All About Engines

James Watt: The Man and his Work 37 draughtsmen, surveyors, and navigators. In Glas- gow, the nearest town, there was only one man who could, by any stretch of language, be termed an instrument maker, and he called himself an optician. He lived by “ repairing all sorts of things, from fishing rods to spectacles,” and to him young James Watt went for a year. That period was quite long enough for a smart lad to plumb the depths of his employer’s trade, so in 1755 he decided to go to London for further experience. Carrying a letter of introduction from Professor Dick, of the University, and travelling on horseback with a relative of his father’s, a sea captain, he took twelve days on the journey, his chest of clothes meanwhile being sent to Edinburgh by road and conveyed the rest of the distance by sea. But London instrument makers would have none of him. He had not served, and was not willing to serve, a seven years’ appren- ticeship, and upon this matter the rules of the trade were unyielding. For a time he worked for a watchmaker, and then managed to find an instrument maker who gave him a year’s instruction for a fee of 20 guineas. He lived in one room on 8s. a week, and made a little money by private work in his spare time. But his health was not good, and he returned to Greenock in 1756. Then after a rest at home he made an effort to set up in business for himself in Glasgow ; but in those days the tradesmen of many towns were banded together to prevent unqualified persons from prac- tising their crafts, and no man could ply his trade