Hide Notes 

Slide 1: Université Paris-Sud Faculté Jean Monnet – Droit, Economie & Gestion Centre de recherche Analyse des Dynamiques Industrielles et Sociales (ADIS) Les facultés de l’inventeur Une analyse économique du comportement des inventeurs dans l’incertitude Thèse de doctorat en Sciences Economiques Hervé LEGENVRE Sous la direction de Bertrand BELLON, Professeur à l’Université Paris-Sud 11 Membres du Jury : - Bertrand BELLON, Professeur, PARIS-SUD - Alain BRAVO, Directeur général, SUPELEC - Philippe LAREDO, Professeur, UNIVERSITE PARIS-EST, ENPC & MANCHESTER BUSINESS SCHOOL - Jacques MISTRAL, Directeur des études économiques, IFRI - Bertrand QUELIN, Professeur, HEC - Alain RALLET, Professeur PARIS-SUD 2008
Slide 2: 2 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 3: Remerciements Je tiens à exprimer ma gratitude et mon amitié à Bertrand Bellon, mon directeur de thèse pour avoir accepté de superviser l’écriture de ma dissertation. Son attention et ses encouragements ont alimenté de manière constante ma détermination. Sa patience, ses conseils et ses questions ont été précieux tout au long de cette tâche. Merci également à son épouse, Blanche qui m’a accueilli avec gentillesse dans leur maison pour les échanges réguliers qui ont jalonné ce travail. Je remercie le Professeur Rallet de me faire l’honneur de présider le jury. Je remercie le Professeur Laredo et le Professeur Quelin d’avoir accepter d’être rapporteurs de ma thèse. Je remercie Mr Bravo et Mr Mistral de me faire l’estime d’être membre du jury. J’aimerais également remercier toute l’équipe de de l’ADIS et de L’université Paris Sud pour leur accueil, leurs conseils et leur confiance. Je pense plus particulièrement à Mme Bonésio, Mr Carayol et Mme Plunket Les conseils avisé de Paul David ont alimenté mes reflexions. Les encouragements et les discussion que j’aie eu avec Paula Stephan ont nourri mon travail et ma détermination. Je tiens tout particulièrement à remercier Marie-Gabrielle Hubler pour ses relectures, ses remarques et son aide inestimable. Sue Sweet m’a fait l’amitié de relire les épreuves en anglais de cette dissertation, j’aie tout particulièrement appreciè ses encouragements. Zoé Mauss m’a offert une assistance précieuse dans le travail bibliographique, qu’elle en soit remerciée. Les bavardages philosophico-pratique avec Alexis, Ivan, James, Jean-Pierre, MarieGabrielle, Patrick, Pierre, Stéphane A., Stéphane M. et Zoé ont alimenté mes reflexions. Je voudrais également remercier tous ceux qui ont offert un toit à mes reflexions : mes parents, Katherina, Justine, Pierre, Jean-Pierre et Marylise. Les illustrations artistiques de mon travail par Alice et Anatole mériteront une édition spéciale. Je souhaite également adresser mes remerciements à ma famille, mes amis, collègues. qui m’ont soutenu et encouragé. Pour finir, j’aie une pensée particulière pour les villes, les aéroport et les hotels de par le monde qui ont abrité mon travail et mes reflexion. 3 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 4: Comment vivre sans inconnu devant soi? René Char 4 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 5: Table of content Table of content ........................................................................................................................................... 5 Executive summary .................................................................................................................................... 10 Note de synthèse ........................................................................................................................................ 14 A brief history of inventiveness .................................................................................................................. 18 Introduction (English version) ........................................................................................................... 26 A. Methodological Individualism ........................................................................................................... 27 B. The Attentiveness-Experimentation-Persuasion model ............................................................. 29 C. How the model will be tested using historical evidences ......................................................... 34 Introduction (Version française) ...................................................................................................... 38 A. La notion d’individualisme méthodologique ................................................................................. 40 B. Le modèle AEP : Attention, Expérimentation et Persuasion .................................................... 42 C. Comment le modèle sera testé en utilisant l’Histoire comme source de preuves............. 46 Part 1. Inventing during the late 18th century in Britain .................................................. 51 Preliminary Chapter - Overview of the late 18th century ........................................................................ 51 Chapter 1- Career inventors and the three abilities ................................................................ 57 Section 1. Richard Arkwright ................................................................................................................ 57 A. Attentiveness: listening to people ................................................................................................... 59 B. Experimentation: tinkering for success .......................................................................................... 62 C. Persuasion: self-fashioning and glibness ......................................................................................... 64 Section II. Josiah Wedgwood ................................................................................................................ 68 A. Attentiveness: learning from History and scouting in London ................................................. 71 B. Experimentation: Wedgwood’s experimental laboratory ......................................................... 75 C. Persuasion: Royal Patronages .......................................................................................................... 77 Section 3. James Watt ............................................................................................................................ 81
Slide 6: A. Attentiveness: the power of observation ..................................................................................... 85 B. Experimentation: the ‘perfect engine’ as a guide ......................................................................... 87 C. Persuasion: ‘steam connections’ ..................................................................................................... 90 Chapter 2. Networks of inventors in 18th century Britain ...................................................... 93 Section I. The Lunar society and relationships.................................................................................. 96 A. Presentation of the Lunar Society .................................................................................................. 96 B. Relationship between regular members of the Lunar Society .................................................. 98 C. Relationship between regular members of the Lunar Society and another person.......... 100 Section II. The A-E-P triptych, a framework to explain the existence and functioning of network of inventors ............................................................................................................................ 103 Chapter 3. Passion for Experimentation .................................................................................... 106 Section I. Balloons, igniting a passion for Experimentation .......................................................... 108 Section II. Experimentation and entertainment .............................................................................. 110 Section III. Experimentation, education and religion, the figure of Joseph Priestley .............. 113 Closing remarks on Experimentation and institutional transformation .................................... 115 Part 2. Inventing during the late 19th century in America ............................................ 118 Preliminary Chapter - Overview of the late 19th century ...................................................................... 118 Chapter I. Inventors at the age of large systems ..................................................................... 125 Section I. Alexander Bell A. Attentiveness: family and city as crucibles .................................................................................. 129 B. Experimentation: analogies, cross-fertilisation and systematic debugging ........................... 133 C. Persuasion: prominent occupations and partners..................................................................... 138 Section II. Thomas Edison .................................................................................................................... 144 A. Attentiveness: going systematic .................................................................................................... 148 6 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 7: B. Experimentation: division of labour in the laboratory.............................................................. 151 C. Persuasion: Edison, a prophet of his time ................................................................................... 157 Section III. Sperry ................................................................................................................................... 164 A. Attentiveness: getting the timing right ......................................................................................... 167 B. Experimentation: breakthrough versus fine tuning, the dual reality of invention............... 171 C. Persuasion: Courting the rich and the Navy .............................................................................. 174 Chapter 2. The rise of the inventive hierarchy ......................................................................... 180 Section I. Theoretical background ..................................................................................................... 182 A. Frank Knight: a world of uncertainty ........................................................................................... 182 B. Uncertainty and collective arrangements according to Knight .............................................. 183 C. Coase, Williamson and the transaction cost theory ................................................................ 184 Section II. The evolution of the railroad industry throughout the 19th century in America 186 A. The early years of inventive activities in the railroad industry: networks of inventors and attentive railroad companies (Regime I) ........................................................................................ 188 B. Charles Dudley, a transition figure from invention regime I to II .......................................... 192 C. The later years of inventive activities in the railroad industry during the late 19th century: Inventive hierarchies (regime II) ....................................................................................................... 194 Section III. Comparative analysis between regime I and II of invention .................................... 199 A. Comparative analysis of the regime I and II of inventive activities in the American railroad industry .................................................................................................................................................. 199 B. The two regimes analysed through the triptych Attentiveness – Experimentation – Persuasion ............................................................................................................................................... 201 Part 3. Inventing during the early 20th century in America.......................................... 203 Preliminary chapter - Overview of the early 20th century ..................................................................... 