I was delighted with this activity, especially as I hoped for a part of the profit for myself at the end of the year; but Herr Steiner, instead of accounting to me, assured me that I could entertain no hopes for ten years, as Herr von Hartl's investment of twenty thousand gulden would have to be repaid before there could be any question of dividing profits. I realized what this meant; and to avoid bringing a lawsuit, for which I lacked the means anyway, I decided to sell Herr Steiner my interests. He offered me six hundred gulden, and when, at last, I accepted it, he paid me fifty gulden because he had a claim on Herr Gleissner for five hundred and fifty gulden, something of which I had been in ignorance. The loss of this business pained me, but Herr von Hartl comforted me with the example of other inventors, who had received no better returns. Now the cotton-printery was my only hope. A third of the Pottendorf Company had declared itself in favor of erecting a factory, and in fact one thousand two hundred gulden had been appropriated to make a trial on a large scale. I went to Pottendorf and ordered a machine in which the cylinders were of cast-iron instead of copper, because Herr Thornton had two very handsome iron cylinders, two yards long and eight inches in diameter, which had been intended for another purpose but were sufficient for my trials. As soon as the printing-machine was ready, Herr Thornton had it connected with the water-wheel of the cotton-spinnery, so that one needed only to pull a cord to set the cylinders in motion and see the printing of the cotton proceed without human help, as if of itself. Nothing was needed now except to etch the design in the upper cylinder. The design consisted of a simple little flower, many times repeated, and it seemed to me to be anything except difficult. But after I had covered the cylinder with the etching surface and started to work with the graver, I saw, after a very few strokes, why it had not been possible before this to produce cotton patterns by etching and why engraving had been necessary. It was not possible for me to draw even three of the little flowers into the etching surface with the free hand so firmly and evenly as this sort of printing demanded if it was to appear thoroughly accurate to the eye. This was in spite of the fact that I had first drawn the design carefully in measured squares on stone and transferred it in red to the black cylinder. My strokes were too trembling and uneven, so that I nearly gave up the hope of ever doing anything excellent in this way, unless I were to expend as much or more time than would be needed for the regular process of engraving. The failure of this attempt, and the disgrace that would come to me as a result, spurred me on to invent some method to overcome the difficulty of drawing. I succeeded so unexpectedly that the very failure became the means to greater perfection.