James Watt Part 5

Watt wrote to his father at Greenock, November, 1774: "The business I am here about has turned out rather successful; that is to say, the fire-engine I have invented is now going, and answers much better than any other that has yet been made." This is as is usual with the Scotch in speech, in a low key and extremely modest, on a par with the verdict rendered by the Dunfermline critic who had ventured to attend "the playhouse" in Edinburgh to see Garrick in Hamlet--"no bad." The truth was that, so p.r.o.nounced were the results of proper workmans.h.i.+p, coupled with some of those improvements which Watt was constantly devising, the engine was so satisfactory as to set both Boulton and Watt to thinking about the patent which protected the invention. Six of the fourteen years for which it was granted had already pa.s.sed. Some years would still be needed to ensure its general use, and it was feared that before the patent expired little return might be received. Much interest was aroused by the successful trial. Enquiries began to pour in for pumping engines for mines. The Newcomen had proved inadequate to work the mines as they became deeper, and many were being abandoned in consequence. The necessity for a new power had set many ingenious men to work besides Watt, and some of these were trying to adopt Watt's principles while avoiding his patent. Hatley, one of Watt's workmen upon the trial engine at the Carron works, had stolen and sold the drawings.

All this put Boulton and Watt on their guard, and the former hesitated to build the new works intended for the manufacture of steam engines upon a large scale with improved machinery. An extension of the patent seemed essential, and to secure this Watt proceeded to London and spent some time there, busy in his spare moments visiting the mathematical instrument shops of his youth, and attending to numerous commissions from Boulton. A second visit was paid to London, during which the sad intelligence of the death of his dear friend, Dr. Small, reached him. In the bitterness of his grief, Boulton writes him: "If there were not a few other objects yet remaining for me to settle my affections upon, I should wish also to take up my abode in the mansions of the dead."

Watt's sympathetic reply reminds Boulton of the sentiments held by their departed friend--that, instead of indulging in unavailing sorrow, the best refuge is the more sedulous performance of duties. "Come, my dear sir," he writes, "and immerse yourself in this sea of business as soon as possible. Pay a proper respect to your friend by obeying his precepts. No endeavour of mine shall be wanting to make life agreeable to you."

Beautiful partners.h.i.+p this, not only of business, but also entering into the soul close and deep, comprehending all of life and all we know of death.

Professor Small, born 1734, was a Scot, who went to Williamsburg University, Virginia, as Professor of mathematics and natural philosophy. Thomas Jefferson was among his pupils. His health suffered, and he returned to the old home. Franklin introduced him to Boulton, writing (May 22, 1765):

I beg leave to introduce my friend Doctor Small to your acquaintance, and to recommend him to your civilities. I would not take this freedom if I were not sure it would be agreeable to you; and that you will thank me for adding to the number of those who from their knowledge of you must respect you, one who is both an ingenious philosopher and a most worthy, honest man.

If anything new in magnetism or electricity, or any other branch of natural knowledge, has occurred to your fruitful genius since I last had the pleasure of seeing you, you will by communicating it greatly oblige me.

This man must have been one of the finest characters revealed in Watt's life. Altho he left little behind him to ensure permanent remembrance, the extraordinary tributes paid his memory by friends establish his right to high rank among the coterie of eminent men who surrounded Watt and Boulton. Boulton records that "there being nothing which I wish to fix in my mind so permanently as the remembrance of my dear departed friend, I did not delay to erect a memorial in the prettiest but most obscure part of my garden, from which you see the church in which he was interred." Dr. Darwin contributed the verses inscribed. Upon hearing of Small's illness Day hastened from Brussels to be present at the last hour.

Keir writes, announcing Small's death to his brother, the Rev. Robert Small, in Dundee, "It is needless to say how universally he is lamented; for no man ever enjoyed or deserved more the esteem of mankind. We loved him with the tenderest affection and shall ever revere his memory."