203 7 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 8: Chapter I- Inventors at the age of predictive science ............................................................ 208 Section I. Thomas Midgley ................................................................................................................... 208 A. Attentiveness: the firm as a guide ................................................................................................. 212 B. Experimentation: under the guidance of the periodic table .................................................... 216 C. Persuasion: creating information asymmetries .......................................................................... 220 Section II. William Coolidge ................................................................................................................ 225 A/ Attentiveness: open innovation at the start of the 20th century ........................................... 229 B/ Experimentation: serendipity and systematism .......................................................................... 232 C/ Persuasion: ‘The House of magic’ ................................................................................................ 235 Section III- Wallace Carothers ........................................................................................................... 240 A/ Experimentation: theory and practice as ‘friends’ .................................................................... 247 B/ Persuasion: the battle for ‘Pure Science’ ..................................................................................... 251 Chapter II. Collective arrangement: the ‘Soft Hand’ ............................................................. 256 Section I - Theoretical background ................................................................................................... 258 Section II - The ‘Soft Hand’ at the General Electric research laboratory ................................. 260 A/ The ‘Soft Hand’ within the laboratory......................................................................................... 261 B/ The ‘Soft Hand’ and the other departments of General Electric .......................................... 263 C/ The ‘Soft Hand’ and the outside world ....................................................................................... 265 Closing remarks on the ‘Soft Hand’ .................................................................................................. 266 Chapter III - The rise and limits of industrial laboratories................................................... 268 Section I. The pioneering years of industrial laboratories ............................................................ 269 A/ Attentiveness..................................................................................................................................... 273 B/ Experimentation ................................................................................................................................ 276 C / Persuasion ........................................................................................................................................ 277 Section II- The celebration of industrial laboratories in the post-war period ......................... 281 8 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 9: Section III- New collective arrangements on the rise ................................................................... 286 Closing remarks ..................................................................................................................................... 290 Taking stock, looking ahead ........................................................................................................ 297 A/ The abilities of career inventors ................................................................................................... 298 A/1 Attentiveness .................................................................................................................................. 302 A/2 Experimentation ............................................................................................................................. 305 A/3 Persuasion........................................................................................................................................ 309 A/4 Conclusions related to the three abilities ................................................................................ 312 B/ Collective arrangements ................................................................................................................. 314 C/ Further potential investigations .................................................................................................... 320 Bibliographie...........................................................................................................................322 9 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 10: Executive summary The chief characteristic of the present economy is the uncertainty. Uncertainty is a partial and shared ignorance of what will happen in the future. Its consequences are manifold, for instance, consumers show distrust when the long term impact of recent technologies are not understood and entrepreneurs find it difficult to predict the combinations of factors that might turn profitable for them in the future. Understanding how inventors act before uncertainty enhances our comprehension of the modern economy. It allows us to identify the abilities that enable inventors to confront uncertainty; it explores the collective arrangements used by inventors and offer new perspectives for institutional economics. Inventors studied here are scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs or simply independent inventors. The model tested focuses on three abilities: Attentiveness, Experimentation and Persuasion (triptych A-E-P). It investigates how inventors are attentive to the information, knowledge or insight that could lead them to success; how they experiment in order to create new information, knowledge or insight and how they persuade other agents