It concluded:--"I believe I may, without presuming too much, claim both
the first idea of applying, and the first application of this gas to
economical purposes."[9]  The Royal Society awarded Murdock their large
Rumford Gold Medal for his communication.

In the following year a German named Wintzer, or Winsor, appeared as
the promotor of a scheme for obtaining a royal charter with extensive
privileges, and applied for powers to form a joint-stock company to
light part of London and Westminster with gas.  Winsor claimed for his
method of gas manufacture that it was more efficacious and profitable
than any then known or practised.  The profits, indeed, were to be
prodigious.  Winsor made an elaborate calculation in his pamphlet
entitled 'The New Patriotic Imperial and National Light and Heat
Company,' from which it appeared that the net annual profits "agreeable
to the official experiments" would amount to over two hundred and
twenty-nine millions of pounds!--and that, giving over nine-tenths of
that sum towards the redemption of the National Debt, there would still
remain a total profit of 570L. to be paid to the subscribers for every
5L. of deposit!  Winsor took out a patent for the invention, and the
company, of which he was a member, proceeded to Parliament for an Act.
Boulton and Watt petitioned against the Bill, and James Watt, junior,
gave evidence on the subject.  Henry Brougham, who was the counsel for
the petitioners, made great fun of Winsor's absurd speculations,[10]
and the Bill was thrown out.

In the following year the London and Westminster Chartered Gas Light
and Coke Company succeeded in obtaining their Act.  They were not very
successful at first.  Many prejudices existed against the employment of
the new light.  It was popularly supposed that the gas was carried
along the pipes on fire, and that the pipes must necessarily be
intensely hot.  When it was proposed to light the House of Commons with
gas, the architect insisted on the pipes being placed several inches
from the walls, for fear of fire; and, after the pipes had been fixed,
the members might be seen applying their gloved hands to them to
ascertain their temperature, and afterwards expressing the greatest
surprise on finding that they were as cool as the adjoining walls.

The Gas Company was on the point of dissolution when Mr. Samuel Clegg
came to their aid.  Clegg had been a pupil of Murdock's, at Soho.  He
knew all the arrangements which Murdock had invented. He had assisted
in fitting up the gas machinery at the mills of Phillips & Lee,
Manchester, as well as at Lodge's Mill, Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax.
He was afterwards employed to fix the apparatus at the Catholic College
of Stoneyhurst, in Lancashire, at the manufactory of Mr. Harris at
Coventry, and at other places.  In 1813 the London and Westminster Gas
Company secured the services of Mr. Clegg, and from that time forwards
their career was one of prosperity.  In 1814 Westminster Bridge was
first lighted with gas, and shortly after the streets of St.
Margaret's, Westminster.  Crowds of people followed the lamplighter on
his rounds to watch the sudden effect of his flame applied to the
invisible stream of gas which issued from the burner.  The lamplighters
became so disgusted with the new light that they struck work, and Clegg
himself had for a time to act as lamplighter.

The advantages of the new light, however, soon became generally
recognised, and gas companies were established in most of the large
towns.  Glasgow was lit up by gas in 1817, and Liverpool and Dublin in
the following year.  Had Murdock in the first instance taken out a
patent for his invention, it could not fail to have proved exceedingly
remunerative to him; but he derived no advantage from the extended use
of the new system of lighting except the honour of having invented
it.[11] He left the benefits of his invention to the public, and
returned to his labours at Soho, which more than ever completely
engrossed him.

Murdock now became completely identified with the firm of Boulton &
Watt.  He assigned to them his patent for the slide-valve, the rotary
engine, and other inventions "for a good and valuable consideration."
Indeed his able management was almost indispensable to the continued
success of the Soho foundry.  Mr. Nasmyth, when visiting the works
about thirty years after Murdock had taken their complete management in
hand, recalled to mind the valuable services of that truly admirable
yet modest mechanic. He observed the admirable system, which he had
invented, of transmitting power from one central engine to other small
vacuum engines attached to the several machines which they were
employed to work.  "This vacuum method," he says, "of transmitting
power dates from the time of Papin; but it remained a dead contrivance
for about a century until it received the masterly touch of Murdock."

"The sight which I obtained" (Mr. Nasmyth proceeds) "of the vast series
of workshops of that celebrated establishment, fitted with evidences of
the presence and results of such master minds in design and execution,
and the special machine tools which I believe were chiefly to be
ascribed to the admirable inventive power and common-sense genius of
William Murdock, made me feel that I was indeed on classic ground in
regard to everything connected with the construction of steam-engine
machinery.  The interest was in no small degree enhanced by coming
every now and then upon some machine that had every historical claim to
be regarded as the prototype of many of our modern machine tools. All
these had William Murdock's genius stamped upon them, by reason of
their common-sense arrangements, which showed that he was one of those
original thinkers who had the courage to break away from the trammels
of traditional methods, and take short cuts to accomplish his objects
by direct and simple means."

We have another recollection of William Murdock, from one who knew him
when a boy.  This is the venerable Charles Manby, F.R.S., still
honorary secretary of the Institute of Civil Engineers.  He says
(writing to us in September 1883), "I see from the public prints that
you have been presiding at a meeting intended to do honour to the
memory of William Murdock--a most worthy man and an old friend of mine.
When he found me working the first slide valve ever introduced into an
engine-building establishment at Horsley, he patted me on the head, and
said to my father, 'Neighbour Manby, this is not the way to bring up a
good workman--merely turning a handle, without any shoulder work.'  He
evidently did not anticipate any great results from my engineering
education.  But we all know what machine tools are doing now,--and
where should we be without them?"

Watt withdrew from the firm in 1800, on the expiry of his patent for
the condensing steam-engine; but Boulton continued until the year 1809,
when he died full of years and honours.  Watt lived on until 1819.  The
last part of his life was the happiest.  During the time that he was in
the throes of his invention, he was very miserable, weighed down with
dyspepsia and sick headaches.  But after his patent had expired, he was
able to retire with a moderate fortune, and began to enjoy life.
Before, he had "cursed his inventions," now he could bless them.  He
was able to survey them, and find out what was right and what was
wrong.  He used his head and his hands in his private workshop, and
found many means of employing both pleasantly.  Murdock continued to be
his fast friend, and they spent many agreeable hours together. They
made experiments and devised improvements in machines.  Watt wished to
make things more simple.   He said to Murdock, "it is a great thing to
know what to do without.  We must have a book of blots--things to be
scratched out."  One of the most interesting schemes of Watt towards
the end of his life was the contrivance of a sculpture-making machine;
and he proceeded so far with it as to to able to present copies of
busts to his friends as "the productions of a young artist just
entering his eighty-third year."  The machine, however, remained
unfinished at his death, and the remarkable fact is that it was Watt's
only unfinished work.

The principle of the machine was to carry a guide-point at one side
over the bust or alto-relievo to be copied, and at the other side to
carry a corresponding cutting-tool or drill over the alabaster, ivory,
jet, or plaster of Paris to be executed.  The machine worked, as it
were, with two hands, the one feeling the pattern, the other cutting
the material into the required form. Many new alterations were
necessary for carrying out this ingenious apparatus, and Murdock was
always at hand to give his old friend and master his best assistance.
We have seen many original letters from Watt to Murdock, asking for
counsel and help.  In one of these, written in 1808, Watt says: "I have
revived an idea which, if it answers, will supersede the frame and
upright spindle of the reducing machine, but more of this when we meet.
Meanwhile it will be proper to adhere to the frame, etc., at present,
until we see how the other alterations answer."  In another he says: "I
have done a Cicero without any plaits--the different segments meeting
exactly.  The fitting the drills into the spindle by a taper of 1 in 6
will do.  They are perfectly stiff and will not unscrew easily.  Four
guide-pullies answer, but there must be a pair for the other end, and
to work with a single hand, for the returning part is always cut upon
some part or other of the frame."

These letters are written sometimes in the morning, sometimes at noon,
sometimes at night.  There was a great deal of correspondence about
"pullies," which did not seem to answer at first.  "I have made the
tablets," said Watt on one occasion, "slide more easily, and can
counterbalance any part of their weight which may be necessary; but the
first thing to try is the solidity of the machine, which cannot be done
till the pullies are mounted."  Then again: "The bust-making must be
given up until we get a more solid frame.  I have worked two days at
one and spoiled it, principally from the want of steadiness."  For
Watt, it must be remembered, was now a very old man.

He then proceeded to send Murdock the drawing of a "parallel motion for
the machine," to be executed by the workmen at Soho. The truss braces
and the crosses were to be executed of steel, according to the details
he enclosed.  "I have warmed up," he concludes, "an old idea, and can
make a machine in which the pentagraph and the leading screw will all
be contained in the beam, and the pattern and piece to be cut will
remain at rest fixed upon a lath of cast iron or stout steel."  Watt is
very particular in all his details: "I am sorry," he says in one note,
"to trouble you with so many things; but the alterations on this
spindle and socket [he annexes a drawing] may wait your convenience."
In a further note, Watt says.  "The drawing for the parallel lathe is
ready; but I have been sadly puzzled about the application of the
leading screws to the cranes in the other. I think, however, I have now
got the better of the difficulties, and made it more certain, as well
as more simple, than it was.  I have done an excellent head of John
Hunter in hard white in shorter time than usual.  I want to show it you
before I repair it."

At last Watt seems to have become satisfied: "The lathe," he says, "is
very much improved, and you seem to have given the finishing blow to
the roofed frame, which appears perfectly stiff.  I had some hours'
intense thinking upon the machine last night, and have made up my mind
on it at last.  The great difficulty was about the application of the
band, but I have settled it to be much as at present."

Watt's letters to Murdock are most particular in details, especially as
to screws, nuts, and tubes, with strengths and dimensions, always
illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings.  And yet all this was done
merely for mechanical amusement, and not for any personal pecuniary
advantage.  While Watt was making experiments as to the proper
substances to be carved and drilled, he also desired Murdock to make
similar experiments.  "The nitre," he said in one note, "seems to do
harm; the fluor composition seems the best and hardest.  Query, what
would some calcined pipe-clay do?  If you will calcine some fire-clay
by a red heat and pound it,--about a pound,--and send it to me, I shall
try to make you a mould or two in Henning's manner to cast this and the
sulphur acid iron in.  I have made a screwing tool for wood that seems
to answer; also one of a one-tenth diameter for marble, which does very
well."  In another note, Watt says: "I find my drill readily makes 2400
turns per minute, even with the large drill you sent last; if I bear
lightly, a three-quarter ferril would run about 3000, and by an engine
that might be doubled."

