MORE DIFFICULTIES AND MORE INVENTIONS--BOULTON AGAIN IN CORNWALL.
The battle of the firm had hitherto been all up-hill. Nearly twenty years
had passed since Watt had made his invention. His life since then had
been a constant struggle, and it was a struggle still. Thirteen years had
passed since the original patent had been taken out, and seven since the
Act had been passed for its extension. But the engine had as yet yielded
no profit, and the outlay of capital continued. Notwithstanding Boulton’s
energy and resources, the partners were often in the greatest straits
for money, and sometimes, as Saturday nights came round, they had to beat
about among their friends for the means of paying the workmen’s wages.
Though Watt continued to imagine himself on the brink of ruin, things
were not really so gloomy as he supposed. We find Boulton stating
in a confidential letter to Matthews, that the dues payable on the
pumping-engines actually erected in 1782 amounted to 4320_l._ a year;
and that when all the engines in progress had been finished, they would
probably amount to about 9000_l._ It is true, the dues were paid with
difficulty by the mining interest, still in a state of great depression,
but Boulton looked forward with confidence to better days coming round.
Indeed, he already saw his way through the difficulties of the firm, and
encouraged his doleful partner to hope that in the course of a very few
years more, they would be rid of their burdens.
As Cornwall was, however, now becoming well supplied with pumping-engines,
it became necessary to open up new branches of business to keep the
Soho manufactory in full work. With this object, Boulton became more and
more desirous of applying the engine to the various purposes of rotary
motion. In one of his visits to Wales, in 1781, he had seen a powerful
copper-rolling mill driven by water, and when told that its defect was
that it was liable to be stopped in summer during drought, he immediately
asked--“Why not use our engine? It goes night and day, summer and winter,
and is altogether unaffected by drought.” Immediately on his return
home, he made a model of a steam rolling-mill, with two cylinders and two
beams, connecting the power by a horizontal axis; and by the end of the
year he had a steam forge erected at Soho on this plan. “It answers very
well,” he wrote to Matthews, “and astonishes all the ironmasters; for,
although it is a small engine, it draws even more steel per day than a
large rolling-mill in this neighbourhood draws by water.” Mr. Wilkinson
was so much pleased with it that he ordered one to be made on a large
scale for the Bradley ironworks; and another was shortly after ordered
for Rotherham. But the number of iron mills was exceedingly limited,
and Boulton did not anticipate any large extension of business in that
quarter. If, however, he could once get the rotary engine introduced as
the motive power for corn and flour mills, he perceived that the demand
would be considerable. Writing to Watt on the subject, he said, “When
Wheal Virgin is at work, and all the Cornish business is in good train,
we must look out for orders, as all our treaties are seemingly at an end,
having none now upon the tapis. There is no other Cornwall to be found,
and the most likely line for increasing the consumption of our engines is
the application of them to mills, which is certainly an extensive field.”
Watt, on his return to Birmingham from Cornwall, proceeded to embody his
plan for securing rotary motion in a working engine, so that he might be
enabled to exhibit the thing in actual work. He was stimulated to action
by the report which reached his ears that a person in Birmingham had
set agoing a self-moving steam rotator, in imitation of his, on which he
exclaimed, “Surely the Devil of Rotations is afoot! I hope he will whirl
them into Bedlam or Newgate.”[244] Boulton, who had by this time gone
to Cornwall for the winter, wrote to him from Cosgarne, “It is certainly
expensive; but nevertheless I think, as we have so much at stake, that we
should proceed to execute such rotatives as you have specified.... You
should get a good workman or two to execute your ideas with despatch,
lest they perish. The value of their wages for a year might be 100_l._,
but it would be the means of our keeping the start that we now have of
all others. But above all, there is nothing of more importance than
the perfect completion of the double expansive reciprocating engine
as soon as may be.”[245] Watt replied that he was busily occupied in
getting the rotative motion applied to one of the Soho engines. “These
rotatives,” said he, “have taken up all my time and attention for months,
so that I can scarcely say that I have done anything which can be called
business. Our accounts lie miserably confused. We are going on in a very
considerable weekly expense at Soho, and I can see nothing likely to be
produced from it which will be an equivalent.” Speaking of the prospect
of further improvements, he added, “It is very possible that, excepting
what can be done in improving the mechanics of the engine, nothing much
better than we have already done will be allowed by Nature, who has fixed
a _ne plus ultra_ in most things.”[246]
[244] Watt to Boulton, 19th September, 1782.
[245] Boulton to Watt, 28th September, 1782.
[246] Watt to Boulton, 3rd October, 1782.
While thus hopelessly proceeding with the rotative engine, Watt was
disquieted by the intelligence which reached him from Boulton, as to
the untoward state of affairs in Cornwall. At some of the most important
mines, in which Boulton and Watt held shares, the yield had considerably
fallen off, and the price of the ores being still very low, they had
in a great measure ceased to be remunerative. Hence appeals were made
to Boulton on all sides for an abatement of the engine dues. Unwilling
to concede this, the adventurers proceeded to threaten him with the
Hornblowers, whose engine they declared their intention of adopting.
As, however, Boulton and Watt’s engines were all going exceedingly well,
and as the Hornblowers had not yet been able to get one of their boasted
engines to work satisfactorily,[247] the adventurers hesitated for the
present to take any overt steps in the matter.
