James Watt

by Andrew Carnegie

France has been distinguished for men of science who have thus refrained from profiting by their inventions. Pasteur, in our day, perhaps the most famous of all, the liver, not only of the simple but of the ideal life, laboring for the good of humanity—service to man—and taking for himself the simple life, free from luxury, palace, estate, and all the inevitable cares accompanying ostentatious living. Berthollet preceded him. Like Agassiz, these gifted souls were "too busy to make money."

In 1792, when Boulton had passed the allotted three score years and ten, and Watt was over three score, they made a momentous decision which brought upon them several years of deep anxiety. Fortunately the sons of the veterans who had recently been admitted to the business proved of great service in managing the affair, and relieved their parents of much labor and many journeys. Fortunate indeed were Watt and Boulton in their partnership, for they became friends first and partners afterward. They were not less fortunate in each having a talented son, who also became friends and partners like their fathers before them. The decision was that the infringers of their patents were to be proceeded against. They had to appeal to the law to protect their rights.

Watt met the apparently inevitable fate of inventors. Rivals arose in various quarters to dispute his right to rank as the originator of many improvements. No reflection need be made upon most rival claimants to inventions. Some wonderful result is conceived to be within the range of possibility, which, being obtained, will revolutionise existing modes. A score of inventive minds are studying the problem throughout the civilised world. Every day or two some new idea flashes upon one of them and vanishes, or is discarded after trial. One day the announcement comes of triumphant success with the very same idea slightly modified, the modification or addition, slight though this may be, making all the difference between failure and success. The man has arrived with the key that opens the door of the treasure-house. He sets the egg on end perhaps by as obvious a plan as chipping the end. There arises a chorus of strenuous claimants, each of whom had thought of that very device long ago. No doubt they did. They are honest in their protests and quite persuaded in their own minds that they, and not the Watt of the occasion, are entitled to the honor of original discovery. This very morning we read in the press a letter from the son of Morse, vindicating his father's right to rank as the father of the telegraph, a son of Vail, one of his collaborators, having claimed that his father, and not Morse, was the real inventor. The most august of all bodies of men, since its decisions overrule both Congress and President, the Supreme Court of the United States, has shown rare wisdom from its inception, and in no department more clearly than in that regarding the rights of inventors. No court has had such experience with patent claims, for no nation has a tithe of the number to deal with. Throughout its history, the court has attached more and more importance to two points: First, is the invention valuable? Second, who proved this in actual practice? These points largely govern its decisions.

The law expenses of their suits seemed to Boulton and Watt exorbitant, even in that age of low prices compared to our own. One solicitors bill was for no less than $30,000, which caused Watt years afterward, when speaking of an enormous charge to say that "it would not have disgraced a London solicitor." When we find however, that this was for four years' services, the London solicitor appears in a different light. "In the whole affair," writes Watt to his friend Dr. Black, January 15, 1797, "nothing was so grateful to me as the zeal of our friends and the activity of our young men, which were unremitting."

The first trial ended June 22, 1793, with a verdict for Watt and Boulton by the jury, subject to the opinion of the court as to the validity of the patent. On May 16, 1795, the case came on for judgment, when unfortunately the court was found divided, two for the patent and two against. Another case was tried December 16, 1796, with a special jury, before Lord Chief Justice Eyre; the verdict was again for the plaintiffs. Proceedings on a writ of error had the effect of affirming the result by the unanimous opinion of the four judges, before whom it was ably and fully argued on two occasions.

The testimony of Professor Robison, Watt's intimate friend of youth in Glasgow, was understood to have been deeply impressive, and to have had a decisive effect upon judges and jury.

All the claims of Watt were thus triumphantly sustained. The decision has always been considered of commanding importance to the law of patents in Britain, and was of vast consequence to the firm of Watt and Boulton pecuniarily. Heavy damages and costs were due from the actual defendants, and the large number of other infringers were also liable for damages. As was to have been expected, however, the firm remembered that to be merciful in the hour of victory and not to punish too hard a fallen foe, was a cardinal virtue. The settlements they made were considered most liberal and satisfactory to all. Watt used frequently long afterward to refer to his specifications as his old and well-tried friends. So indeed they proved, and many references to their wonderful efficiency were made.

With the beginning of the new century, 1800, the original partnership of the famous firm of Boulton and Watt expired, after a term of twenty-five years, as did the patents of 1769 and 1775. The term of partnership had been fixed with reference to the duration of the patents. Young men in their prime, Watt at forty and Boulton about fifty when they joined hands, after a quarter-century of unceasing and anxious labor, were disposed to resign the cares and troubles of business to their sons. The partnership therefore was not renewed by them, but their respective shares in the firm were agreed upon as the basis of a new partnership between their sons, James Watt, Jr., Matthew Robinson Boulton and Gregory Watt, all distinguished for abilities of no mean order, and in a great degree already conversant with the business, which their wise fathers had seen fit for some years to entrust more and more to them.

In nothing done by either of these two wise fathers is more wisdom shown than in their sagacious, farseeing policy in regard to their sons. As they themselves had been taught to concentrate their energies upon useful occupation, for which society would pay as for value received, they had doubtless often conferred, and concluded that was the happiest and best life for their sons, instead of allowing them to fritter away the precious years of youth in aimless frivolity, to be followed in later years by a disappointing and humiliating old age.

So the partnership of Boulton and Watt was renewed in the union of the sons. Gregory Watt's premature death four years later was such a blow to his father that some think he never was quite himself again. Gregory had displayed brilliant talents in the higher pursuits of science and literature, in which he took delight, and great things had been predicted from him. With the other two sons the business connection continued without change for forty years, until, when old men, they also retired like their fathers. They proved to be great managers, for notwithstanding the cessation of the patents which opened engine-building free to all, the business of the firm increased and became much more profitable than it had ever been before; indeed toward the close of the original partnership, and upon the triumph gained in the patent suits, the enterprise became so profitable as fully to satisfy the moderate desire of Watt, and to provide a sure source of income for his sons. This met all his wishes and removed the fears of becoming dependent that had so long haunted him.