The materials to be drilled into medallions also required much
consideration.  "I am much obliged to you," said Watt, "for the balls,
etc., which answer as well as can be expected.  They make great
progress in cutting the crust (Ridgways) or alabaster, and also cut
marble, but the harder sorts soon blunt them.  At any rate, marble does
not do for the medallions, as its grain prevents its being cut smooth,
and its semi-transparence hurts the effect.  I think Bristol lime, or
shell lime, pressed in your manner, would have a good effect.  When you
are at leisure, I shall thank you for a few pieces, and if some of them
are made pink or flesh colour, they will look well.  I used the ball
quite perpendicular, and it cut well, as most of the cutting is
sideways.  I tried a fine whirling point, but it made little progress;
another with a chisel edge did almost as well as the balls, but did not
work so pleasantly.  I find a triangular scraping point the best, and I
think from some trials it should be quite a sharp point.  The wheel
runs easier than it did, but has still too much friction.  I wished to
have had an hour's consultation with you, but have been prevented by
sundry matters among others by that plaguey stove, which is now in your
hands."

Watt was most grateful to Murdock for his unvarying assistance. In
January, 1813, when Watt was in his seventy-seventh year, he wrote to
Murdock, asking him to accept a present of a lathe "I have not heard
from you," he says, "in reply to my letter about the lathe; and,
presuming you are not otherwise provided, I have bought it, and request
your acceptance of it.  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 12-inch cylinder and 18-inch stroke,
connected with the lathe, the speed being regulated as required by
varying the admission of the blast.  This engine continued in use for
about thirty-five years.

In 1803 Murdock experimented on the power of high-pressure steam in
propelling shot, and contrived a steam-engine with which he made many
trials at Soho, thereby anticipating the apparatus contrived by Mr.
Perkins many years later.

In 1810 Murdock took out a patent for boring steam-pipes for water, and
cutting columns out of solid blocks of stone, by means of a cylindrical
crown saw.  The first machine was used at Soho, and afterwards at Mr.
Rennie's Works in London, and proved quite successful.  Among his other
inventions were a lift worked by compressed air, which raised and
lowered the castings from the boring-mill to the level of the foundry
and the canal bank.  He used the same kind of power to ring the bells
in his house at Sycamore Hill, and the contrivance was afterwards
adopted by Sir Walter Scott in his house at Abbotsford.

Murdock was also the inventor of the well-known cast-iron cement, so
extensively used in engine and machine work.  The manner in which he
was led to this invention affords a striking illustration of his
quickness of observation.  Finding that some iron-borings and
sal-ammoniac had got accidently mixed together in his tool-chest, and
rusted his saw-blade nearly through, he took note of the circumstance,
mixed the articles in various proportions, and at length arrived at the
famous cement, which eventually became an article of extensive
manufacture at the Soho Works.

Murdock's ingenuity was constantly at work, even upon matters which lay
entirely outside his special vocation.  The late Sir William Fairbairn
informed us that he contrived a variety of curious machines for
consolidating peat moss, finely ground and pulverised, under immense
pressure, and which, when consolidated, could be moulded into beautiful
medals, armlets, and necklaces. The material took the most brilliant
polish and had the appearance of the finest jet.

Observing that fish-skins might be used as an economical substitute for
isinglass, he went up to London on one occasion in order to explain to
brewers the best method of preparing and using them.  He occupied
handsome apartments, and, little regarding the splendour of the
drawing-room, he hung the fish-skins up against the walls.  His
landlady caught him one day when he was about to bang up a wet cod's
skin!  He was turned out at once, with all his fish.  While in town on
this errand, it occurred to him that a great deal of power was wasted
in treading the streets of London!  He conceived the idea of using the
streets and roadways as a grand tread-mill, under which the waste power
might be stored up by mechanical methods and turned to account.  He had
also an idea of storing up the power of the tides, and of running
water, in the same way.  The late Charles Babbage, F.R.S., entertained
a similar idea about using springs of Ischia or of the geysers of
Iceland as a power necessary for condensing gases, or perhaps for the
storage of electricity.[12] The latter, when perfected, will probably
be the greatest invention of the next half century.

Another of Murdock's' ingenious schemes, was his proposed method of
transmitting letters and packages through a tube exhausted by an
air-pump.  This project led to the Atmospheric Railway, the success of
which, so far as it went, was due to the practical ability of Murdock's
pupil, Samuel Clegg.  Although the atmospheric railway was eventually
abandoned, it is remarkable that the original idea was afterwards
revived and practised with success by the London Pneumatic Dispatch
Company.