[247] “On my road to this place (Cosgarne) I stayed two days at
Bristol in order to learn the particulars of Hornblower’s new
engine erected in that neighbourhood, and I had the satisfaction
to find that it is worse than a common engine, although made
upon our principles; but from the various evasions introduced it
is as bad as need be. Nevertheless I think we should stop it in
order to stop the effects of the numerous lies they propagate
in this county, and other mischiefs.”--Boulton to Watt, 30th
September, 1782.
Boulton had a long and disagreeable battle to fight with the adventurers
on this point, which lasted for many months, during which the Hornblowers
continued to stimulate them with the agreeable prospect of getting rid
of the dues payable in respect of the savings of fuel by the condensing
engines. Boulton resisted them at every point single-handed; the battle
being, as he said, “Boulton and Watt against all Cornwall.”[248] He kept
Watt fully informed from day to day of all that passed, and longed for
more rapid means of communication,--the postal service being then so
defective that no less than thirteen days elapsed before Boulton, at
Truro, could receive an answer from Watt at Birmingham. On one occasion
we find Watt’s letter eleven days on the road between the two places.
The partners even had fears that their letters were tampered with in
transit; and, in order to carry on their correspondence confidentially,
Watt proposed to employ a shorthand alphabet, which he had learnt from
Dr. Priestley, in which to write at least the names of persons, “as our
correspondence,” he observed, “ought to be managed with all possible
secrecy, especially as to names.”
[248] “I don’t know a man in Cornwall amongst the adventurers,”
he wrote, “but what would think it patriotism to free the mines
from the tribute they pay to us, and thereby divide our rights
amongst their own dear selves. Nevertheless, let us keep our
tempers, and keep the firm hold we have got; let us do justice,
show mercy and walk humbly, and all, I hope, will be right at
last.”--Boulton to Watt, 2nd November, 1782.
Boulton, as usual, led a very active life in Cornwall. Much of his time
was occupied in riding from mine to mine, inspecting the engines at work,
and superintending the erection of others. The season being far advanced,
the weather was bad, and the roads miry; but, wet or dry, he went his
rounds. In one of his letters he gives an account of a miserable journey
home on horseback, on a certain rainy, windy, dark night in November, when
he was “caught in water up to 12 hands.” “It is very disagreeable,” he
adds, “that one cannot stay out till dark upon the most emergent business
without risking one’s life.” But once at home he was happy. “The greatest
comfort I find here,” he says, “is in being shut out from the world, and
the world from me. At the same time I have quite as much visiting as I
wish for.” One of his favourite amusements was collecting and arranging
fossils, some for his friend Wedgwood, and others for his own “fossilry”
at Soho. Boulton was well supported out of doors by William Murdock, now
regarded as “the right hand” of the concern in Cornwall.
“Murdock hath been indefatigable,” he wrote Watt, “ever since
they began [at Wheal Virgin new Engine]. He has scarcely been in
bed or taken necessary food.... After slaving day and night on
Thursday and Friday, a letter came from Wheal Virgin that he must
go instantly to set their engine to work or they would let out
the fire. He went and set the engine to work: it worked well for
the five or six hours he remained. He left it and returned to the
Consolidated Mines about eleven at night, and was employed about
the engines till four this morning, and then went to bed. I found
him at ten this morning in Poldice Cistern, seeking for pins and
casters that had jumped out, when I insisted on his going home to
bed.”[249]
[249] Boulton to Watt, 30th September, 1782.
On one occasion, when an engine superintended by Murdock stopped through
some accident occurring to it, the water rose in the mine, and the miners
were drowned out. Upon this occurring, they came “roaring at him” for
having thrown them out of work, and threatened to tear him to pieces.
Nothing daunted, he went through the midst of the men, and proceeded to
the invalided engine, which he succeeded in very shortly repairing and
setting to work again. The miners were so rejoiced that they were carried
by their feelings into the opposite extreme; and when he came out of the
engine-house they cheered him vociferously, and insisted upon carrying
him home on their shoulders in triumph!
About this time, Boulton became increasingly anxious to ascertain what
the Hornblowers were doing. They continued to brag of the extraordinary
powers of the engine erected by them at Radstoke, near Bristol, whither he
proposed to go, to ascertain its construction and qualities, as well as to
warn the persons who were employing them as to the consequences of their
infringing the existing patent. But he was tied to Cornwall by urgent
business, and could not leave his post for a day. “During the forking
of these two great mines,” said he, “I dare not stir two miles from the
spot, and it will yet be six weeks before I regain my liberty.”[250] He
determined, therefore, to send over James Law, a Soho man on whom he could
rely, to ascertain, if possible, the character of the new engine, and he
also asked his partner Watt to wait upon the proprietors of Radstoke so
soon as he could make it convenient to do so. Law accordingly proceeded to
Radstoke, and soon found out where the engine was; but as the Horners were
all in the neighbourhood, keeping watch and ward over it turn and turn
about, he was unable to see it except through the engine-house window,
when it was not working. He learnt, however, that there was something
seriously wrong with it, and that the engineers were considerably
crestfallen about its performances.
[250] Boulton to Watson of Bristol, 7th November, 1782.
Watt proceeded to Bristol, as recommended by his partner, for the purpose
of having a personal interview with Hornblower’s employers. On his
arrival, he found that Major Tucker, the principal partner, was absent;
and though he succeeded in seeing Mr. Hill, another of the partners, he
could get no satisfactory reply from him as to the intentions of the firm
with respect to the new engine. Having travelled a hundred miles on his
special errand, Watt determined not to return to Birmingham until he had
seen the principal partner. On inquiry he found that Major Tucker had gone
to Bath, and thither Watt followed him. At Bath he found that the Major
had gone to Melcompton. Watt took a chaise and followed him. The Major
was out hunting; and Watt waited impatiently at a little alehouse in the
village till three o’clock, when the Major returned--“a potato-faced,
chuckle-headed fellow, with a scar on the pupil of one eye. In short,”
said Watt, “I did not like his physiog.” After shortly informing the Major
of the object of his visit, who promised to bring the subject under the
notice of his partners at a meeting to be held in about three weeks’ time,
Watt, finding that he could do no more, took his leave; but, before he
left Bristol, he inserted in the local papers an advertisement, prepared
by Boulton, cautioning the public against using the Hornblowers’ engine,
as being a direct infringement of their patent. For the present, indeed,
there seemed but little reason to apprehend danger from the Hornblowers,
whose engine was still undergoing alterations in detail, if not in
principle; and it appeared doubtful, from the trials which had been made
of it, whether it would ever prove an economical working engine.
Watt then returned to Birmingham, to proceed with the completion of his
rotary motion. Boulton kept urging that the field for pumping-engines
was limited, that their Cornish prospects were still gloomy, and that
they must very soon look out for new fields. One of his schemes was the
applying of the steam-engine to the winding of coals. “A hundred engines
at 100_l._ a year each,” he said, “would be a better thing than all
Cornwall.” But the best field of all, he still held, was mills. “Let us
remember,” said he, “the Birmingham motto, to ‘strike while the iron is
hot.’”
Watt, as usual, was not so sanguine as his partner, and rather doubtful
of the profit to be derived from this source. From a correspondence
between him and Mr. William Wyatt, of London, on the subject, we find him
discouraging the scheme of applying steam-engines to drive corn-mills; on
which Boulton wrote to Wyatt,--
“You have had a correspondence with my friend Watt, but I know not
the particulars.... You must make allowance in what Mr. Watt says
... he _under_ values the merits of his own works.... _I_ will
take all risks in erecting an engine for a corn-mill.... I think
I can safely say our engine will grind _four_ times the quantity
of corn per bushel of coal compared with any engine hitherto
erected.”[251]
[251] Boulton to Wyatt, 16th December, 1782.
About the same time we find Boulton writing to Watt,--
“You seem to be fearful that mills will not answer, and that
you cannot make Reynolds’s amount to more than 20_l._ a year.
For my part, I think that mills, though trifles in comparison
with Cornish engines, present a field that is boundless, and
that will be more permanent than these transient mines, and
more satisfactory than these inveterate, ungenerous, and envious
miners and mine lords. As to the trouble of small engines, I would
curtail it by making a pattern card of them (which may be done
in the course of next year), and confine ourselves to those sorts
and sizes until our convenience admits of more.”[252]
[252] Boulton to Watt, 7th December, 1782.
In the mean time Watt, notwithstanding his doubts, had been proceeding
with the completion of his rotative machine, and by the end of the year
applied it with success to a tilt-hammer, as well as to a corn-mill
at Soho. Some difficulties presented themselves at first, but they
were speedily surmounted. The number of strokes made by the hammer was
increased from 18 per minute in the first experiment, to 25 in the second;
and Watt contemplated increasing the speed to even 250 or 300 strokes a
minute, by diminishing the height to which the hammer rose before making
its descending blow. “There is now no doubt,” said he, “that fire-engines
will drive mills; but I entertain some doubts whether anything is to
be got by them, as by any computation I have yet made of the mill for
Reynolds [recently ordered] I cannot make it come to more than 20_l._ per
annum, which will do little more than pay trouble. Perhaps some others
may do better.”[253]
[253] Watt to Boulton, 28th November, 1782.
[Illustration: “OLD BESS.”[254]]
[254] The above illustration represents the first engine employed
at Soho, with the alterations subsequently introduced, for the
purpose of producing rotary motion. The old Kinneil engine,
“Beelzebub,” as Watt called her, was entirely removed, and
replaced by this engine, as explained by Watt in his MS. Memoir
of Boulton now before us, wherein he states,--“The first engine
of 18 inches cylinder, which was employed in returning the
water to Soho mill, was replaced about 1778 or 1779 by a larger
engine, the first on the expansive principle, which still
remains there.” The engine became known at Soho as “Old Bess,”
and she continued in regular work until within the last eight
years. The illustration shows the state in which the engine now
stands in South Kensington Museum.
A. steam cylinder; B. steam pipe; C. throttle valve; D. steam
valve; E. eduction valve; F. eduction pipe; G. valve gearing;
H. condenser; I. air pump; K. air pump rod; L. foot valve; M.
hand gear tappet rod; N. parallel motion; O. balance weight;
P. rocking beam; Q. connecting rod; R. feed pump rod; S. sun
wheel; T. planet wheel; U. fly wheel; W. governor; X. feedwater
cistern.
