A History of the Growth of the Steam-Engine Part 8

Watt was now reduced to poverty, and, after borrowing considerable sums from friends, he was finally compelled to give up his scheme for the time, and to seek employment in order to provide for his family.

During an interval of about two years he supported himself by surveying, and by the work of exploring coal-fields in the neighborhood of Glasgow for the magistrates of the city. He did not, however, entirely give up his invention.

In 1767, Dr. Roebuck a.s.sumed Watt's liabilities to the amount of 1,000, and agreed to provide capital for the prosecution of his experiments and to introduce his invention; and, on the other hand, Watt agreed to surrender to Dr. Roebuck two-thirds of the patent.

Another engine was next built, having a steam-cylinder seven or eight inches in diameter, which was finished in 1768. This worked sufficiently well to induce the partners to ask for a patent, and the specifications and drawings were completed and presented in 1769.

Watt also built and set up several Newcomen engines, partly, perhaps, to make himself thus thoroughly familiar with the practical details of engine-building. Meantime, also, he prepared the plans for, and finally had built, a moderately large engine of his own new type. Its steam-cylinder was 18 inches in diameter, and the stroke of piston was 5 feet. This engine was built at Kinneil, and was finished in September, 1769. It was not all satisfactory in either its construction or its operation. The condenser was a surface-condenser composed of pipes somewhat like that used in his first little model, and did not prove to be satisfactorily tight. The steam-piston leaked seriously, and repeated trials only served to make more evident its imperfections. He was a.s.sisted in this time of need by both Dr. Black and Dr. Roebuck; but he felt strongly the risks which he ran of involving his friends in serious losses, and became very despondent.

Writing to Dr. Black, he says: "Of all things in life, there is nothing more foolish than inventing;" and probably the majority of inventors have been led to the same opinion by their own experiences.

"Misfortunes never come singly;" and Watt was borne down by the greatest of all misfortunes--the loss of a faithful and affectionate wife--while still unable to see a successful issue of his schemes.

Only less disheartening than this was the loss of fortune of his steadfast friend, Dr. Roebuck, and the consequent loss of his aid. It was at about this time, in the year 1769, that negotiations were commenced which resulted in the transfer of the capitalized interest in Watt's engine to the wealthy manufacturer whose name, coupled with that of Watt, afterward became known throughout the civilized world, as the steam-engine in its new form was pushed into use by his energy and business tact.

Watt met Mr. Boulton, who next became his partner, in 1768, on his journey to London to procure his patent, and the latter had then examined Watt's designs, and, at once perceiving their value, proposed to purchase an interest. Watt was then unable to reply definitely to Boulton's proposition, pending his business arrangements with Dr.

Roebuck; but, with Roebuck's consent, afterwards proposed that Boulton should take a one-third interest with himself and partner, paying Roebuck therefor one-half of all expenses previously incurred, and whatever he should choose to add to compensate "for the risk he had run." Subsequently, Dr. Roebuck proposed to transfer to Boulton and to Dr. Small, who was desirous of taking interest with Boulton, one-half of his proprietorship in Watt's inventions, on receiving "a sum not less than one thousand pounds," which should, after the experiments on the engine were completed, be deemed "just and reasonable." Twelve months were allowed for the adjustment of the account. This proposal was accepted in November, 1769.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Matthew Boulton.]

MATTHEW BOULTON, who now became a partner with James Watt, was the son of a Birmingham silver stamper and piecer, and succeeded to his father's business, building up a great establishment, which, as well as its proprietor, was well known in Watt's time. Watt, writing to Dr.

Roebuck before the final arrangement had been made, urged him to close with Boulton for "the following considerations:

"1st. From Mr. Boulton's own character as an ingenious, honest, and rich man. 2dly. From the difficulty and expense there would be of procuring accurate and honest workmen and providing them with proper utensils, and getting a proper overseer or overseers. If, to avoid this inconvenience, you were to contract for the work to be done by a master-workman, you must give up a great share of the profit. 3dly.