In 1815, while Murdock was engaged in erecting an apparatus of his own
invention for heating the water for the baths at Leamington, a
ponderous cast-iron plate fell upon his leg above his ankle, and
severely injured him.  He remained a long while at Leamington, and when
it was thought safe to remove him, the Birmingham Canal Company kindly
placed their excursion boat at his disposal, and he was conveyed safely
homeward.  So soon as he was able, he was at work again at the Soho
factory.

Although the elder Watt had to a certain extent ignored the uses of
steam as applied to navigation, being too much occupied with developing
the powers of the pumping and rotary engine, the young partners, with
the stout aid of Murdock, took up the question. They supplied Fulton in
1807 with his first engine, by means of which the Clermont made her
first voyage along the Hudson river. They also supplied Fulton and
Livingston with the next two engines for the Car of Neptune and the
Paragon.  From that time forward, Boulton and Watt devoted themselves
to the manufacture of engines for steamboats.  Up to the year 1814,
marine engines had been all applied singly in the vessel; but in this
year Boulton and Watt first applied two condensing engines, connected
by cranks set at right angles on the shaft, to propel a steamer on the
Clyde.  Since then, nearly all steamers are fitted with two engines.
In making this important improvement, the firm were materially aided by
the mechanical genius of William Murdock, and also of Mr. Brown, then
an assistant, but afterwards a member of the firm.

In order to carry on a set of experiments with respect to the most
improved form of marine engine, Boulton and Watt purchased the
Caledonia, a Scotch boat built on the Clyde by James Wood and Co., of
Port Glasgow.  The engines and boilers were taken out. The vessel was
fitted with two side lever engines, and many successive experiments
were made with her down to August, 1817, at an expense of about
10,000L.  This led to a settled plan of construction, by which marine
engines were greatly improved. James Watt, junior, accompanied the
Caledonia to Holland and up the Rhine.  The vessel was eventually sold
to the Danish Government, and used for carrying the mails between Kiel
and Copenhagen.  It is, however, unnecessary here to venture upon the
further history of steam navigation.

In the midst of these repeated inventions and experiments, Murdock was
becoming an old man.  Yet he never ceased to take an interest in the
works at Soho.  At length his faculties experienced a gradual decay,
and he died peacefully at his house at Sycamore Hill, on the 15th of
November,1839, in his eighty-fifth year.  He was buried near the
remains of the great Boulton and Watt; and a bust by Chantrey served to
perpetuate the remembrance of his manly and intelligent countenance.


Footnotes for Chapter V.

[1] Fletcher's Political Works, London, 1737, p. 149,

[2] One of the Murdocks built the cathedral at Glasgow, as well as
others in Scotland.  The famous school of masonry at Antwerp sent out a
number of excellent architects during the 11th, 12th, and 13th
centuries.  One of these, on coming into Scotland, assumed the name of
Murdo.  He was a Frenchman, born in Paris, as we learn from the
inscription left on Melrose Abbey, and he died while building that
noble work: it is as follows:--

"John Murdo sumtyme cait was I And born in Peryse certainly, An' had in
kepyng all mason wark Sanct Andrays, the Hye Kirk o' Glasgo, Melrose
and Paisley, Jedybro and Galowy.  Pray to God and Mary baith, and sweet
Saint John, keep this Holy Kirk frae scaith."

[3] The discovery of the Black Band Ironstone by David Mushet in 1801,
and the invention of the Hot Blast by James Beaumont Neilson in 1828,
will be found related in Industrial Biography, pp. 141-161.

[4] Note to Lockhart's Life of Scott.

[5] This was stated to the present writer some years ago by William
Murdock's son; although there is no other record of the event.

[6] See Lives of Engineers (Boulton and Watt), iv. pp. 182-4. Small
edition, pp. 130-2.

[7] Mr. Pearse's letter is dated 23rd April, 1867, but has not before
been published.  He adds that "others remembered Murdock, one who was
an apprentice with him, and lived with him for some time--a Mr. Vivian,
of the foundry at Luckingmill."

[8] Murdock's house still stands in Cross Street, Redruth; those still
live who saw the gas-pipes conveying gas from the retort in the little
yard to near the ceiling of the room, just over the table; a hole for
the pipe was made in the window frame.  The old window is now replaced
by a new frame."--Life of Richard Trevithick, i. 64.

[9] Philosophical Transactions, 1808, pp. 124-132.

[10] Winsor's family evidently believed in his great powers; for I am
informed by Francis Galton, Esq., F.R.S., that there is a fantastical
monument on the right-hand side of the central avenue of the Kensal
Green Cemetery, about half way between the lodge and the church, which
bears the following inscription:--"Tomb of Frederick Albert Winsor, son
of the late Frederick Albert Winsor, originator of public Gas-lighting,
buried in the Cemetery of Pere la Chaise, Paris.  At evening time it
shall be light."--Zachariah xiv. 7.  "I am come a light into the world,
that whoever believeth in Me shall not abide in darkness."--John xii.
46.

[11] Mr. Parkes, in his well known Chemical Essays (ed. 1841, p. 157),
after referring to the successful lighting up by Murdock of the
manufactory of Messrs. Phillips and Lee at Manchester in 1805, "with
coal gas issuing from nearly a thousand burners," proceeds, "This grand
application of the new principle satisfied the public mind, not only of
the practicability, but also of the economy of the application; and as
a mark of the high opinion they entertained of his genius and
perseverance, and in order to put the question of priority of the
discovery beyond all doubt, the Council of the Royal Society in 1808
awarded to Mr. Murdock the Gold Medal founded by the late Count
Rumford."