Watt's voluminous correspondence with Professor Small, previous to his partners.h.i.+p with Boulton, proves Small at that time to have been his intimate friend and counsellor. We scarcely know in all literature of a closer union between two men. Many verses of Tennyson's Memorial to Hallam could be appropriately applied to their friends.h.i.+p. Watt did not apparently give way to lamentations as Boulton and others did who were present at Small's death, probably because the receipt of Boulton's heart-breaking letter impressed Watt with the need of a.s.suming the part of comforter to his partner, who was face to face with death, and had to bear the direct blow. Watt's tribute to his dear friend came later.

Future operations necessarily depended upon the extension of the patent.

Boulton, of course, could not proceed with the works. There was as yet no agreement between Watt and Boulton beyond joint owners.h.i.+p in the patent. At this time, Watt's most intimate friend of youthful years in Glasgow University, Professor Robison, was Professor of mathematics in the Government Naval School, Kronstadt. He secured for Watt an appointment at $5,000 per annum, a fortune to the poor inventor; but although this would have relieved him from dependence upon Boulton, and meant future affluence, he declined, alleging that "Boulton's favours were so gracefully conferred that dependence on him was not felt." He made Watt feel "that the obligation was entirely upon the side of the giver." Truly we must canonise Boulton. He was not only the first "Captain of Industry," but also a model for all others to follow.

The bill extending the patent was introduced in Parliament February, 1775. Opposition soon developed. The mining interest was in serious trouble owing to the deepening of the mines and the unbearable expense of pumping the water. They had looked forward to the Watt engine soon to be free of patent rights to relieve them. "No monopoly," was their cry, nor were they without strong support, for Edmund Burke pleaded the cause of his mining const.i.tuents near Bristol.[2]

We need not follow the discussion that ensued upon the propriety of granting the patent extension. Suffice to say it was finally granted for a term of twenty-four years, and the path was clear at last. Britain was to have probably for the first time great works and new tools specially designed for a specialty to be produced upon a large scale. Boulton had arranged to pay Roebuck $5,000 out of the first profits from the patent in addition to the $6,000 of debt cancelled. He now antic.i.p.ated payment of the thousand, at the urgent request of Roebuck's a.s.signees, giving in so doing pretty good evidence of his faith in prompt returns from the engines, for which orders came pouring in. New mechanical facilities followed, as well as a supply of skilled mechanics.

The celebrated Wilkinson now appears upon the scene, first builder of iron boats, and a leading iron-founder of his day, an original Captain of Industry of the embryonic type, who began working in a forge for three dollars a week. He cast a cylinder eighteen inches in diameter, and invented a boring machine which bored it accurately, thus remedying one of Watt's princ.i.p.al difficulties. This cylinder was subst.i.tuted for the tin-lined cylinder of the triumphant Kinneil engine. Satisfactory as were the results of the engine before, the new cylinder improved upon these greatly. Thus Wilkinson was pioneer in iron s.h.i.+ps, and also in ordering the first engine built at Soho--truly an enterprising man.

Great pains were taken by Watt that this should be perfect, as so much depended upon a successful start. Many concerns suspended work upon Newcomen engines, countermanded orders, or refrained from placing them, awaiting anxiously the performance of this heralded wonder, the Watt engine. As it approached completion, Watt became impatient to test its powers, but the prudent, calm Boulton insisted that not one stroke be made until every possible hindrance to successful working had been removed. He adds, "then, in the name of G.o.d, fall to and do your best."

Admirable order of battle! It was "Be sure you're right, then go ahead,"

in the vernacular. Watt acted upon this, and when the trial came the engines worked "to the admiration of all." The news of this spread rapidly. Enquiries and orders for engines began to flow in. No wonder when we read that of thirty engines of former makers in one coal-mining district only eighteen were at work. The others had failed. Boulton wrote Watt to

tell Wilkinson to get a dozen cylinders cast and bored ... I have fixed my mind upon making from twelve to fifteen reciprocating engines and fifty rotative engines per annum. Of all the toys and trinkets we manufacture at Soho, none shall take the place of fire-engines in respect of my attention.

The captain was on deck, evidently. Sixty-five engines per year--prodigious for these days--nothing like this was ever heard of before. Two thousand per year is the record of one firm in Philadelphia to-day, but let us boast not. Perhaps one hundred and twenty-nine years hence will have as great a contrast to show. The day of small factories, as of small nations, is past. Increasing magnitude, to which it is hard to set a limit, is the order of the day.