The success of the engine is far from being verified. If Mr. Boulton takes his chance of success from the account I shall write Dr. Small, and pays you any adequate share of the money laid out, it lessens your risk, and in a greater proportion than I think it will lessen your profits. 4thly. The a.s.sistance of Mr. Boulton's and Dr. Small's ingenuity (if the latter engage in it) in improving and perfecting the machine may be very considerable, and may enable us to get the better of the difficulties that might otherwise d.a.m.n it. Lastly, consider my uncertain health, my irresolute and inactive disposition, my inability to bargain and struggle for my own with mankind: all which disqualify me for any great undertaking. On our side, consider the first outlay and interest, the patent, the present engine, about 200 (though there would not be much loss in making it into a common engine), two years of my time, and the expense of models."

Watt's estimate of the value of Boulton's ingenuity and talent was well-founded. Boulton had shown himself a good scholar, and had acquired considerable knowledge of the languages and of the sciences, particularly of mathematics, after leaving the school from which he graduated into the shop when still a boy. In the shop he soon introduced a number of valuable improvements, and he was always on the lookout for improvements made by others, with a view to their introduction in his business. He was a man of the modern style, and never permitted compet.i.tors to excel him in any respect, without the strongest efforts to retain his leading position. He always aimed to earn a reputation for good work, as well as to make money. His father's workshop was at Birmingham; but Boulton, after a time, found that his rapidly-increasing business would compel him to find room for the erection of a more extensive establishment, and he secured land at Soho, two miles distant from Birmingham, and there erected his new manufactory, about 1762.

The business was, at first, the manufacture of ornamental metal-ware, such as metal b.u.t.tons, buckles, watch-chains, and light filigree and inlaid work. The manufacture of gold and silver plated-ware was soon added, and this branch of business gradually developed into a very extensive manufacture of works of art. Boulton copied fine work wherever he could find it, and often borrowed vases, statuettes, and bronzes of all kinds from the n.o.bility of England, and even from the queen, from which to make copies. The manufacture of inexpensive clocks, such as are now well known throughout the world as an article of American trade, was begun by Boulton. He made some fine astronomical and valuable ornamental clocks, which were better appreciated on the Continent than in England. The business of the Soho manufactory in a few years became so extensive, that its goods were known to every civilized nation, and its growth, under the management of the enterprising, conscientious, and ingenious Boulton, more than kept pace with the acc.u.mulation of capital; and the proprietor found himself, by his very prosperity, often driven to the most careful manipulation of his a.s.sets, and to making free use of his credit.

Boulton had a remarkable talent for making valuable acquaintances, and for making the most of advantages accruing thereby. In 1758 he made the acquaintance of Benjamin Franklin, who then visited Soho; and in 1766 these distinguished men, who were then unaware of the existence of James Watt, were corresponding, and, in their letters, discussing the applicability of steam-power to various useful purposes. Between the two a new steam-engine was designed, and a model was constructed by Boulton, which was sent to Franklin and exhibited by him in London.

Dr. Darwin seems to have had something to do with this scheme, and the enthusiasm awakened by the promise of success given by this model may have been the origin of the now celebrated prophetic rhymes so often quoted from the works of that eccentric physician and poet. Franklin contributed, as his share in the plan, an idea of so arranging the grate as to prevent the production of smoke. He says: "All that is necessary is to make the smoke of fresh coals pa.s.s descending through those that are already ignited." His idea has been, by more recent schemers, repeatedly brought forward as new. Nothing resulted from these experiments of Boulton, Franklin, and Darwin, and the plan of Watt soon superseded all less well-developed plans.

In 1767, Watt visited Soho and carefully inspected Boulton's establishment. He was very favorably impressed by the admirable arrangement of the workshops and the completeness of their outfit, as well as by the perfection of the organization and administration of the business. In the following year he again visited Soho, and this time met Boulton, who had been absent at the previous visit. The two great mechanics were mutually gratified by the meeting, and each at once acquired for the other the greatest respect and esteem. They discussed Watt's plans, and Boulton then definitely decided not to continue his own experiments, although he had actually commenced the construction of a pumping-engine. With Dr. Small, who was also at Soho, Watt discussed the possibility of applying his engine to the propulsion of carriages, and to other purposes. On his return home, Watt continued his desultory labors on his engines, as already described; and the final completion of the arrangement with Boulton, which immediately followed the failure of Dr. Roebuck, took place some time later.