[12] "Thus," says Mr. Charles Babbage, "in a future age, power may
become the staple commodity of the Icelanders, and of the inhabitants
of other volcanic districts; and possibly the very process by which
they will procure this article of exchange for the luxuries of happier
climates may, in some measure, tame the tremendous element which
occasionally devastates their provinces."--Economy of Manufactures.



CHAPTER VI.

FREDERICK KOENIG: INVENTOR OF THE STEAM-PRINTING MACHINE.

"The honest projector is he who, having by fair and plain principles of
sense, honesty, and ingenuity, brought any contrivance to a suitable
perfection, makes out what he pretends to, picks nobody's pocket, puts
his project in execution, and contents himself with the real produce as
the profit of his invention."--De Foe.

I published an article in 'Macmillan's Magazine' for December, 1869,
under the above title.  The materials were principally obtained from
William and Frederick Koenig, sons of the inventor.

Since then an elaborate life has been published at Stuttgart, under the
title of "Friederich Koenig und die Erfindung Der Schnellpresse, Ein
Biographisches Denkmal.  Von Theodor Goebel." The author, in sending me
a copy of the volume, refers to the article published in 'Macmillan,'
and says, "I hope you will please to accept it as a small
acknowledgment of the thanks, which every German, and especially the
sons of Koenig, in whose name I send the book as well as in mine, owe
to you for having bravely taken up the cause of the much wronged
inventor, their father--an action all the more praiseworthy, as you had
to write against the prejudices and the interests of your own
countrymen."

I believe it is now generally admitted that Koenig was entitled to the
merit of being the first person practically to apply the power of steam
to indefinitely multiplying the productions of the printing-press; and
that no one now attempts to deny him this honour.  It is true others,
who followed him, greatly improved upon his first idea; but this was
the case with Watt, Symington, Crompton, Maudslay, and many more.  The
true inventor is not merely the man who registers an idea and takes a
patent for it, or who compiles an invention by borrowing the idea of
another, improving upon or adding to his arrangements, but the man who
constructs a machine such as has never before been made, which executes
satisfactorily all the functions it was intended to perform.  And this
is what Koenig's invention did, as will be observed from the following
brief summary of his life and labours.

Frederick Koenig was born on the 17th of April, 1774, at Eisleben, in
Saxony, the birthplace also of a still more famous person, Martin
Luther.  His father was a respectable peasant proprietor, described by
Herr Goebel as Anspanner.  But this word has now gone out of use.  In
feudal times it described the farmer who was obliged to keep draught
cattle to perform service due to the landlord.  The boy received a
solid education at the Gymnasium, or public school of the town.  At a
proper age he was bound apprentice for five years to Breitkopf and
Hartel, of Leipzig, as compositor and printer; but after serving for
four and a quarter years, he was released from his engagement because
of his exceptional skill, which was an unusual occurrence.

During the later years of his apprenticeship, Koenig was permitted to
attend the classes in the University, more especially those of Ernst
Platner, a physician, philosopher, and anthropologist.  After that he
proceeded to the printing-office of his uncle, Anton F. Rose, at
Greifswald, an old seaport town on the Baltic, where he remained a few
years.  He next went to Halle as a journeyman printer,--German workmen
going about from place to place, during their wanderschaft, for the
purpose of learning their business.  After that, he returned to
Breitkopf and Hartel, at Leipzig, where he had first learnt his trade.
During this time, having saved a little money, he enrolled himself for
a year as a regular student at the University of Leipzig.

According to Koenig's own account, he first began to devise ways and
means for improving the art of printing in the year 1802, when he was
twenty-eight years old.  Printing large sheets of paper by hand was a
very slow as well as a very laborious process.  One of the things that
most occupied the young printer's mind was how to get rid of this
"horse-work," for such it was, in the business of printing.  He was
not, however, over-burdened with means, though he devised a machine
with this object.  But to make a little money, he made translations for
the publishers.  In 1803 Koenig returned to his native town of
Eisleben, where he entered into an arrangement with Frederick Riedel,
who furnished the necessary capital for carrying on the business of a
printer and bookseller.  Koenig alleges that his reason for adopting
this step was to raise sufficient money to enable him to carry out his
plans for the improvement of printing.

The business, however, did not succeed, as we find him in the following
year carrying on a printing trade at Mayence.  Having sold this
business, he removed to Suhl in Thuringia.  Here he was occupied with a
stereotyping process, suggested by what he had read about the art as
perfected in England by Earl Stanhope.  He also contrived an improved
press, provided with a moveable carriage, on which the types were
placed, with inking rollers, and a new mechanical method of taking off
the impression by flat pressure.

