A patent portable copying machine by James Watt & Co., English, circa 1800, the diametric-linear cut brass rollers on shaped fixed supports, T-bar removable crank for upper roller drive, with lined metamorphic writing slope, mahogany case with campaign brass corners and shaped handles, the lid interior with label printed JAMES WATT & CO PATENT SOHO, when closed, 18 x 39 x 30.5cm (7 x 15 1/2 x 12in) Footnotes: James Watt (1736-1819) is certainly most famous for devising and improving the cylinder piston steam engine, however smaller projects such as the copying machine, measuring distances accurately using telescopes, and the statue copier took up his time towards the end of the 18th Century. This copying machine design was the result of Watt tirelessly copying by hand key correspondence between himself and that of his business partner, Matthew Boulton. The company of Boulton & Watt was historically responsible for the design and installation of the larger fixed steam engines in mills, mines and factories. After many attempts in the late 1770s, Watt worked with a damp tissue idea for ink-bleed to run from the original surface to another. The copier was tremendously successful in Britain and the United States, with early American adopters including Franklin, Washington, Madison and Jefferson. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing