| Description | (Dated at Summer Lane.)
Respected Sir,
I hope you have not consider'd me remiss in having omitted to report progress to you of late, as I was wont to do in the early onset of the projected business that you have honour'd me by countenancing; the fact is, I was reluctant, as I have before expressed to you, lest I shou'd seem to exact more of your attention than is due to so trivial an undertaking, or consistent with a multiplicity of other concerns of more moment and importance:-my late efforts have consequently been directed to the object of setting the machine a-going without troubling you any farther; which, as you were so obliging as to oil the wheels, I had no doubt it wou'd have been in my power to have effected ere this; that I have not yet been able to accomplish so desirable an end may, in a great measure, be attributed to the want of those free communications with you that I formerly deriv'd so great advantage from; for difficulties that have star'd me full in the face, and almost threat'ned the overthrow of my scheme, wou'd have been so easily obviated on stating them to you, that I shou'd only have wonder'd how I could ever have consider'd them insurmountable.
I flatter myself, sir, that you make large allowances for the many disadvantages I labour under in establishing what may, in a great measure, be consider'd a new business; and that the circumstance of my being fix'd so far from mechanical aid will, in some degree, abate the surprize you must necessarily feel at the tardiness of my motions. Confident, sir, of your liberal way of thinking I will not waste your time, nor my own, by stating the adverse minutiae that have retarded my progress; your mind will spread over them in one comprehensive view with sufficient intelligence, without any effort of mine. Suffice it therefore to say that my whole time, without those temperate relaxations that I have been accustom'd to, has been devoted to the objects of the business I have undertaken; it is, you know, sir, the pivot upon which all my hopes move, and every day's delay is to me an irreparable loss of time; of course, my anxiety and unremitting exertions, in a case of such importance, can, I think, hardly be doubted; the difficulties that have occurr'd are such as, I apprehend, must be incident to all new undertakings and when once surmounted will not be likely to occur again; that they are now surmounted I can confidently assert, and the business in so fair a train of forwardness that I do not see any remaining difficulty but what may, most assuredly, be overcome with ease, at least as far as relates to the making of plain black buttons, which having ever consider'd the most difficult part of the business, has most particularly (nay, I may say wholly) engag'd my attention. And here, sir, suffer me to remark that, had I in the progress of this affair discern'd any obstacle originating in a radical defect of the composition, I shou'd have thought it my duty, and I wou'd actually with all candour and explicitness have discover'd to you my mistake, and have made such atonement for my indiscretion and folly as wou'd have been due to your generosity and my power equal to; but on that head I was well assur'd before I address'd you and have seen nothing since to alter, but every thing to confirm, my opinion of the competency of the composition to the immediate object in view, and to a multitude of others also, on which I shall be silent 'till you give me leave to speak.
The buttons you saw in the stove had not been gradually dried before they were submitted to so great heat, nor were they properly prepar'd for receiving the black, therefore cou'd not be finished; I have had to traverse that ground over again, carrying with me such experience as I cou'd gather from the former process, and from the appearance of some buttons now in the stove have no doubt but it will be in my power to shew you some patterns in the course of the ensuing week: in the mean while I shall get some sheets that I have form'd cut out into blanks and shall then have at least 200 gross of coat and breast in the blank state ready for the last pressing. As I did not hear from you about a die-turner, and Daniel Mold continuing to disappoint me, I have set a young man to work who has been accustom'd to the general jobbing-smith and turning line, and have offer'd him great encouragement if he can manage to turn the dies and make good work; he has nearly finish'd a pair, and I think, from the specimen, that he will succeed in the next pair he takes in hand. I think you desir'd me not to order any dies, "as you cou'd furnish better from Soho"; if I rightly understood you I shou'd be glad if you wou'd direct to have some put in hand as soon as possible; they shou'd be made of good clear steel-form an oblong square-size 7¼ inches long by 3 inches wide; each side of the dies 5/8ths of an inch thick, to fit together with two pegs at opposite angles [here there is a drawing of the die] and both sides well squar'd and fitted to a gage, as well as to each other. I also am in great want of two small cutting-out presses; please say whether or no you have any unappropriated at Soho? or must I purchase them at a sale?
I remain, most respectfully, sir, your obedient servant,
Wm. Cheshire
Summer Lane, 5th September, 1795.
PS. On perusing the foregoing it seems to me probable that you will imagine I have discover'd something in the composition that militates against wrought buttons by my having laid so particular stress upon plain ones; I beg leave to remove such idea if it has taken place; I take it for granted that wrought cannot fail if plain succeed, and have only been prevented by such conviction from attempting the former, and by the want of appropriate dies.
[Edited transcript.] |