the engine then in hand for Cooke and Company’s
distillery at Stratford-le-Bow, near London. “Wilby,” [the managing
partner,] said he, “seems very impatient, and so am I, both for the sake
of reputation as well as to begin to turn the tide of money,”--the current
of which had as yet been all outwards. Boulton went to see the York
Buildings engine, which had been reconstructed by Smeaton, and was then
reckoned one of the best on the Newcomen plan. The old man who tended it
lauded the engine to the skies, and notwithstanding Boulton’s description
of the new engines at work in Staffordshire, he would not believe that
any engine in existence could excel his own.
[145] Boulton to Watt, 23rd April, 1776. Boulton MSS.
In the course of the summer Watt again visited Glasgow,--this time for the
purpose of bringing back a wife. The lady he proposed to marry was Miss
Anne Macgregor, daughter of a respectable dyer. The young lady’s consent
was obtained, as well as her father’s, to the proposed union; but the
latter, before making any settlement on his daughter, intimated to Watt
that he desired to see the partnership agreement between him and Boulton.
Now, although the terms of partnership had been generally arranged, they
had not yet been put into legal form, and Watt asked that this should be
done for the cautious old gentleman’s satisfaction without delay.[146]
About his love affair Watt wrote,--
“Whether a man of the world, such as you, look upon my present
love as the folly of youth or the dotage of age [Watt was then in
his fortieth year], I find myself in no humour to lay it aside, or
to look upon it in either of these lights, but consider it as one
of the wisest of my actions, and should look upon a disappointment
in it as one of the greatest of my misfortunes.... I have had
better health since I left you than has been my lot for years, and
my spirits have borne me through my vexations wonderfully. I have
lost all dread of any future connexion with Monsieur la Verole,
and, if I carry my point in this matter, I hope to be very much
more useful to you than has hitherto been in my power. The spur
will be greater.”[147]
[146] The arrangement between the partners is indicated by the
following passage of Watt’s letter to Boulton:--“As you may have
possibly mislaid my missive to you concerning the contract, I
beg just to mention what I remember of the terms.
“1. I to assign to you two-thirds of the property of the
invention.
“2. You to pay all expenses of the Act or others incurred before
June, 1775 (the date of the Act), and also the expense of future
experiments, which money is to be sunk without interest by you,
being the consideration you pay for your share.
“3. You to advance stock in trade bearing interest, but having no
claim on me for any part of that, further than my intromissions;
the stock itself to be your security and property.
“4. I to draw one-third of the profits so soon as any arise
from the business, after paying the workmen’s wages and goods
furnished, but abstract from the stock in trade, excepting the
interest thereof, which is to be deducted before a balance is
struck.
“5. I to make drawings, give directions, and make surveys, the
company paying the travelling expenses to either of us when upon
engine business.
“6. You to keep the books and balance them once a year.
“7. A book to be kept wherein to be marked such transactions as
are worthy of record, which, when signed by both, to have the
force of the contract.
“8. Neither of us to alienate our share without consent of the
other, and if either of us by death or otherwise shall be
incapacitated from acting for ourselves, the other of us to be
the sole manager without contradiction or interference of heirs,
executors, assignees, or others; but the books to be subject to
their inspection, and the acting partner of us to be allowed a
reasonable commission for extra trouble.
“9. The contract to continue in force for twenty-five years,
from the 1st of June, 1775, when the partnership commenced,
notwithstanding the contract being of later date.
“10. Our heirs, executors, and assignees, bound to observance.
“11. In case of demise of both parties, our heirs, &c., to succeed
in same manner, and if they all please, they may burn the
contract.
“If anything be very disagreeable in these terms, you will
find me disposed to do everything reasonable for your
satisfaction.”--Boulton MSS.
[147] Watt to Boulton, 3rd July, 1776. Boulton MSS.
While in Scotland Watt obtained orders for several engines; amongst
others, he undertook to supply one for the Torryburn Colliery, in Fife, on
the terms of receiving one-third of the savings effected by it compared
with the engine then at work, with such further sum as might be judged
fair. Another was ordered by Sir Archibald Hope for his colliery near
Edinburgh, on similar terms. At the same time Watt proceeded with the
collection of his old outstanding debts, though these did not amount to
much. “I believe,” he wrote to Boulton, “I shall have no occasion to draw
on you for any money, having got in some of my old scraps, which will
serve, or nearly serve, my occasions here.”
The deed of partnership not arriving, Watt wrote again, pressing Boulton
for some communication from him to satisfy the old gentleman as to his
situation.
