“OLD BESS.”[254]
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.
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.
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.”
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]
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 2500l. to 1000l. 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.
“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.”