Koenig brought his new machine under the notice of the leading printers
in Germany, but they would not undertake to use it.  The plan seemed to
them too complicated and costly.  He tried to enlist men of capital in
his scheme, but they all turned a deaf ear to him.  He went from town
to town, but could obtain no encouragement whatever.  Besides,
industrial enterprise in Germany was then in a measure paralysed by the
impending war with France, and men of capital were naturally averse to
risk their money on what seemed a merely speculative undertaking.

Finding no sympathisers or helpers at home, Koenig next turned his
attention abroad.  England was then, as now, the refuge of inventors
who could not find the means of bringing out their schemes elsewhere;
and to England he wistfully turned his eyes. In the meantime, however,
his inventive ability having become known, an offer was made to him by
the Russian Government to proceed to St. Petersburg and organise the
State printing-office there.  The invitation was accepted, and Koenig
proceeded to St. Petersburg in the spring of 1806.  But the official
difficulties thrown in his way were very great, and so disgusted him,
that he decided to throw up his appointment, and try his fortune in
England.  He accordingly took ship for London, and arrived there in the
following November, poor in means, but rich in his great idea, then his
only property.

As Koenig himself said, when giving an account of his
invention:--"There is on the Continent no sort of encouragement for an
enterprise of this description. The system of patents, as it exists in
England, being either unknown, or not adopted in the Continental
States, there is no inducement for industrial enterprise; and
projectors are commonly obliged to offer their discoveries to some
Government, and to so licit their encouragement.  I need hardly add
that scarcely ever is an invention brought to maturity under such
circumstances. The well-known fact, that almost every invention seeks,
as it were, refuge in England, and is there brought to perfection,
though the Government does not afford any other protection to inventors
beyond what is derived from the wisdom of the laws, seems to indicate
that the Continent has yet to learn from her the best manner of
encouraging the mechanical arts.  I had my full share in the ordinary
disappointments of Continental projectors; and after having lost in
Germany and Russia upwards of two years in fruitless applications, I at
last resorted to England."[1]

After arriving in London, Koenig maintained himself with difficulty by
working at his trade, for his comparative ignorance of the English
language stood in his way.  But to work manually at the printer's
"case," was not Koenig's object in coming to England.  His idea of a
printing machine was always uppermost in his mind, and he lost no
opportunity of bringing the subject under the notice of master printers
likely to take it up.  He worked for a time in the printing office of
Richard Taylor, Shoe Lane, Fleet Street, and mentioned the matter to
him.  Taylor would not undertake the invention himself, but he
furnished Koenig with an introduction to Thomas Bensley, the well-known
printer of Bolt Court, Fleet Street.  On the 11th of March, 1807,
Bensley invited Koenig to meet him on the subject of their recent
conversation about "the discovery;" and on the 31st of the same month,
the following agreement was entered into between Koenig and Bensley:--

"Mr. Koenig, having discovered an entire new Method of Printing by
Machinery, agrees to communicate the same to Mr. Bensley under the
following conditions:--that, if Mr. Bensley shall be satisfied the
Invention will answer all the purposes Mr. Koenig has stated in the
Particulars he has delivered to Mr. Bensley, signed with his name, he
shall enter into a legal Engagement to purchase the Secret from Mr.
Koenig, or enter into such other agreement as may be deemed mutually
beneficial to both parties; or, should Mr. Bensley wish to decline
having any concern with the said Invention, then he engages not to make
any use of the Machinery, or to communicate the Secret to any person
whatsoever, until it is proved that the Invention is made use of by any
one without restriction of Patent, or other particular agreement on the
part of Mr. Koenig, under the penalty of Six Thousand Pounds.

  "(Signed) T. Bensley,
  "Friederich Konig.
  "Witness--J. Hunneman."

Koenig now proceeded to put his idea in execution.  He prepared his
plans of the new printing machine.  It seems, however, that the
progress made by him was very slow.  Indeed, three years passed before
a working model could be got ready, to show his idea in actual
practice.  In the meantime, Mr. Walter of The Times had been seen by
Bensley, and consulted on the subject of the invention.  On the 9th of
August, 1809, more than two years after the date of the above
agreement, Bensley writes to Koenig: "I made a point of calling upon
Mr. Walter yesterday, who, I am sorry to say, declines our proposition
altogether, having (as he says) so many engagements as to prevent him
entering into more."

It may be mentioned that Koenig's original plan was confined to an
improved press, in which the operation of laying the ink on the types
was to be performed by an apparatus connected with the motions of the
coffin, in such a manner as that one hand could be saved.  As little
could be gained in expedition by this plan, the idea soon suggested
itself of moving the press by machinery, or to reduce the several
operations to one rotary motion, to which the first mover might be
applied.  Whilst Koenig was in the throes of his invention, he was
joined by his friend Andrew F. Bauer, a native of Stuttgart, who
possessed considerable mechanical power, in which the inventor himself
was probably somewhat deficient.  At all events, these two together
proceeded to work out the idea, and to construct the first actual
working printing machine.

A patent was taken out, dated the 29th of March, 1810, which describes
the details of the invention.  The arrangement was somewhat similar to
that known as the platen machine; the printing being produced by two
flat plates, as in the common hand-press.  It also embodied an
ingenious arrangement for inking the type.  Instead of the
old-fashioned inking balls, which were beaten on the type by hand
labour, several cylinders covered with felt and leather were used, and
formed part of the machine itself.  Two of the cylinders revolved in
opposite directions, so as to spread the ink, which was then
transferred by two other inking cylinders alternately applied to the
"forme" by the action of spiral springs.  The movement of all the parts
of the machine were to be derived from a steam-engine, or other first
mover.

"After many obstructions and delays," says Koenig himself, in
describing the history of his invention, "the first printing machine
was completed exactly upon the plan which I have described in the
specification of my first patent.  It was set to Work in April, 1811.
The sheet (H) of the new Annual Register for 1810, 'Principal
Occurrences,' 3000 copies, was printed with it; and is, I have no
doubt, the first part of a book ever printed with a machine.  The
actual use of it, however, soon suggested new ideas, and led to the
rendering it less complicated and more powerful"[2]

Of course!  No great invention was ever completed at one effort. It
would have been strange if Koenig had been satisfied with his first
attempt.  It was only a beginning, and he naturally proceeded with the
improvement of his machine.  It took Watt more than twenty years to
elaborate his condensing steam-engine; and since his day, owing to the
perfection of self-acting tools, it has been greatly improved.  The
power of the Steamboat and the Locomotive also, as well as of all other
inventions, have been developed by the constantly succeeding
improvements of a nation of mechanical engineers.

Koenig's experiment was only a beginning, and he naturally proceeded
with the improvement of his machine.  Although the platen machine of
Koenig's has since been taken up a new, and perfected, it was not
considered by him sufficiently simple in its arrangements as to be
adapted for common use; and he had scarcely completed it, when he was
already revolving in his mind a plan of a second machine on a new
principle, with the object of ensuring greater speed, economy, and
simplicity.

By this time, other well-known London printers, Messrs. Taylor and
Woodfall, had joined Koenig and Bensley in their partnership for the
manufacture and sale of printing machines.  The idea which now occurred
to Koenig was, to employ a cylinder instead of a flat Platen machine,
for taking the impressions off the type, and to place the sheet round
the cylinder, thereby making it, as it were, part of the periphery.  As
early as the year 1790, one William Nicholson had taken out a patent
for a machine for printing "on paper, linen, cotton, woollen, and other
articles," by means of "blocks, forms, types, plates, and originals,"
which were to be "firmly imposed upon a cylindrical surface in the same
manner as common letter is imposed upon a flat stone."[3]  From the
mention of "colouring cylinder," and "paper-hangings, floor-cloths,
cottons, linens, woollens, leather, skin, and every other flexible
material," mentioned in the specification, it would appear as if
Nicholson's invention were adapted for calico-printing and
paper-hangings, as well as for the printing of books.  But it was never
used for any of these purposes.  It contained merely the register of an
idea, and that was all.  It was left for Adam Parkinson, of Manchester,
to invent and make practical use of the cylinder printing machine for
calico in the year 1805, and this was still further advanced by the
invention of James Thompson, of Clitheroe, in 1813; while it was left
for Frederick Koenig to invent and carry into practical operation the
cylinder printing press for newspapers.

After some promising experiments, the plans for a new machine on the
cylindrical principle were proceeded with.  Koenig admitted throughout
the great benefit he derived from the assistance of his friend Bauer.
"By the judgment and precision," he said, "with which he executed my
plans, he greatly contributed to my success."  A patent was taken out
on October 30th, 1811; and the new machine was completed in December,
1812.  The first sheets ever printed with an entirely cylindrical
press, were sheets G and X of Clarkson's 'Life of Penn.' The papers of
the Protestant Union were also printed with it in February and March,
1813.  Mr. Koenig, in his account of the invention, says that "sheet M
of Acton's 'Hortus Kewensis,' vol. v., will show the progress of
improvement in the use of the invention.  Altogether, there are about
160,000 sheets now in the hands of the public, printed with this
machine, which, with the aid of two hands, takes off 800 impressions in
the hour"[4]

Koenig took out a further patent on July 23rd, 1813, and a fourth (the
last) on the 14th of March, 1814.  The contrivance of these various
arrangements cost the inventor many anxious days and nights of study
and labour.  But he saw before him only the end he wished to compass,
and thought but little of himself and his toils.  It may be mentioned
that the principal feature of the invention was the printing cylinder
in the centre of the machine, by which the impression was taken from
the types, instead of by flat plates as in the first arrangement.  The
forme was fixed in a cast-iron plate which was carried to and fro on a
table, being received at either end by strong spiral springs.  A double
machine, on the same principle,--the forme alternately passing under
and giving an impression at one of two cylinders at either end of the
press,--was also included in the patent of 1811.

How diligently Koenig continued to elaborate the details of his
invention will be obvious from the two last patents which he took out,
in 1813 and 1814.  In the first he introduced an important improvement
in the inking arrangement, and a contrivance for holding and carrying
on the sheet, keeping it close to the printing cylinder by means of
endless tapes; while in the second, he added the following new
expedients: a feeder, consisting of an endless web,--an improved
arrangement of the endless tapes by inner as well as outer
friskets,--an improvement of the register (that is, one page falling
exactly on the back of another), by which greater accuracy of
impression was also secured; and finally, an arrangement by which the
sheet was thrown out of the machine, printed by the revolving cylinder
on both sides.