“Don’t let me be detected in a falsehood,” said he, “or accused of
imprudence. The thing which sticks most in his [Mr. Macgregor’s]
stomach is, that somehow or other, in case of the failure of
success, I may be brought into a load of debt which may totally
ruin me. I hope you will excuse his caution in this matter, as I
do, when you consider that he is disposing of a favourite child,
and consequently must expect all the security possible for her
wellbeing. I must also do him the justice to say that he has
behaved to me in a very open and friendly manner; and, when he
found that his daughter’s affections were engaged beyond recall,
gave his consent with a good grace.... I have nothing to write
you in the way of news. I am bandied about like a football, and
perfectly impatient to leave this country, but do not care to
come away without my errand. I long vastly to hear from you, how
you all are, and how matters go on. I hope Jemmy is minding his
school and is well: you need not tell him nor anybody else that
I am going to bring him home a mamma.”[148]
Boulton’s reply was perfectly satisfactory. He confirmed the heads of
the agreement, as sketched out by Watt himself, adopting his own words.
He warmly congratulated him on his approaching marriage, being convinced
that it was the goddess of wisdom that had led him to the altar of love.
But he thought Watt might be over delicate as to money matters.
“You certainly,” said he, “have a right to expect from the lady’s
father a child’s share, both present and reversionary; and you
certainly have a right to expect some ready money, as a small sum
may be of more importance to you in the meridian of life than a
large one at the close of it. I have always heard you speak of
the old gentleman as a man of exceeding good sound sense, and
therefore I should think you will have the less difficulty in
settling matters with him. No doubt he will expect some settlement
to be made upon his daughter, and all that I advise is, that you
do not undervalue (according to your custom) your own abilities
or your property. It may be difficult to say what is the value of
your property in partnership with me. However, I will give it a
name, and I do say that I would willingly give you two or perhaps
three thousand pounds for the assignment of your third part of
the Act of Parliament; but I should be sorry to make you so bad
a bargain, or to make any bargain at all that tended to deprive
me of your friendship, acquaintance, and assistance,--hoping, as
I do, that we shall harmoniously live to wear out the twenty-five
years together, which I had rather do than gain a Nabob’s fortune
by being the sole proprietor.... I wish I had more time to tell
you all the circumstances that have occurred in the engine trade;
but that shall be the subject of my next. All is well, and when
you return you’ll be quite charmed at the simplicity and quietness
of the Soho engine.”[149]
[148] Watt to Boulton, 8th July, 1776. Boulton MSS.
[149] Boulton to Watt, 15th July, 1776. Boulton MSS.
With his usual want of confidence in himself, Watt urged Boulton to
come down to Glasgow and assist him in concluding matters with the old
gentleman.
“I am afraid,” he wrote, “that I shall otherwise make a very bad
bargain in money matters, which wise men like you esteem the most
essential part, and I myself, although I be an enamoured swain,
do not altogether despise. You may perhaps think it odd that in
the midst of my friends here I should call for your help; but the
fact is, that from several reasons I do not choose to place that
confidence in any of my friends here that would be necessary in
such a case, and I do not know any of them that have more to say
with the gentleman in question than I have myself. Besides, you
are the only person who can give him satisfactory information
concerning my situation.”
But Boulton was too busy at the time to go down to Glasgow to the help
of his partner. He was full of work, full of orders, full of Soho. He
replied,--
“Although I have added to the list of my bad habits by joking
upon matrimony, yet my disposition and my judgment would lead me
to marry again were I in your case. I know you will be happier as
a married man than as a single one, and therefore it is wisdom
in you to wed; and if that could not be done without my coming
to Scotland, I certainly would come if it were as far again;
but I am so beset with difficulties, that nothing less than the
absolute loss of your life, or wife--which is virtually the same
thing--could bring me.”
He further explained that a good deal of extra work had fallen upon
him, through the absence of some of his most important assistants. Mr.
Matthews, his London financial agent, like Watt, was about to be married,
and would be absent abroad for a tour on a wedding trip, in which he was
to be accompanied by Fothergill, Boulton’s partner in the toy and button
trade. Mr. Scale, the manager, was also absent, added to which the button
orders were in arrear some 16,000 gross; so that, said Boulton, “I have
more real difficulties to grapple with than I hope ever to have in any
other year in my life.”
There were also constant visitors arriving at Soho: among others the Duke
of Buccleuch, who had called to see the works and inquire after Mr. Watt;
and Mr. Moor, of the Society of Engineers in the Adelphi, who had come to
see with his own eyes whether the reports in circulation against the new
engine were true or false. The perfecting of the details of the engine
also required constant attention.