Before Watt could leave Scotland to join his partner at Soho, it was necessary that he should finish the work which he had in hand, including the surveys of the Caledonian ca.n.a.l, and other smaller works, which he had had in progress some months. He reached Birmingham in the spring of 1774, and was at once domiciled at Soho, where he set at work upon the partly-made engines which had been sent from Scotland some time previously. They had laid, unused and exposed to the weather, at Kinneil three years, and were not in as good order as might have been desired. The _block-tin_ steam-cylinder was probably in good condition, but the iron parts were, as Watt said, "perishing,"

while he had been engaged in his civil engineering work. At leisure moments, during this period, Watt had not entirely neglected his plans for the utilization of steam. He had given much thought, and had expended some time, in experiments upon the plan of using it in a rotary or "wheel" engine. He did not succeed in contriving any plan which seemed to promise success.

It was in November, 1774, that Watt finally announced to his old partner, Dr. Roebuck, the successful trial of the Kinneil engine. He did not write with the usual enthusiasm and extravagance of the inventor, for his frequent disappointments and prolonged suspense had very thoroughly extinguished his vivacity. He simply wrote: "The fire-engine I have invented is now going, and answers much better than any other that has yet been made; and I expect that the invention will be very beneficial to me."

The change of the "atmospheric engine" of Newcomen into the modern steam-engine was now completed in its essential details. The first engine which was erected at Kinneil, near Boroughstoness, had a steam-cylinder 18 inches in diameter. It is seen in the accompanying sketch.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 26.--Watt's Engine, 1774.]

In Fig. 26, the steam pa.s.ses from the boiler through the pipe _d_ and the valve _c_ to the cylinder-casing or steam-jacket, _Y Y_, and above the piston, _b_, which it follows in its descent in the cylinder, _a_, the valve _f_ being at this time open, to allow the exhaust into the condenser, _h_.

The piston now being at the lower end of the cylinder, and the pump-rods at the opposite end of the beam, _y_, being thus raised and the pumps filled with water, the valves _c_ and _f_ close, while _e_ opens, allowing the steam which remains above the piston to flow beneath it, until, the pressures becoming equal above and below, the weight of the pump-rods overbalancing that of the piston, the latter is rapidly drawn to the top of the cylinder, while the steam is displaced above, pa.s.sing to the under-side of the piston.

The valve _e_ is next closed, and _c_ and _f_ are again opened; the down-stroke is repeated. The water and air entering the condenser are removed at each stroke by the air-pump, _i_, which communicates with the condenser by the pa.s.sage _s_. The pump _q_ supplies condensing-water, and the pump _A_ takes away a part of the water of condensation, which is thrown by the air-pump into the "hot-well,"

_k_, and from it the feed-pump supplies the boiler. The valves are moved by valve-gear very similar to Beighton's and Smeaton's, by the pins, _m m_, in the "plug-frame" or "tappet-rod," _n n_.

The engine is mounted upon a substantial foundation, _B B_. _F_ is an opening out of which, before starting the engine, the air is driven from the cylinder and condenser.

The inventions covered by the patent of 1769 were described as follows:

"My method of lessening the consumption of steam, and consequently fuel, in fire-engines, consists in the following principles:

"1st. That the vessel in which the powers of steam are to be employed to work the engine--which is called 'the cylinder' in common fire-engines, and which I call 'the steam-vessel'--must, during the whole time that the engine is at work, be kept as hot as the steam which enters it; first, by inclosing it in a case of wood, or any other materials that transmit heat slowly; secondly, by surrounding it with steam or other heated bodies; and thirdly, by suffering neither water nor other substances colder than the steam to enter or touch it during that time.