The problem of producing rotary motion by steam-power was thus solved to
the satisfaction even of Watt himself. But though a boundless field for
the employment of the engine now presented itself, Watt was anything but
elated at the prospect. For some time he doubted whether it would be worth
the while of the Soho firm to accept orders for engines of this sort.
When Boulton went to Dublin to endeavour to secure a patent for Ireland,
Watt wrote to him thus:--“Some people at Burton are making application
to us for an engine to work a cotton-mill; but from their letter and the
man they have sent here, I have no great opinion of their abilities....
If you come home by way of Manchester, please not to seek for orders for
cotton-mill engines, because I hear that there are so many mills erecting
on powerful streams in the north of England, that the trade must soon
be overdone, and consequently our labour may be lost.” Boulton, however,
had no such misgivings. He foresaw that before long the superior power,
regularity, speed, and economy, of the steam-engine, must recommend it
for adoption in all branches of manufacture in which rotative motion was
employed; and he had no hesitation in applying for orders notwithstanding
the opposition of his partner. The first rotary engine was made for Mr.
Reynolds, of Ketley, towards the end of 1782, and was used to drive a
corn-mill. It was some time before another order was received, though
various inquiries were made about engines for the purpose of polishing
glass, grinding malt, rolling iron, and such like.[255] The first engine
of the kind erected in London was at Goodwyn and Co.’s brewery; and
the second, still working, though in an altered form, at the Messrs.
Whitbread’s. These were shortly followed by other engines of the same
description, until there was scarcely a brewery in London that was not
supplied with one.
[255] “We have had a visit to-day from a Mr. Cort of Gosport, who
says he has a forge there, and has found out some grand secret
in the making of iron, by which he can make double the quantity
at the same expense and in the same time as usual. He says he
wants some kind of engine, but could not tell what; wants some
of us to call on him, and says he had some correspondence with
you on the subject. He seems a simple goodnatured man, but not
very knowing. He says he has most of the smith-work for the
king’s yard, and has a forge, a rolling and slitting mill. I
think him a brother projector.”--Watt to Boulton, 14th December,
1782.
In the mean time, the works at Soho continued to be fully employed in
the manufacture of pumping-engines. But as the county of Cornwall was
becoming well supplied,--no fewer than twenty-one having now been erected
there, only one of the old Newcomen construction continuing in work,--it
was probable that before long the demand from that quarter must slacken,
if not come to an end. There were, however, other uses to which the
pumping-engine might be applied; and one of the most promising was the
drainage of the Fen lands. Some adventurers at Soham, near Cambridge,
having made inquiries on the subject, Watt wrote to his partner, “I look
upon these Fens as the only trump card we have left in our hand.”[256]
The adventurers proposed that Boulton and Watt should take an interest
in their scheme by subscribing part of the necessary capital. But Watt
decidedly objected to this, as he did not wish to repeat his Cornish
difficulties in the Fens. He was willing to supply engines on reasonable
terms, but as for shares he would have none of them. The conclusion
he eventually arrived at with respect to his proposed customers was
this,--“Consider Fen men as Cornish men, only more cunning.”
In the midst of his great labours, Boulton was reminded that he was human.
He had for years been working at too high pressure, and the tear and wear
began to tell upon his health. Watt expostulated with him, telling him
that he was trying to do half-a-dozen men’s work; but in vain. He was
committed to so many important enterprises--he had so much at stake--the
liabilities he had to meet from day to day were so heavy--that he was in
a measure forced to be active. To his friend Matthews he lamented that
he was under the necessity of “slaving from morning till night, working
fourteen hours a day, in the drudgery of a Birmingham manufacturer and
hardware merchant.” But this could not last, and before long he was
threatened with a break-down. His friends Drs. Withering and Darwin urged
him at once to “knock off” and take a long holiday--to leave Soho and its
business, its correspondence, and its visitors, and get as far away from
it as possible.
[256] 4th December, 1782.
Acting on their advice, he resolved on making a long-promised visit to
Scotland, and he set out on his tour in the autumn of 1783. He went by
Newcastle, where he visited the principal coal mines, and from thence
to Edinburgh, where he had some pleasant intercourse with Dr. Black
and Professor Robison. It is evident from his letters that he did not
take much ease during his journey, for he carried about with him his
steam-engine--at least in his head. “I talked with Dr. Black and another
chemical friend,” he wrote, “respecting my plan for saving alkali at such
bleach-grounds as our fire-engines are used at instead of water-wheels:
the Doctor did not start any objections, but, on the contrary, much
approved it.” From Edinburgh he proceeded to the celebrated ironworks
at Carron, a place in which he naturally felt a peculiar interest. There
his friend Roebuck had started his great enterprise, and there Watt had
erected his first engine. His visit there, however, was not so much
for curiosity or pleasure, but for business and experiment. “During
my residence in Scotland,” said he, “one month of my time was closely
employed at Carron Ironworks in settling accounts, but principally in
making a great number of experiments on all their iron ores, and in
putting them into the train of making good bar-iron, in which I succeeded
to my wishes, although they had never made a single bar of tough iron
at Carron before.”[257] In the course of his journey he made a large
collection of fossils for his museum, and the weight of his bags sensibly
increased almost daily. On his way through Ayrshire he called on Lord
Dundonald, a kindred spirit in chemical and mechanical scheming, and
examined his mineral tar works. He wrote to Mr. Gilbert, the Duke of
Bridgewater’s manager at Worsley, that “the tar is better for the bottoms
of vessels than the vegetable tar; and the coal-oil hath many uses.
