Boulton & Watt was an early

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

engineering and manufacturing firm in the business of designing and making marine and

stationary steam engine Stationary steam engines are fixed steam engines used for pumping or driving mills and factories, and for power generation. They are distinct from locomotive engines used on railways, traction engines for heavy steam haulage on roads, steam cars ...

s. Founded in the English

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

around

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

in 1775 as a partnership between the English manufacturer

Matthew Boulton Matthew Boulton (; 3 September 172817 August 1809) was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engin ...

and the Scottish engineer

James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fun ...

, the firm had a major role in the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

and grew to be a major producer of steam engines in the 19th century.

The engine partnership

The partnership was formed in 1775 to exploit Watt's

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

for a

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

with a separate condenser. This made much more efficient use of its fuel than the older

Newcomen engine The atmospheric engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, and is often referred to as the Newcomen fire engine (see below) or simply as a Newcomen engine. The engine was operated by condensing steam drawn into the cylinder, thereby creati ...

. Initially the business was based at the

Soho Manufactory The Soho Manufactory () was an early factory which pioneered mass production on the assembly line principle, in Soho, Birmingham, England, at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. It operated from 1766–1848 and was demolished in 1853. Be ...

near Boulton's

Soho House Soho House is a museum run by Birmingham Museums Trust, celebrating Matthew Boulton's life, his partnership with James Watt, his membership of the Lunar Society of Birmingham and his contribution to the Midlands Enlightenment and the Ind ...

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

s themselves at their

Soho Foundry Soho Foundry is a factory created in 1775 by Matthew Boulton and James Watt and their sons Matthew Robinson Boulton and James Watt Jr. at Smethwick, West Midlands, England (), for the manufacture of steam engines. Now owned by Avery Weigh-Tr ...

in Smethwick, near

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The partnership was passed to two of their sons in 1800.

William Murdoch William Murdoch (sometimes spelled Murdock) (21 August 1754 – 15 November 1839) was a Scottish engineer and inventor. Murdoch was employed by the firm of Boulton & Watt and worked for them in Cornwall, as a steam engine erector for ten yea ...

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, albeit renamed "James Watt & Co." in 1849, and was still making steam engines in 1895, when it was sold to W & T Avery Ltd.

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 Peter Ewart (14 May 1767 – 15 September 1842) was a British engineer who was influential in developing the technologies of turbines and theories of thermodynamics. Biography He was son of the Church of Scotland minister of Troqueer near D ...

William Brunton William Brunton Senior (26 May 1777 – 5 October 1851) was a Scottish engineer and inventor. Early life He was the eldest son of Robert Brunton, a watchmaker (14 Aug 1748–1834) of Dalkeith, where he was born. He studied mechanics in his fath ...

Isaac Perrins Isaac Perrins was an English bareknuckle prizefighter and 18th-century engineer. A man reputed to possess prodigious strength but a mild manner, he fought and lost one of the most notorious boxing matches of the era, a physically mismatched cont ...

, and John Southern.

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 the Library of Birmingham. The library has since obtained various other related archives. An additional archive was donated to the Boulton and Watt collection in 2015. It represents the significant research carried out by ''Dr John Richardson (Accession number 2015/049)'' The archive includes: A copy of his completed P.h.D.thesis submitted to the University of Reading in 1989. The original thesis remains the property of the University of Reading. The archive contains: Display folders containing text and different varieties of drawings from the detailed examination of the large number of portfolios of engineering drawings. these include drawings used in the development of new ideas, detail drawings of parts, assembly drawings, drawings used in instruction and function and 'prestige' drawings often produced in full colour to provide customers with realistic views of assemblies and finished engines. Folders containing detailed handwritten notes on all portfolios examined. This information includes portfolio number, dates of drawings and comments on techniques used. Where applicable, the records cross reference with letters, books and other related literature on the firm of Boulton and Watt. A selection of DVDs containing all text and the many drawings studied are also included in the archive. The research is primarily concerned with the contribution of the firm of Boulton and Watt to engineering drawing used in design and manufacture. The archive also includes work carried out by other early architects, artists, engineers and designers. The archive also includes information on a project undertaken in 1984. ''The Australian Project'' An opportunity arose in 1984 to evaluate the use of Boulton & Watt drawings made two hundred years earlier when Dr Richardson was asked to help the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, New South Wales Australia who were planning to restore and erect a Boulton and Watt engine. In the course of restoration, the engine had been completely dismantled and the work revealed that the cylinder, valve gear, condenser and air pump had all been modified at least once from the original design. Reports from Australia confirmed that the engine was erected in the Power House Museum, Ultimo, New South Wales. This engine was originally designed and built for Samuel Whitbread in 1784 and the ''job portfolio (B & W 4) contains forty four drawings that relate to it''. Copies of the different types of drawings were made and sent out; they provided all the necessary information required to re assemble and erect the engine. (Dr Louise Crossley 1984)

Preserved operational engines

* Smethwick Engine,

Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum Thinktank, Birmingham (formerly known as simply Thinktank) is a science museum in Birmingham, England. Opened in 2001, it is part of Birmingham Museums Trust and is located within the Millennium Point (Birmingham), Millennium Point complex on ...

, manufactured 1779. *

Whitbread Engine The Whitbread Engine preserved in the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia, built in 1785, is one of the first rotative steam engines ever built, and is the oldest surviving. A rotative engine is a type of beam engine where the reciprocating mo ...

Powerhouse Museum The Powerhouse Museum is the major branch of the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS) in Sydney, the others being the historic Sydney Observatory at Observatory Hill, and the newer Museums Discovery Centre at Castle Hill. Although often de ...

, Sydney, manufactured 1785, bore, stroke. *

Crofton Pumping Station Crofton Pumping Station, near the village of Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire, England, supplies the summit pound of the Kennet and Avon Canal with water. The steam-powered pumping station is preserved and operates on selected weekends. It contains ...

manufactured 1812, bore, stroke. *

Kew Bridge Steam Museum London Museum of Water & Steam is an independent museum founded in 1975 as the Kew Bridge Steam Museum. It was rebranded in early 2014 following a major investment project. Situated on the site of the old Kew Bridge Pumping Station in Brentfo ...

manufactured 1820, bore, stroke. *

Papplewick Pumping Station Papplewick Pumping Station, situated in open agricultural land approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) by road from the Nottinghamshire village of Papplewick, was built by Nottingham Corporation Water Department between 1881 and 1884 to pump water ...

two engines, manufactured 1884, bore, stroke. Believed to be the last engines manufactured by the company.

References

External links

The Non-Rotative Beam Engine Chapter 3: The Boulton and Watt Engine
Maurice Kelly
Archives of Soho
at Birmingham Central Library.
Revolutionary Players websiteCornwall Record Office Boulton & Watt letters
{{Authority control Defunct manufacturing companies of England Steam engine manufacturers James Watt History of the steam engine Industrial Revolution in England Marine engine manufacturers Companies based in Smethwick Manufacturing companies established in 1775 British companies established in 1775 1775 establishments in England Engine manufacturers of the United Kingdom