So far all was well, the heavy clouds that had so long hovered menacingly over Boulton and Watt had been displaced once more by clear skies. But no new machinery or new manufacturing business starts without accidents, delays and unexpected difficulties. There was necessarily a long period of trial and disappointment for which the sanguine partners were not prepared. As before, the chief trouble lay in the lack of skilled workmen, for although the few original men in Soho were remarkably efficient, the increased demand for engines had compelled the employment of many new hands, and the work they could perform was sadly defective. Till this time, it is to be remembered there had been neither slide lathes, planing machines, boring tools, nor any of the many other devices which now ensure accuracy. All depended upon the mechanics' eye and hand, if mechanics they could be called.

Most of the new hands were inexpert and much given to drink.

Specialisation had to be resorted to--one thing for each workman, in the fas.h.i.+oning of which practice made perfect. This system was introduced with success, but the training of the men took time. Meanwhile work already turned out and that in progress was not up to standard, and this caused infinite trouble. One very important engine was "The Bow" for London, which was s.h.i.+pped in September. The best of the experts, Joseph Harrison, was sent to superintend its erection. Verbal instructions Watt would not depend upon; Harrison was supplied in writing with detailed particulars covering every possible contingency. Constant communication between them was kept up by letter, for the engine did not work satisfactorily, and finally Watt himself proceeded to London in November and succeeded in overcoming the defects. Harrison's anxieties disabled him, and Boulton wrote to Dr. Fordyce, a celebrated doctor of that day, telling him to take good care of Harrison, "let the expense be what it will." Watt writes Boulton that Harrison must not leave London, as "a relapse of the engine would ruin our reputation here and elsewhere." The Bow engine had a relapse, however, which happened in this way. Smeaton, then the greatest of the engineers, requested Boulton's London agent to take him to see the new engine. He carefully examined it, called it a "very pretty engine," but thought it too complicated a piece of machinery for practical use. There was apparently much to be said for this opinion, for we clearly see that Watt was far in advance of his day in mechanical requirements. Hence his serious difficulties in the construction of the complex engine, and in finding men capable of doing the delicately accurate work which was absolutely indispensable for successful working.

Before leaving, Smeaton made the engineer a gift of money, which he spent in drink. The drunken engineman let the engine run wild, and it was thrown completely out of order. The valves--the part of the complicated machine that required the most careful treatment--were broken. He was dismissed, and, repairs being made, the engine worked satisfactorily at last. In Watt's life, we meet drunkenness often as a curse of the time. We have the satisfaction of knowing that our day is much freer from it. We have certainly advanced in the cure of this evil, for our working-men may now be regarded as on the whole a steady sober cla.s.s, especially in America, where intemperance has not to be reckoned with.

We see the difference between the reconstructed Kinneil engine where Boulton's "mathematical instrument maker's" standard of workmans.h.i.+p was possible "because his few trained men capable of such work were employed." The Kinneil engine, complicated as it was in its parts, being thus accurately reconstructed, did the work expected and more. The Bow engines and some others of the later period, constructed by ordinary workmen capable only of the "blacksmith's" standard of finish, proved sources of infinite trouble.

Watt had several cases of this kind to engross his attention, all traceable to the one root, lack of the skilled, sober workmen, and the tools of precision which his complex (for his day, very complex) steam engine required. The truth is that Watt's engine in one sense was born before its time. Our cla.s.s of instrument-making mechanics and several new tools should have preceded it; then, the science of the invention being sound, its construction would have been easy. The partners continued working in the right direction and in the right way to create these needful additions and were finally successful, but they found that success brought another source of annoyance. Escaping Scylla they struck Charybdis. So high did the reputation of their chief workmen rise, that they were early sought after and tempted to leave their positions. Even the two trained fitters sent to London to cure the Bow engine we have just spoken of were offered strong inducements to take positions in Russia. Watt writes Boulton, May 3, 1777, that he had just heard a great secret to the effect that Carless and Webb were probably going beyond sea, $5,000 per year having been offered for six years. They were promptly ordered home to Soho and warrants obtained for those who had attempted to induce them to abscond (strange laws these days!), "even though Carless be a drunken and comparatively useless fellow." Consider Watt's task, compelled to attempt the production of his new engines, complicated beyond the highest existing standard, without proper tools and with such workmen as Carless, whom he was glad to get and determined to keep, drunken and useless as he was.

