To cover the entire surface of the cylinder it would be necessary to draw thirty thousand flowers. Had I not experienced the slightest difficulty, I still would have needed half a minute for each flower, and thus I would scarcely have been able to finish an entire cylinder inside of a month. But I invented a drawing-machine with which, though I was not a skillful draftsman, I could draw the entire design within two days, and with an accuracy that hardly could be attained by the engraving-tool. With this instrument I drew the design on the black etching surface of the cylinder, etched it and made a sample printing which, when it was repeated afterward in presence of Fürst von Esterhazy and other members of the company, earned universal praise. Herr von Hartl planned to obtain an exclusive franchise for this cylinder cotton-printing, sell it to the company, and have me appointed as director, something like Herr Thornton, who drew not only a decent salary but also a fourth part of the profit from the entire spinnery. As I could see readily that a company with such enormous resources could soon bring a cotton-print establishment to a great stage, it did not seem impossible to me that the annual income might rise to a million, as in the Ebreichsdorfer factory. If the net profits were only five per cent, there still would be more than twelve thousand gulden annually for me, and I was sure to be a rich man in a short time. So I thanked Herr von Hartl heartily and continued to perfect my process in every tiny detail. The fear had arisen that iron cylinders might affect the handsome reds and other fine colors. Herr Thornton, who had become my friend, promised to make for me cast copper cylinders with iron cores: and his preparations for this work were almost completed when again fate ruined all my hopes. Napoleon had just completed the Continental blockade; and the English cotton stuffs were not to be had anywhere. This forced all the weavers and manufacturers of the inland to buy from the Pottendorfer Works, and the sale of their output became so great that the formerly overcrowded storehouses were emptied in a short time. "Why should we erect a new, different factory? Rather let us enlarge the present one." This was the general and entirely sensible decision of the company. Herr von Hartl would not interest himself further in the process, because our hope of an exclusive franchise had been ruined through the treachery of a foreman in the spinnery, who had made drawings of our machine and sold them to various cotton-making establishments, who were already imitating the process. So there was nothing left for me except to seek my fortune elsewhere.