The partners in Koenig's Patents had established a manufactory in
Whitecross Street for the production of the new machines.  The workmen
employed were sworn to secrecy.  They entered into an agreement by
which they were liable to forfeit 100L. if they communicated to others
the secret of the machines, either by drawings or description, or if
they told by whom or for whom they were constructed.  This was to avoid
the hostility of the pressmen, who, having heard of the new invention,
were up in arms against it, as likely to deprive them of their
employment.  And yet, as stated by Johnson in his 'Typographia,' the
manual labour of the men who worked at the hand press, was so severe
and exhausting, "that the stoutest constitutions fell a sacrifice to it
in a few years." The number of sheets that could be thrown off was also
extremely limited.

With the improved press, perfected by Earl Stanhope, about 250
impressions could be taken, or 125 sheets printed on both sides in an
hour.  Although a greater number was produced in newspaper printing
offices by excessive labour, yet it was necessary to have duplicate
presses, and to set up duplicate forms of type, to carry on such extra
work; and still the production of copies was quite inadequate to
satisfy the rapidly increasing demand for newspapers.  The time was
therefore evidently ripe for the adoption of such a machine as that of
Koenig.  Attempts had been made by many inventors, but every one of
them had failed. Printers generally regarded the steam-press as
altogether chimerical.

Such was the condition of affairs when Koenig finished his improved
printing machine in the manufactory in Whitecross Street.  The partners
in the invention were now in great hopes. When the machine had been got
ready for work, the proprietors of several of the leading London
newspapers were invited to witness its performances.  Amongst them were
Mr. Perry of the Morning chronicle, and Mr. Walter of The Times.  Mr.
Perry would have nothing to do with the machine; he would not even go
to see it, for he regarded it as a gimcrack.[5]  On the contrary, Mr.
Walter, though he had five years before declined to enter into any
arrangement with Bensley, now that he heard the machine was finished,
and at work, decided to go and inspect it.  It was thoroughly
characteristic of the business spirit of the man.  He had been very
anxious to apply increased mechanical power to the printing of his
newspaper.  He had consulted Isambard Brunel--one of the cleverest
inventors of the day--on the subject; but Brunel, after studying the
subject, and labouring over a variety of plans, finally gave it up.  He
had next tried Thomas Martyn, an ingenious young compositor, who had a
scheme for a self-acting machine for working the printing press.  But,
although Mr. Walter supplied him with the necessary funds, his scheme
never came to anything.  Now, therefore, was the chance for Koenig!

After carefully examining the machine at work, Mr. Walter was at once
satisfied as to the great value of the invention.  He saw it turning
out the impressions with unusual speed and great regularity.  This was
the very machine of which he had been in search.  But it turned out the
impressions printed on one side only.  Koenig, however, having briefly
explained the more rapid action of a double machine on the same
principle for the printing of newspapers, Mr. Walter, after a few
minutes' consideration, and before leaving the premises, ordered two
double machines for the printing of The Times newspaper.  Here, at
last, was the opportunity for a triumphant issue out of Koenig's
difficulties.

The construction of the first newspaper machine was still, however, a
work of great difficulty and labour.  It must be remembered that
nothing of the kind had yet been made by any other inventor.  The
single-cylinder machine, which Mr. Walter had seen at work, was
intended for bookwork only.  Now Koenig had to construct a
double-cylinder machine for printing newspapers, in which many of the
arrangements must necessarily be entirely new.  With the assistance of
his leading mechanic, Bauer, aided by the valuable suggestions of Mr.
Walter himself, Koenig at length completed his plans, and proceeded
with the erection of the working machine.  The several parts were
prepared at the workshop in Whitecross Street, and taken from thence,
in as secret a way as possible, to the premises in Printing House
Square, adjoining The Times office, where they were fitted together and
erected into a working machine.  Nearly two years elapsed before the
press was ready for work.  Great as was the secrecy with which the
operations were conducted, the pressmen of The Times office obtained
some inkling of what was going on, and they vowed vengeance to the
foreign inventor who threatened their craft with destruction.  There
was, however, always this consolation: every attempt that had
heretofore been made to print newspapers in any other way than by
manual labour had proved an utter failure!

At length the day arrived when the first newspaper steam-press was
ready for use.  The pressmen were in a state of great excitement, for
they knew by rumour that the machine of which they had so long been
apprehensive was fast approaching completion.  One night they were told
to wait in the press-room, as important news was expected from abroad.
At six o'clock in the morning of the 29th November, 1814, Mr. Walter,
who had been watching the working of the machine all through the night,
suddenly appeared among the pressmen, and announced that "The Times is
already printed by steam!"  Knowing that the pressmen had vowed
vengeance against the inventor and his invention, and that they had
threatened "destruction to him and his traps," he informed them that if
they attempted violence, there was a force ready to suppress it; but
that if they were peaceable, their wages should be continued to every
one of them until they could obtain similar employment.  This proved
satisfactory so far, and he proceeded to distribute several copies of
the newspaper amongst them--the first newspaper printed by steam! That
paper contained the following memorable announcement:--