Boulton and Watt
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(Location: 52°29′33″N 1°53′17″W / 52.492537°N 1.888189°W)
The firm of Boulton & Watt was initially a partnership between Matthew Boulton and James Watt.
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[edit] The engine partnership
The partnership was formed in 1775 to exploit Watt's patent for a steam engine with a separate condenser.[1] This made much more efficient use of its fuel than the older Newcomen engine. Initially the business was based at the Soho Manufactory near Boulton's Soho House on the southern edge of the then-rural parish of Handsworth. However most of the components for their engines were made by others, for example the cylinders by John Wilkinson.
In 1795, they began to make steam engines themselves at their Soho Foundry in Smethwick, near Birmingham, England. The partnership was passed to two of their sons in 1800. William Murdoch was made a partner of the firm in 1810, where he remained until his retirement 20 years later at the age of 76. The firm lasted over 120 years, and was still making steam engines, a few of which are preserved, in 1895.
[edit] Nurturing talent
The business was a hotbed for the nurturing of emerging engineering talent. Among the names which were employed there in the eighteenth century were James Law, Peter Ewart, William Brunton, Isaac Perrins, William Murdoch, and John Southern.[2]
[edit] Archive
The firm left an extremely detailed archive of its activities, which was given to the city of Birmingham in 1911 and is kept at Birmingham Central Library. The library has since obtained various other related archives.
[edit] Preserved operational engines
- Smethwick Engine, Thinktank science museum, Birmingham, manufactured 1779.
- Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, manufactured 1785, 25 inch (0.64 m) bore, 72 inch (1.83 m) stroke.
- Crofton Pumping Station manufactured 1812, 42.25 inch (1.07 m) bore, 84 inch (2.13 m) stroke.
- Kew Bridge Steam Museum manufactured 1820, 64 inch (1.62 m) bore, 96 inch (2.44 m) stroke.[3]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Roll, Erich (1930). An Early Experiment in Industrial Organisation : being a History of the Firm of Boulton & Watt, 1775-1805. Longmans, Green and Co.. p. 320.
- ^ Buchanan, R. A. (1978). "Steam and the engineering community in the eighteenth century". Transactions of the Newcomen Society 50: 198.
- ^ "The Boulton and Watt Engine". Kew Bridge Steam Museum. http://www.kbsm.org/exhibits/boulton-and-watt. Retrieved 2011-08-08.
[edit] Further reading
- Hills, Richard L. (2002). James Watt: His Time in Scotland (1736-1774). Landmark Publishing. ISBN 1843060450.
[edit] External links
- The Non-Rotative Beam Engine Chapter 3: The Boulton and Watt Engine Maurice Kelly ISBN 0‑9536523‑3‑5
- Archives of Soho at Birmingham Central Library.
- The Powerhouse Museum's Boulton and Watt engine
- Revolutionary Players website
- Cornwall Record Office Boulton & Watt letters
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