French agents appeared and tried to bribe some of the men to go to Paris and communicate Watt's plans to the contractor who had undertaken to pump water from the Seine for the supply of Paris. The German states sent emissaries for a similar purpose, and Baron Stein was specially ordered by his government to master the secret of the Watt engine, to obtain working plans, and bring away workmen capable of constructing it, the first step taken being to obtain access to the engine-rooms by bribing the workmen. All this is so positively stated by Smiles that we must a.s.sume that he quotes from authentic records. It is clear at all events that the attention of other nations was keenly drawn to the advent of an agency that promised to revolutionise existing conditions.

Watt himself, at a critical part of his career (1773), as we have seen, had been tempted to accept an offer to enter the imperial service of Russia, carrying the then munificent salary of $5,000 per annum. Boulton wrote him: "Your going to Russia staggers me.... I wish to advise you for the best without regard to self, but I find I love myself so well that I should be very sorry to have you go, and I begin to repent sounding your trumpet at the Amba.s.sador's."

The imperial family of Russia were then much interested in the Soho works. The empress stayed for some time at Boulton's house, "and a charming woman she is," writes her host. Here is a glimpse of imperial activity and wise attention to what was going on in other lands which it was most desirous to transplant to their own. The emperor, and no less his wife, evidently kept their eyes open during their travels abroad.

Imperial progresses we fear are seldom devoted to such practical ends, although the present king of Britain and his nephew the German emperor would not be blind to such things. It is a strange coincidence that the successor of this emperor, Tsar Nicholas, when grand duke, should have been denied admission to Soho works. Not that he was personally objected to, but that certain people of his suite might not be disinclined to take advantage of any new processes discovered. So jealously were improvements guarded in these days.

Another source of care to the troubled Watt lay here. Naturally, only a few such men had been developed as could be entrusted to go to distant parts in charge of fellow-workmen and erect the finished engines. A union of many qualities was necessary here. Managers of erection had to be managers of men, by far the most complicated and delicate of all machinery, exceeding even the Watt engine in complexity. When the rare man was revealed, and the engine under his direction had proved itself the giant it was reputed, ensuring profitable return upon capital invested in works. .h.i.therto unproductive, as it often did, the sagacious owner would not readily consent to let the engineer leave. He could well afford to offer salary beyond the dreams of the worker, to a rider who knew his horse and to whom the horse took so kindly. The engineer loved _his_ engine, the engine which _he_ had seen grow in the shop under his direction and which _he_ had wholly erected.

McAndrew's Song of Steam tells the story of the engineer's devotion to his engine, a song which only Kipling in our day could sing. The Scotch blood of the MacDonalds was needed for that gem; Kipling fortunately has it pure from his mother. McAndrew is homeward bound patting _his_ mighty engine as she whirls, and crooning over his tale:

That minds me of our Viscount loon--Sir Kenneth's kin--the chap Wi' Russia leather tennis-shoon an' spar-decked yachtin'-cap.

I showed him round last week, o'er all--an' at the last says he: "Mister M'Andrew, don't you think steam spoils romance at sea?"

d.a.m.ned ijjit! I'd been doon that morn to see what ailed the throws, Manholin', on my back--the cranks three inches off my nose.

Romance! Those first-cla.s.s pa.s.sengers they like it very well, Printed an' bound in little books; but why don't poets tell?

I'm sick of all their quirks an' turns--the loves and doves they dream-- Lord, send a man like Robbie Burns to sing the Song o' Steam!

To match wi' Scotia's n.o.blest speech yon orchestra sublime, Whaurto--uplifted like the Just--the tail-rods mark the time.

The crank-throws give the double-ba.s.s, the feed-pump sobs an' heaves, An' now the main eccentrics start their quarrel on the sheaves: Her time, her own appointed time, the rocking link-head bides, Till--hear that note?--the rod's return whings glimmerin' through the guides.