of the value of their work. This investigation is performed by using History as a source of evidence. Three periods of intensive inventive activities are studied: the ‘age of the machines’ during the late 18th century in Great Britain, the ‘age of systems’ during the late 19th century in America and the ‘age of predictive science’ at the start of the 20th century in America. Career inventors who met success more than once, collective arrangements used by inventors and institutional transformations are studied for each of these periods. Inventors can come across valuable insights by luck or can perform systematic searches to find what they need (Attentiveness). They can progress by trial and error or use scientific knowledge to guide their experiments (Experimentation). They rely on their personal persuasion power or they accepted facts to promote their work (Persuasion). Throughout history, practices underpinning these three abilities have developed and accumulated, they have been imitated and re-used in different contexts and they have sometimes been 10 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 11: intertwined within the personal life of inventors. The practices specific to each ability can be allocated to different levels of uncertainty. Contrary to popular belief, inventors do not act alone, they mobilise their family, friends and collaborate with other agents. The description of collective arrangements based on the A-EP triptych, casts light on what inventors do collectively. Over the three periods studied, the division of labour in inventive activities has never ceased to progress. It has engendered a diversity of collective arrangements at the forefront of inventive activities: networks (1), inventive hierarchies (2), research laboratories (3) and product development teams (4). A network (1) is described as sets of relationships between individuals facing uncertainty. When uncertainty prevails, attentive inventors form networks to share and gather information that could lead them to a winning combination of factors. They acquire information, they experiment together and they enhance their reputation and build their social capital as they interact with established inventors and investors entrepreneurs. Such relationships can be interpreted as repeated transactions where information is exchanged for free because of the reigning uncertainty. Another form of collective arrangement studied is the ‘inventive hierarchy’ (2) which appeared with the development of large systems such as the cost reduction and standardisation offices of the late 19th century in the railroad industry. Engineers within those inventive hierarchies are inward looking and focus on the optimisation of specific parameters, such as costs using strict decision making rules. Costs of experiments tend to rise when inventor-scientists investigate the forefront of scientific knowledge to hedge the risk of losing ground to competitors. Only research laboratories (3) established on the back of large firms can sustain such investments in such uncertain contexts. However successful inventors, within such laboratories, remain attentive to what happens outside of their walls. This is described using the metaphor of the ‘soft hand of management’ where a hierarchy guides and controls the work of inventors while encouraging them to networks that nourishes them with new ideas and knowledge. 11 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 12: When uncertainty is less prominent, another form of collective arrangements is more appropriate: the product development team (4) where inventors are attentive to specific applications and experiment with a diversity of parameters in order to learn and bring innovations to the market. These collective arrangements are presented using a taxonomy based on different levels of uncertainty. The study of institutional transformations suggests that during the late 18th century in Great Britain, Experimentation became a passion for people from all walks of life. They considered experiments as entertaining and educational and enjoyed the optimism their diffusion inspired. This popular passion stimulated the development of a new set of norms, incentives, and organisational structure. Networks of individuals who shared an interest for technical matters emerged and economic agents developed a preference for occupations and investments that involved pursuing experiments and inventive activities. This contributes to the explanation for the intensification of inventive activities during this period as measured by the number of patents registered. The study of another institutional transformation: the evolution of the railroad industry shows that transaction costs help to understand organisations and their boundaries but it also needs to be complemented by analysis, using for instance the E-A-P triptych, in order to understand informal organisations, complex industry structures or the transformation of an industry structure especially when inventive activities play an important role. The approach adopted in this dissertation, by putting the individual inventor at the heart of the analysis, could contribute to bridge the understanding between economists who see economic activities as the outcome of individual actions and economists who study innovation and technical change as the outcome of collective actions. This would require forging a common vocabulary and to re-interpret some of the existing concepts used by different economists building on the triptych of abilities proposed here. This is only outlined in the present work and will need to be pursued. There are also promising developments that could be undertaken following this dissertation. Attentiveness, one of the three abilities, could serve to further understand what a firm’s strategy is and how it operates. A strategy is a hypothesis about the future of the firm in an 12 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 13: uncertain context and strategizing would therefore be described as the mechanism used to guide the attention of agents towards the assets that could become a source of rent in the future. Another development that could be studied relates to the ability named Persuasion. By investigating the practices used by inventors to persuade other agents of the value of their work, we could better understand some of the institutional mechanisms that shape the preferences of economic agents. This would allow us to understand how some information asymmetries are created to gain economic advantages by agents and firms engaged in inventive activities. 