James Watt copying press, Handsworth

Description:James Watt developed the copy press so that copies of letters and business documents could easily be retained. The machines were made at the Soho Manufactory and supplied to a wide variety of customers including Benjamin Franklin. They were made in a variety of sizes, portable machines for travelling, office machines for copying letters and larger ones for copying drawings.

Whatever was to be copied was written in a special ink and the paper wetted. A sheet of paper was placed on top and both fed through the roller which can be seen in the photograph. Some of the ink from the original would transfer to the other paper thus producing a mirror image copy. For small items such as letters the paper for the copy would be very thin and the copy read through the paper. For larger items such as engine drawings thicker paper had to be used and the drawings would simply be marked reverse copy.

One good copy of a letter could be made from an original, after that they often became illegible. The ink has faded over time and many copy press letters survive in the Matthew Boulton Papers of which only parts can be read.