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BACK | | The Lunar Men who shaped the future
James Watt and the business of copying |
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DESCRIPTION Watt's Office Copying Machine, numbered 4120
MANUFACTURER James Watt & Co, Birmingham, Britain
INVENTOR/DESIGNER James Watt (1736 -1819), British
DATE c.1815
MATERIAL Wood, iron, copper alloy, paint
DIMENSIONS 370x395x300
PROVENANCE Transferred from Boulton & Watt Room at Birmingham Central Library in 1951
LOCATION Thinktank
CAT. NO 1951.S.00088 | |
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James Watt’s copying press | © Thinktank Trust | Come and see it in the Power Up gallery at Thinktank
Lunar Society member James Watt is best known for improving steam engines. As a businessman who travelled widely Watt had to take copies of paperwork on his travels. This motivated him to invent a copying device in 1780. His son James Watt Junior, who also developed several other designs of copying press, made this copying press to Watt’s design. It was a great success. The American statesman Benjamin Franklin, the Russian Duchess Dashkova, and American presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson all used Watt’s copying presses.
Find out more about James Watt’s business partner, Matthew Boulton... MORE |
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