The Life of James Watt

" in the hedge, mine ought to raise water to 44 feet with the "same quantity of steam that theirs does to 32, (supposing my cylinder as thick as theirs), which I think I can demon"strate. I can now make a cylinder of 2 feet diameter and "3 feet high only a 40th of an inch thick, and strong enough "to resist the atmosphere; sed tace. In short, I can think of nothing else but this machine. I hope to have the decisive "trial before I see you. Write me to-morrow what you are "about, and if any part of what you have to tell me concerns "the fire-engine.”

"His mind," says Dr. Black, "became now very much employed in contriving the machinery by which this im "provement might be reduced to practice; and he soon "planned it to such a degree, that he thought he was ready "to make an experiment on a large scale. But here he was "stopped by the want of funds; and he found it necessary to "associate himself with some person who had money and "spirit for such an undertaking, and to participate with him "the advantages which might be derived from this invention. "He addressed himself to the late Dr. Roebuck, whose spirit "for enterprise and improvement in arts was very well "known, and the Doctor accordingly received with zeal the " opportunity offered to him. A small engine was soon built "in one of the offices of Kinneil House, near Borrowstoness, "where various trials were made, and some difficulties sur"mounted, so as to give satisfaction.

"I must add that I was as much upon a footing of inti"mate friendship with Dr. Roebuck as with Mr. Watt. The "Doctor, too, had no small degree of mechanical knowledge "and ingenuity; and was well qualified to perceive and "value the talents of Mr. Watt. He had also much experi"ence of the use of common steam-engines, which he em"ployed in working his colliery. He was withal ardent and "sanguine in the pursuit of his undertakings, and was there"fore a fortunate associate for Mr. Watt. Mr. Watt was a " valetudinarian, more or less, ever since I knew him; and "his mind was liable to be too much depressed by little cross ❝ accidents, or by the necessity of a greater expense than he

"had foreseen; whereas the Doctor was undaunted on such "occasions, and roused Mr. Watt to disregard expense, and to double his exertions, until the difficulty was overcome. "But Mr. Watt was the sole inventor of the capital improve"ment and contrivance above mentioned. I remember very "well that it cost me several reasonings and conversations to "inform the Doctor fully of the nature of steam, of the great quantity of heat, and, consequently, of fuel, necessary to produce it, and of the importance, therefore, of preventing "the waste of it."

"I was very unfortunate," says Robison, "in two visits I "made to Glasgow during that summer; Mr. Watt being "from home, once at Greenock, seeing his father, who was ill, and the other time on a survey for a canal. When I came to town for the winter, I found that Mr. Watt was

again from home, and that he was deeply engaged with his "engine. His situation in life made it imprudent to engage "in great expenses, and he was obliged to look out for an "associate. Most fortunately there was in the neighbourhood "such a person as he wished,-Dr. Roebuck, a gentleman of very uncommon knowledge in all the branches of civil engineering, familiarly acquainted with the steam-engine, "of which he employed several on his collieries, and deeply "interested in this improvement. He was also well accus"tomed to great enterprises, of an undaunted spirit, not "scared by difficulties, nor a niggard of expense. Such a man was indispensably necessary to one of Mr. Watt's character;-modest, timid, easily frightened by rubs and "misgivings, and too apt to despond. I do not know who pointed him out to Mr. Watt. He was well acquainted "with Mr. Watt's talents, and admired them. I believe the connection was very soon formed. Dr. Black and all Mr. "Watt's friends were happy at seeing so fair a commence"ment. At this time I had not the pleasure of being known "to Dr. Roebuck." "I believe that Dr. Black was "the chief means of forming the connection between Mr. "Watt and Dr. Roebuck; and I recollect most distinctly "his saying to me, that Watt would have some difficulty in

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"managing Dr. Roebuck, who at that time had not become "a complete convert to the doctrine of latent heat. Accordingly, it was so; and Mr. Watt was obliged to yield for some time to the Doctor's confidence in his own great experience. The Doctor thought to produce the condensa"tion, with sufficient rapidity and accuracy, by a very exten"sive surface; and Mr. Watt knew that it also required a great quantity of water, or other matter, to receive the emerging heat. I know that these differences of opinion "retarded the completion of the engine.

"But Dr. Roebuck had too much judgment not to see the "conclusiveness of the experiments by which the doctrine of "latent heat is established, and not to yield to their force; " and everything went on at last to their mutual satisfaction. "Dr. Roebuck knew Mr. Watt's talents, and most liberally praised them. His timidity, his disposition to despond "when under unforeseen difficulties, and his painful anxiety "and diffidence in himself, were frequently the subjects of 'friendly merriment at the Doctor's fireside; and I have " often heard him say, that without his help, and even his "instruction, on many points of the construction, Mr. Watt "could never have gone on. I have even heard him men"tion some important, but subordinate, parts of the engine "which were of his contrivance. But I never heard him "lay the smallest claim to the leading thought of a hot and dry cylinder for the piston to work in, and, therefore, a separate condenser. I never knew him call it 'my engine,' nor 'our engine,' but uniformly 'Watt's engine,' when he "had occasion to speak of it as distinct from the old or "Newcomen's engine. I remember Mrs. Roebuck saying one " evening, 'Jamie is a queer lad, and without the Doctor his ""invention would have been lost: but Dr. Roebuck won't ""let it perish.' I mention all these trifling things because "I have often heard gentlemen living in the neighbourhood " of Borrowstoness speak of this new project as Dr. Roe"buck's, in which he was assisted by one Watt, from Glasgow. One gentleman in particular, Mr. Graham of Airth, "insisted with me that Dr. Roebuck was the inventor. But

