| Description | Dear Sir
I shall only say respecting Mr M that he is doing better than usual-I have called upon Mr Wyon -Swift cannot leave London-but Mr W. is to gett me a direction to a namesake & countryman of my own who says would suit
I have tryed N. River engine in point of steam it does 1/3 & in point of power ½ of perfection & evaporates 12 cube feet by Cwt-Hungerford also tryed is about 6lb load upon inch and 2½ in point of steam-Chelsea was impossible to try quantity of Injection & the fellow told me lies about the height of the colm: of water-An Ingenious forreigner has contrived a way to make water rise in one Column to 100 feet high by the Atmosphere only & has taken a patent for applying it to Steam engines-I have been running about all day about the Gilding & have through my friend Gillanders got at the man who rolls metal for all the best Buttn makers he sells silver plated Buttn metal at 16/ pr lib I talked to him in a vague manner on the subject & he is to do a small piece plated with Gold & another silverd and Gilt & see which he can do thinnest of Gold-He thinks he cannot do it under 3/ pr oz but will try, I see a danger in having it done too thin here & shall not push it too far, as we can run it out afterwards-I saw at his shop a quantity of Silver gilt with leaf gold 3 thicknesses it was about the thickness of a halfpenny & was afterwards run down to breast button metal and appeared perfectly well Gilt-I shall by Mr Gs. means get at the Roll makers also-he took me to day to a silverers where I saw very much better work than the Birmingham-they have 9d for silvering a tea Kitchen cock & put a fine Gloss upon their work
I have a prospect of 2 orders for fire engines here, one to water piccadilly and the other to serve the south end of Black friars bridge with water-I have taken advice of several people whom I could trust about the patent-they all agree that an act would be much better & cheaper a patent being now £130-the Act if obtainable £110-The present patent (which is in Mr Handleys keeping) has 8 years still to run bearing date Jany 1769-I understand that there will be almost an unlimited sale for wheel engines to the west indies at the rate of £100 for each horses power-I expect to be with you in a few days-My pimping here being almost concluded. Dr Irvine has been usefull to me in that way & was kind enough to offer his service in the more common species of that business, whch however I at that time only thanked him for-My best respects to Mrs Bolton & the Doctor
J Watt
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