"2dly. In engines that are to be worked, wholly or partially, by condensation of steam, the steam is to be condensed in vessels distinct from the steam-vessel or cylinder, though occasionally communicating with them. These vessels I call condensers; and while the engines are working, these _condensers_ ought at least to be kept as cold as the air in the neighborhood of the engines, by application of water or other cold bodies.

"3dly. Whatever air or other elastic vapor is not condensed by the cold of the condenser, and may impede the working of the engine, is to be drawn out of the steam-vessels or condensers by means of pumps, wrought by the engines themselves, or otherwise.

"4thly. I intend in many cases to employ the expansive force of steam to press on the pistons, or whatever may be used instead of them, in the same manner as the pressure of the atmosphere is now employed in common fire-engines. In cases where cold water cannot be had in plenty, the engines may be wrought by this force of steam only, by discharging the steam into the open air after it has done its office.

"5thly. Where motions round an axis are required, I make the steam-vessels in form of hollow rings or circular channels, with proper inlets and outlets for the steam, mounted on horizontal axles like the wheels of a water-mill. Within them are placed a number of valves that suffer any body to go round the channel in one direction only. In these steam-vessels are placed weights, so fitted to them as to fill up a part or portion of their channels, yet rendered capable of moving freely in them by the means hereinafter mentioned or specified. When the steam is admitted in these engines between these weights and the valves, it acts equally on both, so as to raise the weight on one side of the wheel, and, by the reaction of the valves successively, to give a circular motion to the wheel, the valves opening in the direction in which the weights are pressed, but not in the contrary. As the vessel moves round, it is supplied with steam from the boiler, and that which has performed its office may either be discharged by means of condensers, or into the open air.

"6thly. I intend in some cases to apply a degree of cold not capable of reducing the steam to water, but of contracting it considerably, so that the engines shall be worked by the alternate expansion and contraction of the steam.

"Lastly, instead of using water to render the piston or other parts of the engine air or steam-tight, I employ oils, wax, resinous bodies, fat of animals, quicksilver, and other metals, in their fluid state."

In the construction and erection of his engines, Watt still had great difficulty in finding skillful workmen to make the parts with accuracy, to fit them with care, and to erect them properly when once finished. And the fact that both Newcomen and Watt met with such serious trouble, indicates that, even had the engine been designed earlier, it is quite unlikely that the world would have seen the steam-engine a success until this time, when mechanics were just acquiring the skill requisite for its construction. But, on the other hand, it is not at all improbable that, had the mechanics of an earlier period been as skillful and as well-educated in the manual niceties of their business, the steam-engine might have been much earlier brought into use.

In the time of the Marquis of Worcester it would have probably been found impossible to obtain workmen to construct the steam-engine of Watt, had it been then invented. Indeed, Watt, upon one occasion, congratulated himself that one of his steam-cylinders only lacked _three-eighths_ of an inch of being truly cylindrical.

The history of the steam-engine is from this time a history of the work of the firm of Boulton & Watt. Newcomen engines continued to be built for years after Watt went to Soho, and by many builders. A host of inventors still worked on the most attractive of all mechanical combinations, seeking to effect further improvements. Some inventions were made by contemporaries of Watt, as will be seen hereafter, which were important as being the germs of later growths; but these were nearly all too far in advance of the time, and nearly every successful and important invention which marked the history of steam-power for many years originated in the fertile brain of James Watt.

The defects of the Newcomen engine were so serious, that it was no sooner known that Boulton of Soho had become interested in a new machine for raising water by steam-power, than inquiries came to him from all sides, from mine-owners who were on the point of being drowned out, and from proprietors whose profits were absorbed by the expense of pumping, and who were glad to pay the 5 per horse-power per year finally settled upon as royalty. The London munic.i.p.al water-works authorities were also ready to negotiate for pumping-engines for raising water to supply the metropolis. The firm was therefore at once driven to make preparations for a large business.

