James Watt

Watt's voluminous correspondence with Professor Small, previous to his partnership 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 friendship. 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 assuming 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 ownership 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 constituents 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 anticipated payment of the thousand, at the urgent request of Roebuck's assignees, 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 principal difficulties. This cylinder was substituted 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 ships, 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 God, 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 fashioning 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 shipped 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 class, 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 workmanship 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 class 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 assume 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 Ambassador'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 hitherto 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:

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 class 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."

CHAPTER VI

Boulton's timid partners no doubt were amazed that he was so blind to the dangers which they with clearer vision saw so clearly. How deluded they were. We may be sure neither of them saw the danger half as vividly as he, but it is not the part of a leader to reveal to his fellows all that he sees or fears. His part is to look dangers steadily in the face and challenge them. It is the great leader who inspires in his followers contempt for the danger which he sees in much truer proportion than they. This Boulton did, for behind all else in his character there lay the indomitable will, the do or die resolve. He had staked his life upon the hazard of a die and he would stand the cost. "But if we fail," often said the timid pair to him, as Macbeth did to his resolute partner, and the same answer came, "We fail." That's all. "One knockdown will not finish this fight. We'll get up again, never fear. We know no such word as fail."[1]

One source of serious trouble arose from Watt and Boulton having been so anxious at first to introduce their engines that they paid small regard to terms. When their success was proved, they offered to settle, taking one-third the value of the fuel saved. This was a liberal offer, for, in addition to the mine-owners saving two-thirds of the former cost of fuel consumed by the previous engines, mines became workable, which without the Watt engine must have been abandoned. These terms however were not accepted, and a long series of disputes arose, ending in some cases only with the patent-right itself. It was resolved that all future engines should be furnished only upon the terms before stated, Watt declaring that otherwise he would not put pen to paper to make new drawings. "Let our terms be moderate," he writes, "and, if possible, consolidated into money a priori, and it is certain we shall get some money, enough to keep us out of jail, in continual apprehension of which I live at present." Imprisonment for debt, let it be remembered, had not been abolished. One of the most beneficent forward steps that our time can boast of is the Bankruptcy Court. However hard we may yet be upon offenders against us, society, through humane laws, forgives our debtors in money matters, and gives a clear bill of health after honorable acquittal in bankruptcy, and a fresh start.

The result proved Watt's wisdom. His engines were needed to save the mines. No other could. Applications came in freely upon his terms, and as Watt was a poor hand at bargaining, he insisted that Boulton should come to Cornwall and attend to that part.

Meanwhile great attention was being paid to the works and all pertaining to the men and methods. The firm established perhaps the first benefit society of workmen. Every one was a member and contributed according to his earnings. Out of this fund payments were made to the sick or disabled in varying amounts. No member of the Soho Friendly Society, except a few irreclaimable drunkards, ever came upon the parish.

When Boulton's son came of age, seven hundred were dined. No well-behaved workman was ever turned adrift. Fathers employed introduced their sons into the works and brought them up under their own eye, watching over their conduct and mechanical training. Thus generation after generation followed each other at Soho works.

On another occasion Boulton writes Watt in Cornwall, "I have thought it but respectful to give our folks a dinner to-day. There were present Murdoch, Lawson, Pearson, Perkins, Malcom, Robert Muir, all Scotchmen, John Bull and Wilson and self, for the engines are now all finished and the men have behaved well and are attached to us."

Six Scotch and three English in the English works of Soho thought worthy of dining with their employer! It was, we may be sure, a very rare occurrence in that day, but worthy of the true captain of industry. Here is an early "invasion" from the north. We are reminded of Sir Charles Dilke's statement in his "Greater Britain," that, in his tour round the world, he found ten Scotchmen for every Englishman in high position. Owing, of course, to the absence of scope at home the Scot has had to seek his career abroad.

A master-stroke this, probably the first dinner of its kind in Britain, and no doubt more highly appreciated by the honored guests than an advance in wages. Splendid workmen do not live upon wages alone. Appreciation felt and shown by their employer, as in this case, is the coveted reward.

We have read how Watt was much troubled in Scotland with poor mechanics. Not one good craftsman could he then find. After seeing Soho, where the standard was much higher, he declared that the Scotch mechanic was very much inferior; he was prejudiced against them. Murdoch, however, the first Scot at Soho, soon eclipsed all, and no doubt under his wing other Scots gained a trial with the result indicated. It is very significant that even in the earliest days of the steam engine, Scotchmen should exhibit such talent for its construction, forecasting their present pre-eminence in marine engineering.

Small wonder that the Soho works became the model for all others. The last words in Boulton's letter, "and are attached to us," tell the story. No danger of strikes, of lockouts, or quarrels of any kind in such establishments as that of Boulton and Watt, who proved that they in turn were attached to their men. Mutual attachment between employers and employed is the panacea for all troubles—yes, better than a panacea, the preventer of troubles.

After repeated calls from Watt, Boulton took the journey to Cornwall in October, 1778, although Fothergill was again uttering lamentable prophecies of impending ruin, and the London agent was imploring his presence there upon financial matters pressing in the extreme. Boulton succeeded in borrowing $10,000 from Truro bankers on the security of engines erected, and settled several disputes, getting $3,500 per year royalty for one engine and $2,000 per year for another. At last, after nine years of arduous labor since the invention was hailed as successful, the golden harvest so long expected began to replenish the empty treasury. The heavy liabilities, however, remained a source of constant anxiety. No remedy could be found against "this consumption of the purse."

Watt had again to encounter the lack of competent, sober workmen to run engines. The Highland blood led him at last into severe measures, and he insisted upon discharging two or three of the most drunken. Here Boulton had great difficulty in restraining him. Much had to be endured, and occasional bouts of drunkenness overlooked, although serious accidents resulted. At last two men appeared whose services proved invaluable—Murdoch, already mentioned, and Law—one of whom became famous. Watt was absent when the former called and asked Boulton for employment. The young Scot was the son of a well-known millwright near Ayr who had made several improvements. His famous son worked with him, but being ambitious and hearing of the fame of Boulton and Watt, he determined to seek entrance to Soho works and learn the highest order of handicraft. Boulton had told him that there was at present no place open, but noticing the strange cap the awkward young man had been dangling in his hands, he asked what it was made of. "Timmer," said the lad. "What, out of wood?" "Yes." "How was it made?" "I turned it mysel' in a bit lathey o' my own making." This was enough for that rare judge of men. Here was a natural-born mechanic, certain. The young man was promptly engaged for two years at fifteen shillings per week when in shop, seventeen shillings when abroad, and eighteen shillings when in London. His history is the usual march upward until he became his employers' most trusted manager in all their mechanical operations. While engaged upon one critical job, where the engine had defied previous attempts to put it to rights, the people in the house where Murdoch lodged were awakened one night by heavy tramping in his room over-head. Upon entering, Murdoch was seen in his bed clothes heaving away at the bed post in his sleep, calling out "Now she goes, lads, now she goes." His heart was in his work. He had a mission, and only one—to make that engine go.

Of course he rose. There's no holding down such a "dreamer" anywhere in this world. It was not only that he had zeal, for he had sense with it, and was not less successful in conquering the rude Cornishmen who had baffled, annoyed and intimidated Watt. He won their hearts. His ability did not end with curing the defects of machinery; he knew how to manage men. At first he had to depend upon his physical powers. He was an athlete not indisposed to lead the strenuous life. He had not been very long in Cornwall before half a dozen of the mining captains, a class that had tormented poor, retiring and modest Watt, entered the engine-room and began their bullying tricks on him. The Scotch blood was up, Murdoch quietly locked the door and said to the captains, "Now then gentlemen, you shall not leave until we have settled matters once for all." He selected the biggest Cornishman and squared off. The contest was soon over. Murdoch vanquished the bully and was ready for the next. The captains, seeing the kind of man he was, offered terms of peace, hands were shaken all round and they parted good friends, and remained so. We are past that rude age. The skilled, educated manager of to-day can use no weapon so effectively with skilled men as the supreme force of gentleness, the manner, language and action of the educated man, even to the calm, low voice never raised to passionate pitch. He conquers and commands others because he has command of himself.

We must not lose sight of Murdoch. In addition to his rare qualities, he possessed mechanical genius. He was the inventor of lighting by gas, and it was he who made the first model of a locomotive. There was no emergency with engines, no accident, no blunder, but Murdoch was called in. We read with surprise that his wages even in 1780 were only five dollars per week. He then modestly asked for an advance, but this was not given. A present of one hundred dollars, however, was made to him in recognition of his unusual services. Probably the explanation of the failure to increase his wages at the time was that, owing to the condition of the business, no rise in wages could be made to one which would involve an advance to others. Murdoch remained loyal to the firm, however, although invited into partnership by another. Afterward he received due reward. He had always a strong aversion to partnership, no doubt well founded in this case, for during many years failure seemed almost as likely as success. Watt has much to say in his letters about "William" (Murdoch), who, more than anyone, relieved him from trouble.[2]

The bargainings with mine-owners brought on intense heartaches and broke Watt down completely. Boulton had to go to him again in Cornwall in the autumn of 1779, and as usual succeeded in adjusting many disputes by wise compromises with the grasping owners which Watt's strict sense of justice had denied. Many of these had paid no royalties for years, others disputed Watt's unerring register of fuel consumption (another of his most ingenious inventions now in general use for many purposes), a more heinous offense in his eyes than that of non-payment. "The rascality of man," he writes, "is almost beyond belief." He never was more despondent or more irritable than now. No one was better aware of his weakness than himself. In short, his heartaches and nervousness unfitted him for business. As usual, he attributed his discouragement chiefly to his financial obligations. The firm was as hard pressed as ever. Indeed a new source of danger had developed. Fothergill's affairs became involved, and had it not been for Boulton's capital and credit, the firm of Boulton and Fothergill could not have maintained payment. This had caused a drain upon their resources. Boulton sold the estate which had come to him by his wife, and the greater part of his father's property, and mortgaged the remainder. It is evident that the great captain had taken in hand far too many enterprises. Probably he had not heard the new doctrine: "Put all your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket." He had even ventured considerable sums in blockade running during the American Revolutionary War. It was not without good reason, therefore, that the more cautious Scot addressed to him so many pathetic letters: "I beg of you to attend to these money matters. I cannot rest in my bed until they have some determinate form." Watt's inexperience in money matters caused apprehensions of ruin to arise whenever financial measures were discussed. He was at this time utterly wretched, and Mrs. Watt at last became anxious, long and bravely as she had hitherto borne up and striven to dispel her husband's fears. Never before had she ventured to speak to Boulton upon the subject. She now broke the silence and wrote him in Cornwall a touching letter, stating that her husband's health and spirits had become much worse since Boulton had left Soho. "I know there are several things that so prey upon his mind as to render him perfectly miserable. They never cross his mind, but he is rendered unfit to do anything for a long time." She describes these financial demons that torment him and begs that her writing should not be told to Watt, as it might only add to his troubles. The appeal brings Mrs. Watt before us in a most engaging light.

