At present, an
alteration for the better is making in the oval chuck, and a few
additional chucks, rest, etc., are making to the lathe. When
these are finished, I shall have it at Billinger's until you
return, or as you otherwise direct. I am going on with my
drawings for a complete machine, and shall be glad to see you
here to judge of them."
The drawings were made, but the machine was never finished.
"Invention," said Watt, "goes on very slowly with me now." Four
years later, he was still at work; but death put a stop to his
"diminishing-machine." It is a remarkable testimony to the skill
and perseverance of a man who had already accomplished so much,
that it is almost his only unfinished work. Watt died in 1819,
in the eighty-third year of his age, to the great grief of
Murdock, his oldest and most attached friend and correspondent.
Meanwhile, the firm of Boulton and Watt continued. The sons of
the two partners carried it on, with Murdock as their Mentor. He
was still full of work and inventive power. In 1802, he applied
the compressed air of the Blast Engine employed to blow the
cupolas of the Soho Foundry, for the purpose of driving the lathe
in the pattern shop. It worked a small engine, with a l2-inch
cylinder and 18-inch stroke, connected with the lathe, the speed
being regulated as required by varying the admission of the
blast.
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