" But now the
matter was reversed, and the saying was, "The Englishman buys
silk of the stranger for twenty marks, and sells him the same
again for one hundred pounds."
But the patent was about to expire. It had been granted for only
fourteen years; and a long time had elapsed before the engine
could be put in operation, and the organzine manufactured. It
was the only engine in the kingdom. Joshua Gee, writing in 1731,
says: "As we have but one Water Engine in the kingdom for
throwing silk, if that should be destroyed by fire or any other
accident, it would make the continuance of throwing fine silk
very precarious; and it is very much to be doubted whether all
the men now living in the kingdom could make another." Gee
accordingly recommended that three or four more should be erected
at the public expense, "according to the model of that at
Derby."[5]
The patent expired in 1732. The year before, Sir Thomas Lombe,
who had been by this time knighted, applied to Parliament for a
prolongation of the patent. The reasons for his appeal were
principally these: that before he could provide for the full
supply of other silk proper for his purpose (the Italians having
prohibited the exportation of raw silk), and before he could
alter his engine, train up a sufficient number of workpeople, and
bring the manufacture to perfection, almost all the fourteen
years of his patent right would have expired.
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