The first and most important matter, however, was to secure an extension of the patent, which was soon to expire. If not renewed, the 15 years of study and toil, of poverty and anxiety, through which Watt had toiled, would prove profitless to the inventor, and the fruits of his genius would have become the unearned property of others. Watt saw, at one time, little hope of securing the necessary act of Parliament, and was greatly tempted to accept a position tendered him by the Russian Government, upon the solicitation of his old friend, Dr. Robison, then a Professor of Mathematics at the Naval School at Cronstadt. The salary was 1,000--a princely income for a man in Watt's circ.u.mstances, and a peculiar temptation to the needy mechanic.

Watt, however, went to London, and, with the help of his own and of Boulton's influential friends, succeeded in getting his bill through.

His patent was extended 24 years, and Boulton & Watt set about the work of introducing their engines with the industry and enterprise which characterized their every act.

In the new firm, Boulton took charge of the general business, and Watt superintended the design, construction, and erection of their engines.

Boulton's business capacity, with Watt's wonderful mechanical ability--Boulton's physical health, and his vigor and courage, offsetting Watt's feeble health and depression of spirits--and, more than all, Boulton's pecuniary resources, both in his own purse and in those of his friends, enabled the firm to conquer all difficulties, whether in finance, in litigation, or in engineering.

It was only after the successful erection and operation of several engines that Boulton and Watt became legally partners. The understood terms were explicitly stated by Watt to include an a.s.signment to Boulton of two-thirds the patent-right; Boulton paying all expenses, advancing stock in trade at an appraised valuation, on which it was to draw interest; Watt making all drawings and designs, and drawing one-third net profits.

As soon as Watt was relieved of the uncertainties regarding his business connections, he married a second wife, who, as Arago says, by "her various talent, soundness of judgment, and strength of character," made a worthy companion to the large-hearted and large-brained engineer. Thenceforward his cares were only such as every business-man expects to be compelled to sustain, and the next ten years were the most prolific in inventions of any period in Watt's life.

From 1775 to 1785 the partners acquired five patents, covering a large number of valuable improvements upon the steam-engine, and several independent inventions. The first of these patents covered the now familiar and universally-used copying-press for letters, and a machine for drying cloth by pa.s.sing it between copper rollers filled with steam of sufficiently high temperature to rapidly evaporate the moisture. This patent was issued February 14, 1780.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 27.--Watt's Engine, 1781.]

In the following year, October 25, 1781, Watt patented five devices by which he obtained the rotary motion of the engine-shaft without the use of a crank. One of these was the arrangement shown in Fig. 27, and known as the "sun-and-planet" wheels. The crank-shaft carries a gear-wheel, which is engaged by another securely fixed upon the end of the connecting-rod. As the latter is compelled to revolve about the axis of the shaft by a tie which confines the connecting-rod end at a fixed distance from the shaft, the shaft-gear is compelled to revolve, and the shaft with it. Any desired velocity-ratio was secured by giving the two gears the necessary relative diameters. A fly-wheel was used to regulate the motion of the shaft.[39] Boulton & Watt used the sun-and-planet device on many engines, but finally adopted the crank, when the expiration of the patent held by Matthew Wasborough, and which had earlier date than Watt's patent of 1781, permitted them.

Watt had proposed the use of a crank, it is said, as early as 1771, but Wasborough antic.i.p.ated him in securing the patent. Watt had made a model of an engine with a crank and fly-wheel, and he has stated that one of his workmen, who had seen the model, described it to Wasborough, thus enabling the latter to deprive Watt of his own property. The proceeding excited great indignation on the part of Watt; but no legal action was taken by Boulton & Watt, as the overthrow of the patent was thought likely to do them injury by permitting its use by more active compet.i.tors and more ingenious men.

[39] For the privilege of using the fly-wheel to regulate the motion of the engine, Boulton & Watt paid a royalty to Matthew Wasborough, who had patented it, and who held also the patent for its combination with a crank, as invented by Pickard and Steed.

The next patent issued to Watt was an exceedingly important one, and of especial interest in a history of the development of the economical application of steam. This patent included: