James Watt, the Scottish genius whose experiments led to the evolution of the modern steam engine, could actually have hampered the country's industrial development, it was claimed yesterday.
If Greenock-born Watt had been less cautious his inventions could have paved the way for the development of the steam locomotive some 15 years earlier, according to a (pounds) 700,000 archive of correspondence which has surfaced at auction for the first time.
Watt's development and patent of a separate condenser for the steam engine in 1769, increasing threefold the efficiency of the old atmospheric engines, was possibly the single most important invention of the eighteenth century.
It has been claimed that the 25-year patent restricted anyone making adjustments to it and caused the progress of the world's first steam locomotive to be put on hold.
''If Watt had been brave enough to forge ahead then Britain would not have had to wait until 1825 for the opening of the first public railway,'' David Park, manuscripts specialist for auctioneers Bonhams said yesterday.
More than 1100 letters from Watt and Matthew Boulton, his partner in the Soho Manufactury in Birmingham, to Thomas Wilson, their agent in Cornwall, reveal that the patent protected the invention and made them money but also restricted progress and innovation, according to Mr Park.
''The trouble was Watt did not think man was capable of handling high pressure steam. Basically, he was afraid of it.''
''As it was, a younger generation of pioneers was prevented by Watt's patents from exploring the possibilities of high-pressure steam.''
James Gibson Watt, the inventor's great-great-great-great grandson, said such allegations were ''spurious''.
''He had justifiable safety concerns about copies of his invention and did what any sensible businessman would do to protect it from plagiarism,'' he said last night.
''This secured the future of the Soho works which employed many people and allowed him to refine his invention, which was to everyone's advantage.''
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article