“Our copper bottom,” said Boulton, “hath plagued us very much
by steam leaks, and therefore I have had one cast (with its
conducting pipe) all in one piece; since which the engine doth
not take more than 10 feet of steam, and I hope to reduce that
quantity, as we have just received the new piston, which shall be
put in and at work to-morrow. Our Soho engine never was in such
good order as at present. Bloomfield and Willey [engines] are both
well, and I doubt not but Bow engine will be better than any of
’em.”
Boulton was almost as full of speculation as Watt himself as to the means
of improving the engine. “I did not sleep last night,” he wrote, “my mind
being absorbed by steam.” One of his speculations was as to the means of
increasing the heating surface, and with that object he proposed to apply
the fire “in copper spheres within the water.” His mind was also running
on economising power by working steam expansively, “being clear that the
principle is sound.”
Later, he wrote Watt that he had an application from a distiller at
Bristol for an engine to raise 15,000 gallons of ale per hour 15 feet
high; another for a coal mine in Wales, and two others for London
distilleries. To add to his anxieties, one Humphry Gainsborough, a
dissenting minister at Henley-on-Thames, had instituted proceedings
against Watt for an alleged piracy of his invention! On this Boulton
wrote to his partner,--“I have just received a summons to attend the
Solicitor-General next week in opposition to Gainsborough, otherwise
the solicitor will make his report. This is a disagreeable circumstance,
particularly at this season, when you are absent. Joseph [Harrison] is in
London, and idleness is in our engine-shop.” There was therefore every
reason why Watt should make haste to get married, and return to Soho as
speedily as possible. On the 28th July, 1776, Watt wrote to apologise
for his long absence, and to say that the event was to come off on the
following Monday, after which he would set out immediately for Liverpool,
where he proposed to meet Boulton, unless countermanded. He also intimated
that he had got another order for an engine at Leadhills.[150] Arrived
at Liverpool, a letter from Boulton met him, saying he had been under the
necessity of proceeding to London.
“Gainsborough,” said he, “hath appointed to meet me at Holt’s,
his attorney, on Monday, when I shall say little besides
learning his principles and invention. If we had a hundred wheels
[wheel-engines] ready made, and a hundred small engines, like
Bow engine, and twenty large ones executed, we could readily
dispose of them. Therefore let us make hay while the sun shines,
and gather our barns full before the dark cloud of age lowers
upon us, and before any more Tubal Cains, Watts, Dr. Faustuses,
or Gainsboroughs, arise with serpents like Moses’s to devour
all others.... As to your absence, say nothing about it. I will
forgive it this time, provided you promise me never to marry
again.”[151]
[150] During his Scotch visit, Watt spent much of his time in
arranging his father’s affairs, which had got into confusion.
He was now seventy-five years old, and grown very infirm. “He
is perfectly incapable,” wrote his son, “of giving himself the
least help, and the seeing him in such a situation has much hurt
my spirits.”--Watt to Boulton, 28th July, 1766. Boulton MSS.
[151] Boulton to Watt (without date), 1776. Boulton MSS. In
this letter, Boulton throws out a suggestion for Watt’s
consideration--“When,” he says, “we have got our two-foot pumps
up, I think it would be right to try our Soho engine with a
steam strong enough to work the pumps with the axis in the
centre of the beam, which will be almost 19 lb. upon the inch.”
Watt hastened back to Birmingham, and after settling his wife in her new
home, proceeded with the execution of the orders for engines which had
come in during his two months’ absence. Mr. Wilby was impatient for the
delivery of the Bow engine, and as soon as it was ready, which was early
in September, the materials were forwarded to London with Joseph Harrison,
to be fitted and set to work. Besides careful verbal instructions, Watt
supplied Joseph with full particulars in writing of the measures he was to
adopt in putting the engine together. Not a point in detail was neglected,
and if any difficulty arose, Joseph was directed at once to communicate
with him by letter. When the engine was set to work, it was found that
the steam could not be kept up, on which Watt suggested that as it had
been calculated to make only ten strokes per minute--that being enough
to raise the quantity of water desired--the reason of the defect must be
that, as it was going at fourteen or fifteen strokes the minute, it must
be going too fast. He also pointed out that probably the piston was not
quite good, and perhaps there was some steam-leak into the inner cylinder,
or by the regulators into the condenser; or it was possible that the
injection might spout too far up the horizontal steam-pipe and throw water
into the inner nozzle. All these points Joseph must carefully look to. On
further trials the engine improved; still its performances did not come
up to Watt’s expectations, and there were consequently more directions
from him as to the packing of the pistons and measures for the prevention
of leaks. But to see that his suggestions were properly carried out, Watt
himself went up to town in November, and had the machine put in complete
working trim. His partner, however, could not spare him long, as other
orders were coming in. “We have a positive order,” wrote Boulton, “for an
engine for Tingtang mine, and, from what I heard this day from Mr. Glover,
we may soon expect other orders from Cornwall. Our plot begins to thicken
apace, and if Mr. Wilkinson don’t bustle a little, as well as ourselves,
we shall not gather our harvest before sunset.” ... “I hope to hear,” he
added, “that Joseph hath made a finish, for he is much wanted here.... I
perceive we shall be hard pushed in engine-work; but I have no fears of
being distanced when once the exact course or best track is determined
on.”[152] Joseph Harrison got quite knocked up and ill through his anxiety
about the Bow engine, on which Boulton wrote Watt to send at once for Dr.