13 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 14: Note de synthèse Comprendre la manière dont nous agissons face à l’incertitude est essentiel dans un monde où l’innovation est la norme et où les consommateurs sont sensibilisés de manière croissante aux dangers liés à l’usage des nouvelles technologies. L’incertitude est définie ici comme une ignorance partielle et partagée sur ce qui va se passer dans le futur. L’étude du comportement des inventeurs face à l’incertitude est un levier de compréhension de l’économie moderne. Elle conduit à identifier les facultés qui permettent aux inventeurs d’affronter l’incertitude; elle explore les arrangements collectifs utilisés par les inventeurs et elle offre de nouvelles perspectives à l’économie institutionnelle. Les inventeurs étudiés ici sont des scientifiques, des ingénieurs, des entrepreneurs ou simplement des indépendants. Le model testé se concentre sur trois de leurs facultés : l’Attention, l’Expérimentation et la Persuasion (triptyque A-E-P). Il permet d’examiner l’attention que portent les inventeurs à des informations, connaissances ou idées qui pourraient accroître leurs chances de succès (1) ; la manière dont ils expérimentent afin de créer de nouvelles informations, connaissances ou idées (2) et, finalement, leur capacité à persuader d’autres agents de la valeur de leur travail (3). Cette étude est réalisée en utilisant l’Histoire comme source de postulats et de preuves. Trois périodes d’intenses activités inventives sont étudiées : « l’âge des machines » à la fin du 18ème siècle en Grande Bretagne, « l’âge des systèmes » à la fin du 19ème siècle aux Etats Unis, et, enfin, « l’âge de la science prédictive » au début du 20ème siècle, toujours aux Etats-Unis. Pour chacune de ces périodes, sont étudiés : des inventeurs de carrière, dont l’histoire personnelle et le parcours témoignent de multiples « succès », ou « échecs », des arrangements collectifs et des transformations institutionnelles. L’étude des faits historiques montre que les inventeurs découvrent des idées prometteuses par chance et/ou réalisent des recherches systématiques pour trouver ce qu’ils poursuivent (Attention). Ils progressent par essais et erreurs et/ou utilisent des connaissances scientifiques pour guider leurs expériences (Expérimentation). Ils utilisent leur pouvoir de persuasion personnel et/ou exploitent des faits tangibles et admis par tous, pour 14 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 15: promouvoir leur travail (Persuasion). Au cours de l’Histoire, les pratiques qui sous-tendent ces facultés se sont développées et se sont accumulées. Elles ont été imitées et réutilisées dans des contextes différents et se sont parfois trouvées mêlées à la vie personnelle de leurs utilisateurs. Les pratiques spécifiques à chacune de ces facultés peuvent être classées selon différents « niveaux » d’incertitude. De plus, les inventeurs n’agissent pas seuls, ils mobilisent leur famille, leurs amis et collaborent avec d’autres agents. L’analyse des arrangements collectifs basée sur le triptyque A-E-P nous éclaire sur les formes collectives d’action des inventeurs. Au cours des trois périodes étudiées, la division du travail dans les activités inventives n’a pas cessé de progresser. Elle a suscité une diversité d’arrangements collectifs: des réseaux (1), des hiérarchies inventives (2), des laboratoires de recherche (3) et des équipes de développement de produits (4). Un réseau (1) se définit comme un ensemble de relations entre des individus qui font face à un contexte d’incertitude. Quand l’incertitude prévaut, des inventeurs attentifs forment des réseaux pour partager et recueillir des informations, ils expérimentent ensemble, font progresser leur réputation et construisent leur « capital social » au fur et à mesure de leurs interactions avec leurs pairs, avec des entrepreneurs et des investisseurs établis. De telles relations peuvent être interprétées comme des transactions répétées où l’information est échangée gratuitement du fait de la prégnance de l’incertitude. Une autre forme d’arrangement collectif est la « hiérarchie inventive » (2) qui apparaît avec le développement des grands systèmes techniques, comme les bureaux de standardisation propres à l’industrie du rail à la fin du 19ème siècle. Les ingénieurs faisant partie de ces hiérarchies inventives se tournent vers l’intérieur et se focalisent sur l’optimisation de paramètres spécifiques, tel que les coûts, en utilisant des règles de décision strictes. A partir du 20ème siècle, le coût des expérimentations dans les laboratoires de recherche (3) tend à s’accroître car les inventeurs-scientifiques explorent les fronts les plus avancés de la connaissance pour ne pas perdre de terrain face à la concurrence. Seuls des laboratoires de recherche associés à de grandes entreprises sont en mesure d’initier et de maintenir de tels 15 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 16: investissements dans un contexte de forte incertitude. Les inventeurs à succès de ces laboratoires restent attentifs à ce qui se déroule en dehors de leurs murs. La métaphore de « la main souple du management » présente une hiérarchie qui guide et contrôle le travail des inventeurs, tout en encourageant leur participation à des réseaux qui les nourrissent de nouvelles idées et connaissances. Quand l’incertitude est moins importante, une autre forme d’arrangement collectif émerge : il s’agit de l’équipe de développement produit (4). Les inventeurs y concentrent leur attention sur des applications spécifiques et expérimentent avec une diversité de paramètres dans le but d’apprendre et d’amener des