The handbook Boulton and Watt provided to engine users, 1779. It gave useful instructions to users who often had little prior experience of steam power.
Image: Science Museum/SSPL
A new organisation
Whereas Boulton and Watt's previous
engine-building enterprise was small and lightly equipped, the Soho Foundry comprised nine complete 'shops'.
Each shop used special machine tools. The drilling shop had two large drilling machines, and the boring shop had a massive
cylinder-boring machine.
The Foundry's organisation was as important as its equipment. Each shop manufactured a particular steam engine part. Each worker had precise tasks to fulfil. Even the speeds of the individual machine tools were planned.
