Watt's experimental engine from Kinneil, Scotland. Later transported to Birmingham, its development was slowed by Watt's work as a surveyor to make ends meet.
Image: Science Museum/SSPL
Power for all the world
In 1773 John Roebuck, James Watt's business partner, was declared bankrupt. Watt then formed a new partnership with Matthew Boulton, and had his experimental engine re-erected at Boulton's Soho Manufactory.
In 1775, after 'various and violent oppositions', Boulton and Watt obtained an act of parliament extending Watt's separate condenser patent up to 1800. The way was clear for Boulton and Watt to supply what all the world wanted: power.