They're all awa'! True beat, full power, the clangin' chorus goes Clear to the tunnel where they sit, my purrin' dynamos.

Interdependence absolute, foreseen, ordained, decreed, To work, ye'll note, at any tilt an' every rate o' speed.

Fra' skylight lift to furnace-bars, backed, bolted, braced an' stayed, An' singin' like the Mornin' Stars for joy that they are made; While, out o' touch o' vanity, the sweatin' thrust-block says: "Not unto us the praise, oh man, not unto us the praise!"

Now, a' together, hear them lift their lesson--theirs an' mine: "Law, Order, Duty an' Restraint, Obedience, Discipline!"

Mill, forge an' try-pit taught them that when roarin' they arose, An' whiles I wonder if a soul was gied them wi' the blows.

Oh for a man to weld it then, in one trip-hammer strain, Till even first-cla.s.s pa.s.sengers could tell the meanin' plain!

But no one cares except mysel' that serve an' understand My seven-thousand horse-power here. Eh, Lord!

They're grand--they're grand!

Uplift am I? When first in store the new-made beasties stood, Were ye cast down that breathed the Word declarin' all things good?

Not so! O' that world-liftin' joy no after-fall could vex, Ye've left a glimmer still to cheer the Man--the Artifex!

_That_ holds, in spite o' knock and scale, o' friction, waste an' slip, An' by that light--now, mark my word--we'll build the Perfect s.h.i.+p.

I'll never last to judge her lines or take her curve--not I.

But I ha' lived and I ha' worked. Be thanks to Thee, Most High!

So the McAndrews of Watt's day were loth to part from _their_ engines, this feeling being in the blood of true engineers. On the other hand, just such men, in numbers far beyond the supply, were needed by the builders, who in one sense were almost if not quite as deeply concerned as the owners, in having proved, capable, engine managers remain in charge of their engines, thus enhancing their reputation. Endless trouble ensued from the lack of managing enginemen, a cla.s.s which had yet to be developed, but which was sure to arise in time through the educative policy adopted, which was already indeed slowly producing fruit.

Meanwhile, to meet the present situation, Watt resolved to simplify the engine, taking a step backward, which gives foundation for Smeaton's acute criticism upon its complexity. We have seen that the working of steam expansively was one of Watt's early inventions. Some of the new engines were made upon this plan, which involved the adoption of some of the most troublesome of the machinery. It was ultimately decided that to operate this was beyond the ability of the obtainable enginemen of the day.

It must not be understood that expansion was abandoned. On the contrary, it was again introduced by Watt at a later stage and in better form.

Since his time it has extended far beyond what he could have ventured upon under the conditions of that day. "Yet," as Kelvin says, "the triple and quadruple expansion engine of our day all lies in the principle Watt had so fully developed in his day."

[1] If those in London had only listened to Franklin and taken his advice when he pleaded for British liberties for British subjects in America! It is refres.h.i.+ng to read in our day how completely the view regarding colonies has changed in Britain. These are now p.r.o.nounced "Independent nations, free to go or stay in the empire, as they choose,"

the very surest way to prolong the connection. This is true statesmans.h.i.+p. Being free, the chains become decorations and cease to chafe the wearer, unless great growth comes, when the colony must at its maturity perforce either merge with the motherland under one joint government or become a free and independent nation, giving her sons a country of their own for which to live, and, if necessary, to die.

[2] The mention of Burke and Bristol so soon after the note of Boulton upon Dr. Small's pa.s.sing, recalls one of Burke's many famous sentences, one perhaps unequalled under the circ.u.mstances. The candidate opposing him for Parliament died during the canva.s.s. When Burke next addressed the people after the sad event, his first words were:

"What shadows we are; what shadows we pursue."

CHAPTER VI

REMOVAL TO BIRMINGHAM

Watt's permanent settlement in Birmingham had for some time been seen to be inevitable, all his time being needed there. Domestic matters, including the care of his two children, with which he had hitherto been burdened, pressed hard upon him, and he had been greatly depressed by finding his old father quite in his dotage, although he was not more than seventy-five. Watt was alone and very unhappy during a visit he made to Greenock.