| Description | Papers and letters relating to the “Machine of Marly” and the French patent, from 1778 to circa 1786. The Machine of Marly was a large hydraulic engine used to supply Versailles with water from the Seine. Boulton and Watt were invited to Paris to view the antiquated machine and to advise on a possible replacement. They went to Paris in November 1786, remaining there until 10 January 1787.
While there they petitioned the King to grant them Letters Patent confirming their earlier exclusive licence or “Arrêt de Conseil.” The Arrêt had been granted in April 1778 while Boulton and Watt were in negotiation with the Comte d’Heronville, through Jean Hyacinthe de Magellan, for a drainage engine for the Dunkirk area. The Arrêt specified that a trial had to be made of the engine, but the Dunkirk engine was never built. Joseph Jary obtained a further decree saying that the trial could be made on the engine he ordered for coal mines near Nantes, and this became the first Boulton & Watt engine in France. However, the terms of the Arrêt were broken by Jacques Constantin Perier, who, following his purchase of an engine for supplying Paris with water, set up his own manufactory, and failed to pay Boulton & Watt. Boulton & Watt did not propose to take action against Perier, but by getting the Arrêt confirmed they sought to secure an exclusive licence in France for subsequent improvements to the rotative engine.
On returning to England they wrote letters and a report about the Machine of Marly, or “Machine Pont Notre Dame”.
2-8: Marly.
9-14: Arrêt de Conseil and French Patent. |