Scientific American Supplement, No. 803, May 23, 1891Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 803, May 23, 1891
Various
Science -- Periodicals
Boulton & Watt, the capitalist with the inventor, gave the world the
steam engine, finally, in such form and in such numbers that its
permanent establishment as the servant of man was insured. The
capitalist was as essential an element of success as was the inventor,
and, in this instance, as in a thousand others, the race is indebted
to that much-abused friend of the race, the capitalist, for much that
it enjoys of all that it desires. The industry and patience, the skill
and the wisdom required for the accumulation of this energy stored for
future use in great enterprises is as important, as essential, as
inventive power or any other form of genius. Talent and genius must
always aid each other. This firm was established in 1764 and its main
resources, aside from the bank account, were Watt's patent, about
expiring, and Watt's genius, and Boulton's talent as a man of
business. The patent was extended for twenty-four years, the new
inventions of Watt, now beginning to pour from his prolific brain in a
wonderful stream, were also patented, and the whole works were soon
employed upon the construction of engines for which numerous orders
soon began to pour in upon the now prosperous builders. The patent law
established Boulton and Watt and the firm paid back the nation with
handsome usury, giving it unimaginable profits indirectly through its
control of the work of the world and large profits directly through
the business brought them from all parts of the then civilized globe.
There has never, in the history of the world, been a more impressive
illustration of the value to a nation of that generous public policy,
that simply just legislation, which gives to the man of brain control
of the products of his mind. For a hundred years, Great Britain has,
largely through her encouragement of the inventor and her protection
of his mental property by securing the fruits of his labors, in fair
portion, to him, gained the power of dictating to the world and has
gained an advance that cannot be measured. Watt and Arkwright and
Stephenson and Crompton and their ilk, protected by their government
and its patent laws, made their country the peaceful conqueror of the
world. The story of the work of the inventor is a poem of mighty
meaning and of wonderful deeds. The inventor proved himself a mightier
magician than ever the world had seen.
"A creature he called to wait on his will,
Half iron, half vapor--a dread to behold;
Which evermore panted, and evermore rolled,
And uttered his words a millionfold."
Such was the outcome of this grand modern "trust," a combination of
the wisest legislation, the most brilliant invention, and the most
wisely applied capital. There are "trusts" of which the outcome is
most beneficent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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