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Jan.y 2d 1782 O.S.
When the Baron asked me what I thought of the management
& Mechanism in his Saltworks I could not but
tell him that though better could not well be expected
from such as the peasants who are employed int hem: yet
that there was room for great improvements, as well
in the chemical process as in every part of the Mechanism.
In answer to this he said much of the peculiar importance
the construction of machines was in this
part of the country, and of the disadvantage they
laboured under in having no Mechanicians.
That people offered from time to time to act in
that capacity; but without being any way qualified
for it. That England was the country for
mechanics. I told him the reason for that was
the encouragement which people of that profession
met with there from their inventions, That
here such people were not paid by Salaries but
by a proportion of the profits which their improvements
produced. I told him as an example
what I understood to be the terms on which
Bolton of Birmingham gives the use of his improved
Steam Engine, namely that he for a
certain number of years should receive 1/4 part
of the saving in coals. He admired that
mode of payment much, and lamented that
there was no body who would make such offers
ere. How much he would wish to find an
ingenious man who could introduce a better
economy in is works on such terms. I told
him that perhaps such a man might be found who
might be induced to come over from England if he could
be assured of the following terms proportion of the profits
which would arise from his inventions. 1er the extra
profits should defray the extra expences incurred before
he should begin to reap any advantage. 2d from that
time for the first year he should receive 1/2 the
extra profit, for 2 following years he should receive 1/4
and the tenth & last year 3/4. 3dly that this same
man might upon the same terms introduce improvements
in the workings of mines or any other works about the country.
he said for his part he should desire nothing better than such
terms and he could almost answer for the other proprietors
being of the same opinion. That he would be very much obliged
to us to find him such a man, and that by the time I should
be <add> come back to Petersbourg he means to set about in earnest the
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Identifier: | JB/539/278/001"JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 539. |
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1782-01-2 |
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539 |
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278 |
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001 |
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Correspondence |
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Samuel Bentham |
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