Query--if such a work might not be a useful appendage to your colliery
and canal.”
[257] Letter to Thomas Knox, M.P.
Boulton returned to Soho greatly improved in health, and was shortly
immersed as before in the business of the factory. He found considerable
arrears of correspondence requiring to be brought up. Several of the
letters waiting for him were from schemers of new inventions connected
with the steam-engine. Whenever an inventor thought he had discovered
anything new, he at once rushed to Boulton with it. He was looked upon
as the lord and leader of steam power. His reputation for enterprise
and business aptitude, and the energetic manner in which he had pushed
Watt’s invention, were now so widely known, that every new schemer saw a
fortune within his reach could he but enlist Boulton on his side. Hence
much of his time was occupied in replying to letters from schemers,--from
inventors of perpetual motion, of flying-machines, of locomotion by
steam, and of various kinds of rotary motion. In one of his letters we
find him complaining of so much of his time being “taken up in answering
great numbers of letters he had lately been plagued with from eccentric
persons of no business;” for it was his practice never to leave a letter
unanswered, no matter how insignificant or unreasonable his correspondent
might be.[258]
[258] With an almost excess of politeness, Boulton wrote long
letters to unknown correspondents to set them right about
mechanical errors into which they seemed to him to have fallen.
Thus a Mr. Knipe of Chelsea, supposing he had discovered a
perpetual motion machine, wrote inviting Boulton to join him
as a partner. Though the man was without means and evidently
foolish, Boulton wrote him several long letters in the kindest
spirit, pointing out that his scheme was contrary to reason and
science. “It is impossible,” said he, “for inanimate mechanism
to _produce_ the least degree of power or to augment the sum
total of the _primum mobile_. Mechanism may communicate or
concentrate or economise power, but cannot create or augment
it.” Knipe replied at great length, vindicating his invention.
His enthusiasm pleased Boulton, who, in the generosity of his
nature, sent him a draft for ten guineas on his London bankers
to enable the poor inventor to secure his invention if there
was really anything in it. But nothing more was heard of Knipe’s
Perpetual Motion Machine.
After a short visit to London, Boulton proceeded into Cornwall to look
after the engines there, and watch the progress of the mining operations
in which by this time he had become so largely interested. He found the
adventurers in a state of general grumble at the badness of the times,
the lowness of prices, the losses incurred in sinking for ore that could
not be found, and the heaviness of the dues for engine-power payable to
Boulton and Watt. At such times, the partners were usually beset with
applications for abatement, to which they were under the necessity of
submitting to prevent the mines being altogether closed. Thus the dues
at Chacewater were reduced from 2500_l._ to 1000_l._ a year, and the
adventurers were still pressing for further reductions.[259] What provoked
Boulton most, however, was, not the loss of dues so much as the threats
which were constantly held out to him that unless the demands of the
adventurers were complied with, they would employ the Hornblowers.
[259] No wonder the miners were so urgent for reductions in
working expenses, as we find from a communication from Watt
to Boulton, of facts to be laid before Parliament against the
proposed tax on coal, that Chacewater had sunk 50,000_l._ in
setting the mine to work; Wheal Virgin 28,000_l._ in ten months,
and still unprosperous; Poldice a very large sum, and merely
paying expenses; Wheal Chance 35,000_l._, and only moderately
prosperous; Pool 14,000_l._, without much prospect of recovery;
Roskere languishing, and not paying expenses; United Mines,
which had been at death’s door, still in a tottering state;
Wheal Union stopped, after losing about 8000_l._; Dalcoath
500_l._ spent on timber per month, and a new kibble-rope, of
above a ton weight, worn out in a fortnight. [To draw a kibble
of ore then, weighing about 3 cwt., took fully fifteen minutes,
owing to the great depth of that mine, and two-thirds of the
stuff drawn was stones.] To which Watt added, “if we had not
furnished the miners with more effectual means of draining
the water, almost all the deep mines would have been abandoned
before now.”
“It is a disagreeable thing,” he wrote, “to live amongst one’s
enemies, and all the adventurers are so, except Phillips and the
Foxes, who are fair men although they would rather have engines
free. I have had many hints given me that the Trumpeters were
reviving their mischief, and many causes for uneasiness, but I did
not wish you to partake of them, and therefore have been silent;
but they are now striking at the root of us, and therefore we
must defend ourselves or fall.... I think if we could but keep
up our spirits and be active we might vanquish all the host. But
I must own that I have been low-spirited ever since I have been
here--have been indolent, and feel as if the springs of life were
let down.”
It does not, however, appear from the letter to Watt in which this
complaint occurs, that Boulton had been at all indolent, as he speaks
of being in almost daily attendance at the miners’ meetings; one day at
Poldice, the next at Consolidated Mines, and so on. Of the latter meeting
he says,--
“There was a full attendance; Jethro looked impudent, but
mortified to see the new little engine drawing kibbles from
two pits exceedingly well and very manageable, and afterwards
it worked six stamps each 2½ = 14 cwt., lifted twice at each
revolution, or four times for every stroke of the engine. I
suppose there were a thousand people present to see the engine
work.”
Watt was, on his part, rather opposed to making further concessions, which
only seemed to have the effect of inviting demands for more.