innovations sur le marché. Une taxonomie de ces arrangements collectifs basée sur différents niveaux d’incertitude est proposée en conclusion. La transformation historique étudiée à la fin du 18ème siècle en Grande Bretagne trouve sa source dans la passion populaire pour l’expérimentation qui traverse et transcende les catégories sociales de l’époque. Le grand public considère ces expériences comme divertissantes et éducatives et se révèle sensible à l’optimisme que leur diffusion inspire. Cette passion populaire stimule également le développement d’un nouvel ensemble d’incitations, de normes et de structures organisationnelles. Des réseaux d’individus partageant un intérêt pour les choses techniques émergent et les agents économiques développent une préférence pour les professions ou les investissements impliquant la réalisation d’expériences et des activités inventives. Ces éléments contribuent à expliquer l’intensification des activités inventives mesurée par le nombre de brevets enregistrés durant cette période. L’étude d’une autre transformation historique, celle de l’évolution de l’industrie du rail au 19ème siècle aux Etats-Unis, montre que les coûts de transaction permettent de comprendre la nature et les limites des organisations, mais elle doit être complétée par des analyses utilisant notamment le triptyque A-E-P, de manière à comprendre comment fonctionnent les organisations informelles et les structures industrielles complexes et la manière dont se transforment les industries où les activités inventives jouent un rôle important. 16 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 17: L’approche adoptée dans cette recherche place l’inventeur individuel au cœur de l’analyse et pourrait contribuer à rapprocher les économistes qui voient les activités économiques comme le résultat d’actions individuelles et ceux qui étudient l’innovation et le changement technique comme le résultat d’actions collectives. Ceci nécessiterait de forger un vocabulaire commun et de réinterpréter certains des concepts existants en utilisant le triptyque de facultés proposé ici. Le présent travail constitue une esquisse dans cette direction nécessitant d’être poursuivie. D’autres axes de recherche prometteurs pourraient être explorés. L’Attention, l’une des trois facultés, pourrait servir à mieux comprendre ce qu’est la stratégie d’une entreprise et la manière dont elle opère. Une stratégie peut être considérée comme une hypothèse sur le futur dans un contexte d’incertitude. L’action stratégique peut, dès lors, être décrite comme le mécanisme utilisé pour guider l’Attention des agents vers les actifs susceptibles de devenir une de revenus dans le futur. Un autre développement qui pourrait être étudié réside dans la faculté de Persuasion des inventeurs. L’exploration des pratiques utilisées par les inventeurs et les scientifiques pour persuader d’autres agents de la valeur de leur travail permettrait de comprendre les mécanismes institutionnels qui façonnent les préférences des agents économiques. Cet axe de recherche aurait l’ambition d’étudier comment certaines asymétries d’informations sont consciemment créées par des agents ou des entreprises impliqués dans des activités inventives afin de gagner des avantages économiques. 17 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 18: A brief history of inventiveness The present overview provides a condensed version of the historical facts studied in this dissertation. It looks at the three periods of history investigated and outlines some of the salient facts that will be examined below. The ‘Age of the machines’, a popular passion for experiments During the last 20 years of the 18th century, across Europe, children enjoyed making and playing with balloons, they were small scale replicas of the ones that were now flying in the air following the initial breakthrough of the Montgolfier brothers in France. Those children sometimes put haystacks on fires and learned the harsh lessons that nature was ready to teach them. The balloon was regarded as an emblem of hope; a balloon-mania was raging across Europe. Those balloons fortified the passion for Experimentation that had already started some years before with itinerant lecturers who travelled from one country to another to educate people and share their experimental tricks. Dissenters who had separated from the established church of England were amongst the strongest supporters of Experimentation and used it as part of the education they provided to children. This led many of them to prefer jobs and investments that involved experimental and inventive activities. Networks of inventors: the Lunar Society Networks of independent inventors such as the Lunar Society developed across England. The Lunar Society brought together people who had a scientific curiosity such as Joseph Priestley, the chemist; people who were part time inventors such as Doctor Erasmus Darwin, also known as the grandfather of Charles Darwin; and also inventors-entrepreneurs such as James Watt, inventor of the steam engine and Josiah Wedgwood (another grandfather of Charles Darwin) who revolutionized the pottery industry. On a regular basis, they exchanged ideas, shared scientific and technical information amongst themselves coming from other people they knew, they advised each other. They helped each other procuring scientific and technical instruments, they organised experiments together. 18 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 19: Sometimes, they joined forces to persuade other people of the value of their ideas. They provoked or challenged each other in a playful way; they drank and laughed as they argued late into the night when the full moon could ease their way back home. Such a network is an attack on uncertainty. Scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs taking part in the Lunar Society were attentive to each other ideas and achievements; they used experiments to gain feedback from each other and to spread knowledge. They joined forces to persuade others to adopt their inventions. Sharing is a rational behaviour when uncertainty prevails. Career inventors during the ‘Age of the machines’ During this ‘Age of the machines’, inventors like James Watt and Josiah Wedgwood that we already mentioned or Richard Arkwright who transformed, through his inventions, the textile industry stole from nature new ways of doing things. Those inventors, who remained in history, and many others we have forgotten, started to harness water and steam energy and basic chemical reactions in order to create practical mechanical devices that grew more complex over time. Their work resulted in new machines that were meant to serve mankind and that sometimes mankind ended up serving. These inventors were attentive to the technical discoveries, market opportunities and social issues of their time; they enjoyed talking with people in search for an idea or valuable information. Arkwright was even accused of stealing other people’s ideas. They travelled across the country and like Wedgwood; they sometimes scouted in the streets of London to understand the latest fashion and the needs of the new bourgeoisie. Experimenting meant for them tinkering with mechanical constructs and conducting systematic trial and error. Wedgwood created a small laboratory in his kitchen to avoid mixing production and experimental activities. Watt explored systematically the physical principles of a ‘perfect engine’ in order to understand why the model of a Newcomen engine was very inefficient. To persuade others, some relied on their natural glibness, most of them engaged family and friends in their inventive and business activities as they were easier to convince and more reliable when it came to keeping secrets. Arkwright fashioned himself as a ‘Grand man’, Wedgwood used the patronage of the Queen to sell his work. 19 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 20: Transformations in the rail industry: the rise of ‘inventive hierarchies’ In 1831, Robert L. Stevens for the Camden & Amboy Railroad in America bought a locomotive to Stephenson, the British rail pioneer. Three years after, rail lines had been established in New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Massachusetts, and Delaware. In 1840, with 2800 miles of tracks, the U.S. railroad had more tracks than the British. In 1859, it was 28,800 miles of tracks connected American cities. The steam engine of James Watt had paved the way for the locomotive and this roaring machine crossed the Atlantic where a young, vast and expanding nation was in need of new means of transportation and communication. The railroads materialized as a large-scale system capable of carrying a diversity of people and goods. It required complex machines, tracks and fuel but also tunnels and signals. The so-called ‘Yankee ingenuity’ was at work. People with an interest and an aptitude for technical and scientific matters, were attracted by the numerous practical issues that needed to be solved. Skilled migrants brought their diverse experience and sometimes their ideas with them. They joined the machine shops across the country. Railroad companies hired machinists who built the machines and often used and repaired them. Machinists moved from one firm to another, selling their skills to the highest offer, taking with them the knowledge and experience they had gained. Redundancy of skills encouraged them to specialise and invent new things. They visited each other to keep up to date with the technical developments. International exchange also occurred between experts especially with the British ones. This network of attentive machinists, keen to experiment and tinker with new ideas, eager to persuade others of their talent expanded alongside the railroads. Inventions were usually attributed to them as railroad companies preferred to take licences from inventors than to buy patented products on the market. On such a network, talent irremediably rose to its best use; new needs and opportunities were constantly emerging, sharing knowledge was a way of helping others, helping oneself and signalling one’s worth. However, during the 1860’s, transaction costs were on the rise. The increasing number of patents made the work of railroad companies difficult. They were facing mounting complexity on legal cases; assigning rights to the right inventors was becoming difficult. At the same time, the rising power of some suppliers threatened them. For instance, Carnegie in the steel business had increased its bargaining power by building a massive production 20 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 21: capacity in a growing market. Westinghouse did not want to licence his brake systems to railroad companies as he was determined to exploit and profit from his invention. As materials became more sophisticated; railroad companies needed to specify and verify what they were buying. Moreover, it was time for an industry that had grown in an ad hoc way, to rationalize its functioning and adopt a different approach to inventive activities. Railroad companies therefore adopted a different approach to inventive activities. They established centralized, corporate departments staffed with professional engineers. The personal authority of the technical experts was diminished and replaced by an ‘inventive hierarchy’ where salaried engineers took decisions based on defined rules. Such engineers had a knack for uniformity. They pursued a policy of standardization as the industry had developed haphazardly during its formative period. They established methods to analyze materials and developed sound technical specifications that were integrated into a supplier’s contract. They used managerial innovation as much as technical ones to optimize the performance of the traffic on the railroads and to improve the efficiency of the system. They were attentive to internal operational discrepancies and costs reduction opportunities. They conducted systematic experiments to select solution amongst existing technologies. They persuaded others and based their decisions on financial information, not on expert opinion. A new collective arrangement had emerged. This inventive hierarchy was well suited to rationalize a