Memoir of James JValt, Esq. F.R.S. 449 



The application of steam to the turning machinery, by con- 

 Verting the reciprocal motion into a rotative one, was but imper- 

 fect while the rod of the piston was connected with the beam or 

 lever of the engine by a chain, for though the chain can drav,-, it 

 cannot propel or push. 



By one of the most ingenious of all inventions, which, how- 

 ever, cannot be described without the assistance of a drawing, 

 Mr. Watt contrived to make the pull and push of the engine act 

 always in a perpendicular direction, though the end of the beam 

 moved in a circle. This invention was like all the others exclu- 

 sively Mr. Watt's, though unlike some of the others, it was not 

 pirated or stolen. 



At the same time that this gave to the engine an accuracy and 

 certainty of motion, it rendered the machine much less expensive. 

 The two circular heads to the beam or lever became unnecessary, 

 so that a simple straight lever, either of wood or of cast-iron, 

 answered the purpose. 



In Newcomen's engine, of a large size, the beam was five or 

 six feet in depth, and three or four in thickness, built of 12 or 16 

 strong pieces of timber, costing seven or eight hundred pounds 

 sterling. 



The improved engines not only do not consume above one- 

 third of the quantity of coal, but the boiler, the fire-place, and 

 the building are all much smaller in size, and consequently much 

 less expensive. 



We have been particular in giving in detail the difficulties Mr. 

 Watt had to encounter, and the wonderful genius and persever- 

 ance by which they were overcome. 



Any person who sees now with what facility the engines are 

 managed, and the perfection with which they are made, must feel 

 a difficulty of conceiving the difficnllies that good workmen and 

 men of genius found in managing the machine, and making it 

 perform well for some years after its first invention, but that only 

 proves the truth of an old proverb, that Practice makes perfect. 



Never was there a more happy or fit union of two persons act- 

 ing in conjunction than was witnessed in Messrs. Boulton and 

 Watt. Though of very diflferent manners and habits, no two 

 men ever more cordially agreed. Mr, Watt was studious and re- 

 served, keeping aloof from the world, while Mr. Boulton was ac- 

 tive, mixing with people of all ranks with great freedom, and 

 without ceremony. As both were highly honouralde men, and 

 very attentive to business, they did full justice to every thing they 

 undertook, and to every person with whom they transacted busi- 

 ness. 



Thev were libera! to those whom they employed : and Soho, 

 Vol. 54. No. 260. Dec. 1819. F f ' where 



