(73.)
Not having the command of capital, and finding it impracticable to inspire those who had, with the same confidence in the advantages of his invention which he himself felt, he was [Pg129] unable to take any step towards the construction of engines on a large scale. Soon after this, he gave up his shop in Glasgow, and devoted himself to the business of a Civil Engineer. In this capacity he was engaged to make a survey of the river Clyde, and furnished an elaborate and valuable Report upon its projected improvements. He was also engaged in making a plan of the canal, by which the produce of the Monkland Colliery was intended to be carried to Glasgow, and in superintending the execution of that work. Besides these, several other engineering enterprises occupied his attention, among which may be mentioned, the navigable canal across the isthmus of Crinan, afterwards completed by Rennie; improvements proposed in the ports of Ayr, Glasgow, and Greenock; the construction of the bridges at Hamilton, and at Rutherglen; and the survey of the country through which the celebrated Caledonian canal was intended to be carried.
"If, forgetful of my duties as the organ of this academy," says M. Arago (whose eloquent observations on the delays of this great invention, addressed to the assembled members of the National Institute of France, we cannot forbear to quote), "I could think of making you smile, rather than expressing useful truths, I would find here matter for a ludicrous contrast. I would call to your recollection the authors, who at our weekly sittings demand with all their might and main (à cor et à cris) an opportunity to communicate some little remark—some small reflection—some trifling note, conceived and written the night before; I would represent them to you cursing their fate, when according to your rules, the reading of their communication is postponed to the next meeting, although during this cruel week, they are assured that their important communication is deposited in our archives in a sealed packet. On the other hand, I would point out to you the creator of a machine, destined to form an epoch in the annals of the world, undergoing patiently and without murmur, the stupid contempt of capitalists,—conscious of his exalted genius, yet stooping for eight years to the common labour of laying down plans, taking levels, and all the tedious calculations connected with the routine of common engineering. While in this conduct you cannot fail to recognise the serenity, [Pg130] the moderation, and the true modesty of his character, yet such indifference, however noble may have been its causes, has something in it not altogether blameless. It is not without reason that society visits with severe reprobation those who withdraw gold from circulation and hoard it in their coffers. Is he less culpable who deprives his country, his fellow citizens, his age, of treasures a thousand times more precious than the produce of the mine; who keeps to himself his immortal inventions, sources of the most noble and purest enjoyment of the mind, who abstains from conferring upon labour those powers, by which would be multiplied in an infinite proportion the products of industry, and by which, with advantage to civilisation and human nature, he would smooth away the inequalities of the conditions of man."[19]
(74.)
While Watt was endeavouring to overcome these and other difficulties, in the construction of the machine, his partner, Dr. Roebuck, became embarrassed, by the failure of his undertaking in the Borrowstowness coal and salt works; and he was unable to supply the means of prosecuting with the necessary vigour the projected manufacture of the new engines.
The important results of Watt's labours having happily at this time become more publicly known, Mr. Matthew Boulton, whose establishment at Soho, near Birmingham, was at that time the most complete manufactory for metal-work in England, and conducted with unexampled enterprise and spirit, proposed to purchase Dr. Roebuck's interest in the patent. This arrangement was effected in the year 1773, and in the following year Mr. Watt removed to Soho, where a portion of the establishment was allotted to him, for the erection of a foundery, and other works necessary to realise his inventions on a grand scale.
The patent which had been granted in 1769 was limited to a period of fourteen years, and would consequently expire about the year 1783. From the small progress which had hitherto been made in the construction of engines upon the new principle, and from the many difficulties still to be encountered, and the large expenditure of capital which must obviously be incurred before any return could be obtained, it was apparent that unless an extension of the patent right could be obtained, Boulton and Watt could never expect any advantage adequate to the risk of their great [Pg132] enterprise. In the year 1774 an application was accordingly made to parliament for an extension of the patent, which was supported by the testimony of Dr. Roebuck, Mr. Boulton, and others, as to the merits and probable utility of the invention. An Act was accordingly passed, in 1775, extending the term of the patent until the year 1800.
(75.)
"An Act for vesting in James Watt, engineer, his executors, administrators, and assigns, the sole use and property of certain steam engines, commonly called fire engines, of his invention, throughout his majesty's dominions, for a limited time:
"And whereas the said James Watt hath employed many years, and a considerable part of his fortune, in making experiments upon steam engines, commonly called fire engines, with a view to improve those very useful machines, by which several very considerable advantages over the common steam engines are acquired; but upon account of the many difficulties which always arise in the execution of such large and complex machines, and of the long time requisite to make the necessary trials, he could not complete his intention before the end of the year 1774, when he finished some large engines as specimens of his construction, which have succeeded, so as to demonstrate the utility of the said invention: