634 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



introduced his name topublic notice. 

 The utmost power of the water-naill, 

 which Mr. Bouhon had hitherto 

 employed, fell infinitely short, even 

 with the aid of horses, of that im- 

 inense force which was soon found 

 necessary to the completion of his 

 designs. Recourse was therefore 

 had, about the year 1767, to that 

 chef d'ceuvre of human ingenuity, 

 the steam engine. The first that 

 Mr. Boulton constructed was on M. 

 Savary's plan ; but the machine was 

 yet, as it were, in its infancy, and 

 by no means answered Mr. Boul- 

 ton's expectations. In the year 

 1769, Mr. James Watt, of Glasgow, 

 obtained a patent for such a prodi- 

 gious improvement of it, that Mr. 

 Boulton immediately sought his ac- 

 quaintance and induced him to settle 

 at Soho. At this place the facility 

 of its application to a variety of con- 

 cerns, wherein greatforcewas requi- 

 site, soon manifested its superior 

 utility and vast advantages to the 

 public; parliament, therefore, in 

 1775, cheerfully granted a prolong- 

 ation of Mr. Watt's patent for 25 

 years. A partnership now commenc- 

 ed between Messrs. Boulton and 

 Watt ; and a manufactory of steam 

 engines, on their improved plan,was 

 established at Soho, which still sup- 

 plies the chief mines and manufac- 

 tories throughout the kingdom. — 

 Aided bysuch taIents,andcommand- 

 ing such unlimited mechanical pow- 

 ers, Mr. Boulton's views soon ex- 

 panded, and Soho began to exhibit 

 symptoms of the extraordinary ad- 

 vantages it had acquired. The art 

 of coining had long stood in need of 

 simplification and arrangement, and 

 to this art Mr. Boulton no sooner 

 turned his attention, than, about 

 the year 1788, he erected a coining 

 mill, on an improved plan, and 



struck a gold medal of the full 

 weight of a guinea, and of the same 

 form as that of his new copper coin- 

 age lately put into circulation. — 

 The superior advantages of that 

 form are obvious. The impression 

 is far less liable to friction ; and by 

 means of a steel guage of equal di- 

 ameter, money coined on that prin- 

 ciple, may be examined by measure 

 as well as by weight, the rim being 

 exactly circular. Moreover, the 

 intrinsic is so nearly equal to the 

 current value of every piece, that, 

 withouta steam engineand adequate 

 apparatus, every attempt to coun- 

 terfeit the Soho coinage must be 

 made with loss. The fabrication of 

 base money seems likely, by these 

 means, to be speedily checked, and, 

 it is to be hoped, entirely defeated. 

 The mill at Soho works eight ma- 

 chines, each of which receives, 

 stamps and delivers out, by the aid 

 of only a little boy, from 70 to 90 

 pieces of copper in one minute. — 

 Either of them is stopped without 

 the least interruption to the motion 

 of the others. In adjoining apart- 

 ments all the preparatory processes 

 are carried on with equal facility 

 and dispatch ; such as rolling the 

 copper into sheets, dividing them 

 into blanks, and shaking them into 

 bags clean and ready for the die. 

 Without any personal communica- 

 tion between the different classes 

 of workmen, the blanks are convey- 

 ed to the room where they are 

 shaken, and from thence to the 

 coining room in boxes, moving with 

 immense velocity on an inclined 

 plane, and accompanied by a ticket 

 of their weight. The Sierra Leone 

 Company have employed Mr. Boul- 

 ton's mint in the coinage of silver, 

 and the East India Company in 

 that of copper. He has also sent 



two 



