| Description | Following the successful outcome of their action against Jabez Hornblower and Stephen Maberly in the Court of Kings Bench in January 1799, Boulton & Watt considered applying to Parliament for an Act to explain and amend the Act of 1775. A petition was prepared asking the House of Commons to pass a bill confirming the validity of Watt’s patent and extending it "for such reasonable time as to the wisdom of this Honourable House shall seem meet." The application was withdrawn (see Watt Jr. to Gregory Watt, 19 Feb. 1799). However the idea was not completely rejected, as the draft dated April 1799 shows. This later version requested not only an extension of the original patent but also "reviving… and extending the terms…" of Watt’s patents of 1782 and 1784. |