"one day Mr. Graham came home from Falkirk, where he "had seen Dr. Roebuck, and engaged him in conversation "on the subject. He told me that he now saw plainly that "Mr. Watt was the sole author, and said that he would be "at some pains to undeceive some gentlemen of the neigh"bourhood, who were of the opposite opinion. This was 66 very natural. Dr. Roebuck was a gentleman of uncom"mon knowledge in everything of this kind, and considered "as the first judge in all that country of all such matters; "whereas Mr. Watt was an entire stranger.

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"I remember also, that in 1774, or 1775, after my return "from Russia, I had some conversation with Dr. Roebuck. "The Doctor spoke with some dissatisfaction of Boulton and "Watt. They were now, he said, amassing fortunes from a project which his misfortunes had obliged him to cede to "them. They seemed to have forgotten that he had suffered "all the anxieties attending the infant project; he had run "all the risk, and the risk had been very great, both from "the novelty of the thing, and from Mr. Watt's delicate health, and his timidity under difficulties;—that without "his continual encouragement and support it never would "have succeeded. He had ceded his right on very moderate "terms, and he had expected some remembrance of this. "In this disposition to repine at an opportunity which he "had lost of benefiting himself, it would have been most "natural for Dr. Roebuck to put a high value on any part “that he had had in the discovery; and I listened with some "anxiety to hear if he advanced any claim of this kind, for I "knew that any such thing from Dr. Roebuck would be "received with much deference. But I have the most dis"tinct recollection that he made no claim whatever of this "sort; but, on the contrary, spoke in the highest terms of

* This date probably was given by Dr. R. in mistake for a later one, as Mr. Watt's Act of Parliament was obtained in May, 1775; after which, though in the same year, it was that be entered into partnership with Mr.

Boulton. It was several years before the manufacture of the improved steam-engines, which only commenced in 1775, became in the least degree remunerative.

"Mr. Watt's ingenuity and inexhaustible resource of in"vention.*

"The duties of my profession call my attention to a great " variety of very interesting objects. Of all these, my "favourite object is practical mechanics. I have, therefore, "hunted everywhere for information, and my opportunities "have been considerable. Understanding most of the languages of Europe, I have looked into almost every book "which treats of such things; and, in particular, I have searched for every project in mechanics, description of "machines, and schemes of public works. I can recollect "but one trace of anything like a separate condenser of 66 steam. This is in a volume of the Commentarii de "Rebus in Medicinâ et Scientiâ Naturali gestis;' I cannot "now recollect the volume, and only remember that it is a "late one; (indeed this whole work is of a date posterior to "1769). In this volume there is a short account given of an air-pump by M. Wilcke, of Upsal or Stockholm, precisely

* We understand these remarks of Dr. Robison to have had reference to some stories told by a person of the name of Joseph Hately, who, having come into the employment of Dr. Roebuck some time after Mr. Watt had begun to make his experimental essays at Kinneil, but having failed to give his employer satisfaction, quitted it, or was discharged, after a service of about eighteen months. He seems to have afterwards (16 Nov. 1790) taken out a patent for a "Pneumatic fire-engine;" but would not have been noticed here had it not been for a very absurd fable of which he was the author; which was to the effect that the improved engine had been invented not by Mr. Watt, but by Dr. Roebuck. This story he circulated on the eve of Boulton and Watt's litigation with the infringers of their patent rights; the design of it obviously being, by an allegation of prior invention, to "avoid" Mr. Watt's patent. Before venturing to promulgate such a creed he had waited, -no doubt wisely, as he thought, till the Doctor's death,

which happened in 1794: and thus he hoped to escape an effectual contradiction. Such folly and audacity, however, were at once exposed, as they deserve always to be; and we have now before us a letter from Dr. R.'s son, Mr. John Roebuck, (to Mr. Watt, 22nd Nov. 1796), in which he says, I never heard my father in "the smallest degree claim any merit or pretend to have any share in "inventing or even in improving upon your engine. On the contrary, he always represented the "whole invention to be yours." Also, one from a gentleman who had been clerk to Dr. R. at the time in question, and continued in strict friendship with him from that period to the time of his death; who expresses his astonishment "that Mr. Hately "should pretend to attribute an in"vention to Dr. Roebuck, which on every occasion, during a twentyseven years' intimate acquaintance "with the Doctor, he had avowed to me, and to others in my hearing, "to be wholly yours." (Mr. James Warrock to Mr. Watt, 26th Nov. 1796.)

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The Life of James Watt: With Selections from His Correspondence