Fordyce to attend him, “let the expense be what it will, until you think
him safe landed.”
[152] Boulton to Watt, 3rd November, 1776. In the same letter
Boulton informs Watt that Perrins, another fireman, had returned
from Bedworth, and had not a stroke to do, the fittings for the
second engine not having arrived. The first engine was working
twenty-four hours a day, but the pit was so full of water that
the owners feared they would before long be drowned out; and
if the work was stopped, the loss would be far greater than the
whole value of the engine. But the sales of coal, though large,
were but “a small consideration in comparison with the starving
to death of the poor ribbon-weavers of Coventry and a great part
of Oxfordshire.... Coals are 9_d._ and 10_d._ per cwt., and ’tis
said they will be a shilling at Birmingham on Monday.”
A letter reached Soho from the Shadwell Waterworks Company relative to a
pumping-engine, and Boulton asked Watt, while in town, to wait upon them
on the subject; but he cautioned Watt that he “never knew a Committee
but, in its corporate capacity, was both rogue and fool, and that the
Shadwell Committee were rich rogues.” Watt, by his own account, treated
them very cavalierly. “Yesterday,” said he, “I went again to Shadwell
to meet the deputies of the Committee, and to examine their engines when
going. We came to no terms further than what we wrote them before, which I
confirmed, and offered moreover to keep the engine in order for one year.
They modestly insisted that we should do so for the whole twenty-five
years, which I firmly refused. They seemed to doubt the reality of the
performances of the Bow engine; so I told them we did not solicit their
orders and would wait patiently until they were convinced,--moreover, that
while they had any doubts remaining, we would not undertake their business
on any terms. I should not have been so sharp with them had they not begun
with bullying me, _selon la mode de Londres_. But the course I took was
not without its effect, for in proportion as they found I despised their
job, they grew more civil. After parting with these heroes I went down
to Stratford, where I found that the engine had gone very well. I caused
it to be kept going all the afternoon, and this morning I new-heat the
piston and kept it going till dinner time at about fifteen strokes per
minute, with a steam of one inch or at most two inches strong, and the
longer it went the better it grew.... I propose that Joseph should not
leave it for a few days, until both his health and that of the engine be
confirmed. A relapse of the engine would ruin our reputation here, and
indeed elsewhere.”[153]
[153] Watt to Boulton, 3rd December, 1776. Boulton MSS.
The Bow engine had, however, a serious relapse in the following spring,
and it happened in this way:--Mr. Smeaton, the engineer, having heard
of its success, which he doubted, requested Hadley, Boulton’s agent, to
go down with him to Stratford-le-Bow to witness its performances. He
carefully examined the engine, and watched it while at work, and the
conclusion he arrived at was, that it was a pretty engine, but much
too complex for practical uses. On leaving the place Smeaton gave the
engineman some money to drink, and he drank so much that next day he let
the engine run quite wild, and it was thrown completely out of order. Mr.
Wilby, the manager, was very wroth at the circumstance. He discharged the
engineman and called upon Hadley to replace the valves, which had been
broken, and make good the other damage that had been done to the engine.
When the repairs were made, everything went satisfactorily as before.
Watt had many annoyances of this sort to encounter, and one of his
greatest difficulties was the incapacity and unsteadiness of his workmen.
Although the original Soho men were among the best of their kind, the
increasing business of the firm necessarily led to the introduction of
a large number of new hands, who represented merely the average workmen
of the day. They were for the most part poor mechanics, very inexpert at
working in metal, and greatly given to drink.[154]
[154] Fire-engines at work were objects of curiosity in those
days, and had many visitors. The engineman at the York Buildings
reminded those who went to see his engine that something was
expected, placing over the entrance to the engine room the
following distich:--
“Whoever wants to see the engine here,
Must give the engine-man a drop of beer.”
In organising the works at Soho, Boulton and Watt found it necessary
to carry division of labour to the farthest practicable point. There
were no slide-lathes, planing-machines, or boring-tools, such as now
render mechanical accuracy of construction almost a matter of certainty.
Everything depended upon the individual mechanic’s accuracy of hand and
eye; and yet mechanics generally were then much less skilled than they are
now. The way in which Boulton and Watt contrived partially to get over the
difficulty was, to confine their workmen to special classes of work, and
make them as expert in them as possible. By continued practice in handling
the same tools and fabricating the same articles, they thus acquired great
individual proficiency. “Without our tools and our workmen,” said Watt,
“very little could be done.”
But when the men got well trained, the difficulty was to keep them.
Foreign tempters were constantly trying to pick up Boulton and Watt’s men,
and induce them by offers of larger wages to take service abroad. The two
fitters sent up to London to erect the Bow engine were strongly pressed
to go out to Russia.[155] There were also French agents in England at the
same time, who tried to induce certain of Boulton and Watt’s men to go
over to Paris and communicate the secret of making the new engines to M.
Perrier, who had undertaken to pump water from the Seine for the supply
of Paris. The German States also sent over emissaries with a like object,
Baron Stein having been specially commissioned by his Government to master
the secret of Watt’s engine--to obtain working plans of it and bring away
workmen capable of making it,--the first step taken being to obtain access
to the engine-rooms by bribing the workmen.
[155] “Mr. White told me this morning as a great secret,” wrote
Boulton’s London agent, “that he has reason to believe that
Carless and Webb were going beyond sea, for Carless had told him
he had 1000_l._ offered for six years, and he overheard Webb say
that he was ready at an hour’s warning.” Carless and Webb were
immediately ordered back to Soho, and the firm obtained warrants
for the apprehension of the men as well as of the person who
had bribed them, if they attempted to abscond “even though,”
said Watt to Boulton, “Carless be a drunken and comparatively
useless fellow.” Later he wrote, “I think there is no risk of
Webb’s leaving us soon, and he offers to re-engage. Carless has
been working very diligently this week, and is well on with his
nozzle patterns. I mentioned to William the story of Sir John
Fielding’s warrant, to show him that we are determined to act
with spirit in case of interlopers.”--Watt to Boulton, May 3,
1777.
Besides the difficulties Boulton and Watt had to encounter in training
and disciplining their own workmen, they had also to deal with the want
of skill on the part of those to whom the working of their engines
was intrusted after they had been delivered and fixed complete. They
occasionally supplied trustworthy men of their own; but they could not
educate mechanics fast enough, and needed all the best men for their own
work. They were therefore compelled to rely on the average mechanics of
the day, the greater part of whom were comparatively unskilled and knew
nothing of the steam-engine. Hence such mishaps as those which befell the
Bow engine, through the engineman getting drunk and reckless, as above
described. To provide for this contingency Watt endeavoured to simplify
the engine as much as possible, so as to bring its working and repair
within the capacity of the average workman.
At a very early period, while experimenting at Kinneil, he had formed the
idea of working steam expansively, and altered his model from time to time
with that object. Boulton had taken up and continued the experiments at
Soho, believing the principle to be sound and that great economy would
attend its adoption. The early engines were accordingly made so that the
steam might be cut off before the piston had made its full stroke, and
expand within the cylinder, the heat outside it being maintained by the
expedient of the steam-case. But it was shortly found that this method of
working was beyond the capacity of the average engineman of that day, and
it was consequently given up for a time.
“We used to send out,” said Watt to Robert Hart, “a cylinder of
double the size wanted, and cut off the steam at half stroke. This
was a great saving of steam so long as the valves remained as at
first; but when our men left her to the charge of the person who
was to keep her, he began to make or try to make improvements,
often by giving more steam. The engine did more work while the
steam lasted, but the boiler could not keep up the demand. Then
complaints came of want of steam, and we had to send a man down
to see what was wrong. This was so expensive that we resolved to
give up the expansion of the steam until we could get men that
could work it, as a few tons of coal per year was less expensive
than having the work stopped. In some of the mines a few hours’
stoppage was a serious matter, as it would cost the proprietor as
much as 70_l._ per hour.”[156]
The principle was not, however, abandoned. It was of great value and
importance in an economical point of view, and was again taken up by Watt
and embodied in a more complete form in a subsequent invention. Since his
time, indeed, expansive working has been carried to a much farther extent
than he probably ever dreamt of, and has more than realised the beneficial
results which his sagacious insight so early anticipated.
[156] Robert Hart’s ‘Reminiscences of James Watt,’ cited above.