A study of the problem was made upon Boulton's return and he agreed to close two departments of the business which were so far unprofitable, thus entering upon the right path. The engine having proved itself indispensable, the demand for it was becoming great and pressing from various countries. To concentrate upon its manufacture was obviously the true policy. The great captain's enterprise was not often expended upon failures, and it is with pleasure we find that among the profitable branches which Boulton had encouraged Watt in introducing at Soho, was the copying-press, which Watt invented in 1778, and which we use to this day. In July of that year he writes Dr. Black that he has "lately discovered a method of copying writing instantaneously, provided it has been written within twenty-four hours. I send you a specimen and will impart the secret if it will be of any use to you. It enables me to copy all my business letters." He kept this secret for two years, and in May, 1780, secured a patent after he had completed details of the press and experimented with the ink. One hundred and fifty were made and sold. Thirty of these went abroad. It steadily made its way. Watt, writing some thirty years later, said it had proved so useful to him that it was well worth all the trouble of perfecting it, even if it brought no profit.

We think of Watt and the steam engine appears. Let us however note the unobtrusive little copying-press on the table at his side. Extremes meet here. It would be difficult to name an invention more universally used, in all offices where man labors in any field of activity. In the list of modest inventions of greatest usefulness, the modern copying-press must take high rank, and this we owe entirely to Watt.

Of the same period as the copying-machine is his invention of a drying-machine for cloth, consisting of three cylinders of copper over which the cloth must turn over and under while cylinders are filled with steam, the cloth to be alternately wound off and on the two wooden rollers, by which means it will pass over three cylinders in succession. This machine was erected for Watt's father-in-law, Mr. MacGregor in Glasgow, by an ingenious mechanic, John Gardiner, often employed by Watt in earlier years. "This I apprehend," he writes to David Brewster in 1814, "to be the original from which such machines were made." When we consider the extent to which such steam drying-machines are used in our day, our estimate of the credit due to Watt cannot be small. The drying-machine is no unfit companion to the copying-machine.

Watt revisited Cornwall in 1781 to make an inspection of all the engines. Much he found needing attention and improvement. His evenings were spent designing "road steam-carriages." This was before the day of railroads, and the carriages were to be driven by steam over the ordinary coach roads. He filled a quarto drawing-book with different plans for these, and covered the idea in one of his patent specifications. Boulton suggested in 1781 that the idea of rotary motion should be developed, which Watt had from the first regarded as of prime importance. It was for this he had invented his original wheel engine, and in his first patent of 1769 he describes one method of securing it. It occurred to him that the ordinary engine might be adapted to give the rotary motion. He wrote from Cornwall to Boulton: "As to the circular motion, I will apply it as soon as I can." He prepared a model upon his return to Soho, using a crank connected with the working-beam of the engine for that purpose, which worked satisfactorily. There was nothing new in the crank motion; it was used on every spinning-wheel, grind-stone and foot-lathe turned by hand, but its application to the steam-engine was new. As early as 1771, he writes:

I have at times had my thoughts a good deal upon the subject. In general, it appears to me that a crank of a sufficient sweep will be by much the sweetest motion, and perhaps not the dearest, if its durability be considered ... I then resolved to adopt the crank ... Of this I caused a model to be made, which performed to satisfaction. But being then very much engaged with other business, I neglected to take a patent immediately, and having employed a blackguard of the name of Cartwright (who was afterward hanged), about this model, he, when in company with some of the same sort who worked at Wasborough's mill, and were complaining of its irregularities and frequent disasters, told them he could put them in a way to make a rotative motion which would not go out of order nor stun them with its noise, and accordingly explained to them what he had seen me do. Soon after which, John Steed, who was engineer at Wasborough's mill, took a patent for a rotative motion with a crank, and applied it to their engine. Suspicions arising of Cartwright's treachery, he was strictly questioned, and confessed his part in the transaction when too late to be of service to us.

Overtures were made by Wasborough to exchange patents and work together, which Watt scornfully rejected. He writes:

Though I am not so saucy as many of my countrymen, I have enough innate pride to prevent me from doing a mean action because a servile prudence may dictate it ... I will never meanly sue a thief to give me my own again unless I have nothing left behind.