“People,” said he, “do not employ us out of personal regard, but
to serve themselves; and why should not we look after ourselves in
like manner.... John Taylor died the other day worth 200,000_l._,
without ever doing one generous action. I do not mean that we
should follow _his_ example. I should not consent to oppression
or to take any unfair advantage of my neighbour’s necessity, but I
think it blameable to exercise generosity towards men who display
none towards us. It is playing an unfair game when the advantage
is wholly on their side. If Wheal Virgin threatened to stop unless
we abated one-half, they should stop for me; but if it appeared
that, according to the mode settled in making the agreement, we
had too high a premium, I should voluntarily reduce it to whatever
was just.”
While Boulton was fighting for dues in Cornwall, and labouring as
before to improve the business management of the mines in which he was
interested as a shareholder, Watt was busily occupied at Soho in turning
out new engines for various purposes, as well as in perfecting several
long-contemplated inventions. The manufactory, which had for a time been
unusually slack, was again in full work. Several engines were in hand for
the London brewers. Wedgwood had ordered an engine to grind flints;[260]
and orders were coming in for rotative engines for various purposes, such
as driving saw-mills in America and sugar-mills in the West Indies. Work
was, indeed, so plentiful that Watt was opposed to further orders for
rotatives being taken, as the drawings for them occupied so much time, and
they brought in but small profit. “I see plainly,” said he, “that every
rotation engine will cost twice the trouble of one for raising water, and
will in general pay only half the money. Therefore I beg you will not
undertake any more rotatives until our hands are clear, which will not
be before 1785. We have already more work in hand than we have people to
execute it in the interval.”[261]
[260] The engine was of 40-horse power. It was erected at the
“Black Works,” Etruria, where it continues working with the
sun and planet motion,--one of the very few engines of the old
construction still remaining in existence.
[261] Watt to Boulton, 22nd June, 1784.
One reason why Watt was more than usually economical of his time was,
that he was then in the throes of the inventions patented by him in the
course of this year. Though racked by headaches which, he complained,
completely “dumfounded” him and perplexed his mind, he could not restrain
his irrepressible instinct to invent; and the result was the series of
inventions embodied in his patent of 1784, including, among other things,
the application of the steam-engine to the working of a tilt-hammer for
forging iron and steel, to driving wheel-carriages for carrying persons
and goods, and for other purposes. The specification also included the
beautiful invention of the parallel motion, of which Watt himself said,
“Though I am not over anxious after fame, yet I am more proud of the
parallel motion than of any other mechanical invention I have ever made.”
Watt was led to meditate this contrivance by the practical inconvenience
which he experienced in communicating the direct vertical motion of the
piston-rod by means of racks and sectors, to the angular motion of the
working beam. He was gradually led to entertain the opinion that some
means might be contrived for accomplishing this object by motions turning
upon centres; and, working upon this idea, he gradually elaborated his
invention. So soon as he caught sight of the possible means of overcoming
the difficulty, he wrote to Boulton in Cornwall,--
“I have started a new hare. I have got a glimpse of a method
of causing a piston-rod to move up and down perpendicularly by
only fixing it to a piece of iron upon the beam, without chains
or perpendicular guides or untowardly friction, arch heads, or
other pieces of clumsiness; by which contrivance it answers fully
to expectation. About 5 feet in the height of her house may be
saved in 8-feet strokes, which I look upon as a capital saving,
and it will answer for double engines as well as for single ones.
I have only tried it in a slight model yet, so cannot build
upon it, though I think it a very probable thing to succeed.
It is one of the most ingenious, simple pieces of mechanism I
have ever contrived, but I beg nothing may be said on it till I
specify.”[262]
[262] Watt to Boulton, 30th June, 1784. Boulton MSS.
[Illustration: THE PARALLEL MOTION.]
He immediately set to work to put his idea to the practical proof, and
only eleven days later he wrote,--
“I have made a very large model of the new substitute for racks
and sectors, which seems to bid fair to answer. The rod goes up
and down quite in a perpendicular line without racks, chains, or
guides. It is a perpendicular motion derived from a combination of
motions about centres--very simple, has very little friction, has
nothing standing higher than the back of the beam, and requires
the centre of the beam to be only half the stroke of the engine
higher than the top of the piston-rod when at lowest, and has no
inclination to pull the piston-rod either one way or another, only
straight up and down.... However, don’t pride yourself on it--it
is not fairly tried yet, and may have unknown faults.”[263]
[263] The parallel motion was first put in practice in the
engine erected for Mr. Whitbread; Watt informing Boulton (27th
October, 1785) that “the parallel motion of Whitbread’s answers
admirably.”
[Illustration: THE GOVERNOR.]
Another of Watt’s beautiful inventions of the same period, was the
Governor, contrived for the purpose of regulating the speed of the engine.
This was a point of great importance in all cases where steam-power
was employed in processes of manufacture. To modify the speed of the
piston in the single-acting pumping-engine, Watt had been accustomed
to use what is called a throttle valve, which was regulated by hand
as occasion required. But he saw that to ensure perfect uniformity of
speed, the action of the engine must be made automatic if possible,
and with this object he contrived the Governor, which has received no
improvement since it left his hand. Two balls are fixed to the ends of
arms connected with the engine by a moveable socket, which plays up and
down a vertical rod revolving by a band placed upon the axis or spindle
of the fly-wheel. According to the centrifugal force with which the
balls revolve, they diverge more or less from the central fixed point,
and push up or draw down the moveable collar; which, being connected by
a crank with the throttle-valve, thereby regulates with the most perfect
precision the passage of the steam between the boiler and the cylinder.
When the pressure of steam is great, and the tendency of the engine is
to go faster, the governor shuts off the steam; and when it is less, the
governor opens the throttle-valve and increases the supply. By this simple
and elegant contrivance the engine is made to regulate its own speed with
the most beautiful precision.
Among the numerous proposed applications of the steam-engine about this
time, was its employment as a locomotive in driving wheel-carriages. It
will be remembered that Watt’s friend Robison had, at a very early period,
directed his attention to the subject; and the idea had since been revived
by Mr. Edgeworth, who laboured with great zeal to indoctrinate Watt with
his views. The latter, though he had but little faith in the project,
nevertheless included a plan of a locomotive engine in his patent of 1784;
but he took no steps to put it in execution, being too much engrossed with
other business at the time. His plan contemplated the employment of steam
either in the form of high-pressure or low-pressure, working the pistons
by the force of steam only, and discharging it into the atmosphere after
it had performed its office, or discharging it into an air-tight condenser
made of thin plates or pipes, with their outsides exposed to the wind or
to an artificial current of air, thereby economising the water which would
otherwise be lost.
Watt did not carry his design into effect; and, so far as he was
concerned, the question of steam locomotion would have gone no further.
But the subject had already attracted the attention of William Murdock,
who had for some time been occupied during his leisure hours in
constructing an actual working model of a locomotive. When his model
was finished, he proceeded to try it in the long avenue leading to the
parsonage at Redruth, in the summer of 1784; and in so doing nearly
frightened out of his wits the village pastor, who encountered the
hissing, fiery little machine, while enjoying his evening walk.[264]
[264] ‘Lives of Engineers,’ iii. 77.
When Watt heard of this experiment, he wrote to Boulton, advising that
Murdock should be gently counselled to give up his scheme, which might
have the effect of withdrawing him from the work of the firm, in which he
had become increasingly useful.
“As to my own part,” wrote Watt, “I shall form no obstacle to
the scheme. My only reasons against it were that I feared it
would deprive us of a valuable man; that it would, if we were to
be concerned in it, divert us from more valuable business, and
perhaps prove a sinking fund; and lastly, that I did not like that
a scheme which I had revolved in my mind for years and hoped to be
able at some favourable time to bring to perfection, if capable of
it, should be wrested from me, or that I should be compelled to
go into it as a secondary person. But I have now made the latter
objection give way. And as to the first, I think it will take
place at any rate, so we must make the best of it.”[265]
[265] In a letter dated 28th August, 1784, Watt communicated his
views to his partner on the subject of locomotive engines at
great length. In the course of the letter he says,--
“My original ideas on this subject were prior to my
invention of the improved engines, or before the crank or
any other rotative motions were thought of. My plan then
was to have two inverted cylinders with toothed racks
instead of piston rods, which were to be applied to the
ratchet wheels on the axletree, and to act alternately;
and I am partly of opinion that this method might be
applied with advantage yet, because it needs no fly, and
has other conveniences.
“From what I have said, and from much more which a
little reflection will suggest to you, you will see that
without several circumstances turn out more favourable
than has been stated, the machine will be clumsy and
defective, and that it will cost much time to bring it
to any tolerable degree of perfection; and that for me to
attempt to interrupt the career of my business to bestow
any attention to it, would be imprudent. I even grudge
the time I have taken to write these comments on it.”
Boulton was accordingly recommended in the first place to endeavour to
dissuade Murdock from pursuing the subject further, but if he could not
succeed in that, rather than lose him, he was to let him have an advance
to the extent of 100_l._, to enable him to prosecute his experiments; and
if within a year he succeeded in making an engine capable of drawing a
postchaise carrying two ordinary persons and the driver, with 200 lbs. of
luggage, fuel for four hours, and water for two hours, going at the rate
of four miles an hour, then a partnership was to be entered into, in which
Boulton and Watt were to find the capital, and Murdock was to conduct the
business and take his share of the profits.
Murdock, however, had so many urgent matters to attend to, that, sanguine
though he continued to be as to the success of his scheme, he could not
find time to pursue it. He was a man after Boulton’s own heart, unsparing
of himself and indefatigable in whatsoever he undertook; nor was Boulton
sparing of praises of him in his confidential letters to Watt.
“We want more Murdocks,” he wrote on one occasion, “for, of all
our men he is the most active. He is the best engine erector I
ever saw, and of his energy I had one of the best proofs this day.
They stopped Poldice lower engine last Monday and took her all
to pieces; took out the condenser, took up out of the shaft the
greatest part of the pumps, took the nozzles to pieces, cut out
the iron seatings and put in brass ones with new valves, mended
the eduction-pipe, and did a great number of repairs about the
beam and engine; put the pumps down into the new engine shaft,
did much work at the new engine; and this done, about noon both
the engines, new and old, were set to work again complete. When I
look at the work done it astonishes me, and is entirely owing to
the spirit and activity of Murdock, who hath not gone to bed for
three nights, and I expect the mine will be in full fork again by
Wednesday night. I have got him into good humour again without any
coaxing, have prevailed on him not to give up Wheal Virgin engine,
which he had been resolved to do from the ungenerous treatment he
received from the captains. I have also prevailed on him to put
off his determined journey to Scotland until North Downs engines
are got to work, and have quieted his mind about wheel carriages
till then.”[266]
[266] Boulton to Watt, 8th November, 1784. Though Murdock was
thus occupied, he did not abandon his idea of making a working
locomotive. Two years later we find Watt thus writing Boulton:--
“I am extremely sorry that W. Murdock still busies himself
with the steam carriages. In one of my specifications I
have secured it, as well as words could do, according
to my idea of it, and if to that you add Symington’s
and Sadler’s patents, it can scarcely be patentable,
even if free of the general specification in the Act of
Parliament; for even granting that what I have done cannot
secure it, yet it can act as a prior invention against
anybody else; and if it cannot be secured by patent, to
what purpose should anybody labour at it? I have still the
same opinions concerning it that I had, but to prevent
as much as possible more fruitless argument about it, I
have one of some size under hand, and am resolved to try
if God will work a miracle in favour of these carriages.
I shall in some future letter send you the words of my
specification on that subject. In the mean time I wish
William could be brought to do as we do, to mind the
business in hand, and let such as Symington and Sadler
throw away their time and money in hunting shadows.”--Watt
to Boulton, 12th Sept., 1786. In a subsequent letter, Watt
expresses himself as much gratified to learn “that William
applies to his business.”
Notwithstanding Watt’s fears of a falling off, the engine business still
continued to prosper in Cornwall. Although the mining interests were
suffering from continued depression, new mines were being opened out,
for which pumping-engines were wanted; and Boulton and Watt’s continued
to maintain their superiority over all others. None of their threatened
rivals had yet been able to exhibit an engine in successful work; and
those of the old construction had been almost completely superseded. In
1784, new engines were in course of erection at Poldice, New Poldory,
Wheal Maid, Polgooth, and other mines. Almost the last of the Newcomen
engines in Cornwall had been discarded at Polgooth in favour of one of
Boulton and Watt’s 58-inch cylinder engines.
[Illustration: POLGOOTH.
[By R. P. Leitch.]]
The dues paid yearly in respect of these and other engines previously
erected were very considerable; Boulton estimating that, if duly paid,
they would amount to about 12,000_l._ a year. There seemed, therefore,
every reasonable prospect of the financial difficulties of the firm at
last coming to an end.
Boulton’s visit to Cornwall on this occasion was enlivened by the
companionship of his wife, and her friend Miss Mynd. Towards midsummer
he looked forward with anticipations of increased pleasure to the visit
of his two children--his son Matt and his daughter Nancy--during their
school holidays. It was a source of much regret to him, affectionate as
his nature was, that the engrossing character of his business prevented
him enjoying the society of his family so much as he desired. But he
endeavoured to make up for it by maintaining a regular correspondence with
them when absent. His letters to his children were full of playfulness,
affection, and good advice. To his son at school he wrote telling him
of his life in Cornwall, describing to him the house at Cosgarne, the
garden and the trees he had planted in it, the pleasant rides in the
neighbourhood, and the visit he had just been paying to the top of
Pendennis Castle, from which he had seen about a hundred sail of ships
at sea, and a boundless prospect of land and water. He proceeded to tell
him of the quantity of work he did connected with the engine business,
how he had no clerk to assist him, but did all the writing and drawing
of plans himself: “When I have time,” said he, “I pick up curiosities
in ores for the purpose of assays, for I have a laboratory here. There
is nothing would so much add to my pleasure as having your assistance
in making solutions, precipitates, evaporations, and crystallisations.”
After giving his son some good advice as to the cultivation of his mind,
as calculated to render him an intelligent and useful member of society,
he proceeded to urge upon him the duty of cultivating polite manners, as
a means of making himself agreeable to others, and at the same time of
promoting his own comfort. “But remember,” he added, “I do not wish you
to be polite at the expense of honour, truth, sincerity, and honesty;
for these are the props of a manly character, and without them politeness
is mean and deceitful. Therefore, be always tenacious of your honour. Be
honest, just, and benevolent, even when it appears difficult to be so. I
say, cherish those principles, and guard them as sacred treasures.”
At length his son and daughter joined him and took part in his domestic
and out-door enjoyments. They accompanied him in his drives and rides,
and Matt took part in his chemical experiments. One of their great
delights was the fabrication of an immense paper balloon, and the making
of the hydrogen gas to fill it with. After great preparations the balloon
was made and filled, and sent up in the field behind the house, to the
delight of all concerned. To Mrs. Watt he wrote expressing to her how
much pleasanter his residence in Cornwall had become since his son and
daughter’s visit. “I shall be happier,” he said, “during the remainder of
my residence here than in the former part of it; for I am ill calculated
to live alone in an enemy’s country, and to contest lawsuits. Besides,
the only source of happiness I look for in my future life is in my
children. Matt behaves extremely well, is active and good-humoured; and
my daughter, too, has, I think, good dispositions and sentiments, which
I shall cherish, and prevent as much as possible from being sullied by
narrow and illiberal-minded companions.” After a few months’ pleasant
social intercourse with his family at Cosgarne, varied by occasional
bickerings with the adventurers out of doors about dues, Boulton returned
to Birmingham, to enter upon new duties and undertake new enterprises.