large scale system but inadequate to defy the providence and bring original inventions into the limelight. The railroad, with its complexity and the challenge of size, led the development of an engineering culture, out of which the so-called ‘scientific management principles’ of Frederick Taylor emerged. Career inventors during the ‘Age of the systems’ During this ‘Age of the systems’, the rail and the telegraph were loosely coupled systems that emerged out of a machine shop culture thanks to the contribution of many inventive minds and hands. Electricity was a system of a different kind, it needed a master architect: Edison created parts that worked together to illuminate New York and other cities. Similarly, 21 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 22: Alexander Bell brought the telephone to life. Shortly after Elmer Sperry, inventor of the gyroscope, applied the principles of feedback loop to many practical problems. At that time, towns like Boston offered to an attentive inventor like Bell all he needed: libraries, scientific institutions, the expertise of many other inventors and access to investors. Luck and errors continued to trigger the attention of inventors. However, inventors also conducted systematic investigation of patents, technical and scientific literature and they performed systematic searches for appropriate materials. Someone like Edison enjoyed working on a diversity of projects that cross fertilized each other. Sperry learned to recognise when to invest in a business field, move rapidly from one invention to another through close collaborations with the users and then abandon the field as it matured. Experimenting still included painstaking trial and error. Sometimes metaphors and analogies acted as guides for experiments. Finalising an invention often meant systematically testing design parameters in search for the most efficient solutions. Edison created his own laboratory where tens of experimenters and machinists worked together. Sperry scaled up models little by little to create his inventions. To persuade others, Bell found a prominent partner and enjoyed demonstrating his telephone using his theatrical skills. Edison fashioned himself as the wizard of Menlo Park. He grabbed the attention of Americans and Europeans by telling them of what the future would be made. Sperry convinced others simply because he was a talented inventor who courted his peers, his customers and investors. Career inventors during the ‘Age of predictive science’ At the turn of the 20th century, science offered some gifts to inventors. The scientific understanding of the physical world was transformed; it offered predictive power: the periodic table of elements allowed screening of relevant materials and chemical reactions could be anticipated. Science started to play an important role in inventive activities undertaken by firms, at least in specific sectors such as electricity, the communications or chemical. This was the ‘Age of the predictive science’. Industrial laboratories, an emerging collective arrangement capable of performing expensive Experimentation, took the centre stage. 22 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 23: In such industrial laboratories, a new breed of inventors, often called scientists, was pioneering new inventive practices. This group included Midgley from General Motors who came up with leaded fuel and Freon, Coolidge, who worked for General Electric Research Laboratory, the first laboratory of this kind, was the father of ductile tungsten filament for lamps and of the medical applications of X-rays and Carothers who spearheaded the development of nylon and other giant man-made molecules at DuPont. Such inventorscientists were attentive to what mattered to the decision makers of the firm for which they worked. They monitored inventions occurring outside of their firm in order to anticipate competitive threat and possibly turn them into opportunities. Industrial laboratories were established far from the manufacturing activities; nevertheless, these scientists concentrated their effort on the core business activities of the firm they served. They were attentive to scientific development and benefited from the ‘golden age of physics’ which brought them new instruments and scientific knowledge that could be put to good use. With these inventors, science and theory contributed to Experimentation without fully replacing serendipity, trial and error and the systematic variation of parameters needed to fine-tune products and production processes. Theory and practice worked hand in hand. Experiments required teamwork as inventing became more and more the work of specialists. Inventors and their boss exploited the image of science to persuade decision makers in their firms of the value of science and consumers of the value of their products. General Electric Research laboratory was fashioned as the ‘house of magic’. At the same time, inventors with their scientific authority were capable of contributing to the creation of potentially dangerous information asymmetries. Midgley with the leaded fuel is a deadly example. If it was difficult at the start to persuade high calibre scientists to join research laboratories and top management of the value of performing pure science to explore the frontiers of science but the early success at General Electric and A.T.T. helped others to follow. The First World War convinced some politicians and businessmen that science would play an increasing role in warfare. The ‘Soft hand of management’ Research laboratories were established in large businesses but their research directors tried to keep the network culture of inventors in order to maintain contacts between the scientists and the business needs or the scientific and technical development of their time. 23 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 24: The first directors of industrial laboratories had a ‘Soft hand’ approach that pushed their inventors to exchange information amongst themselves, with people in other departments of the firm they served and with the outside world. As a consequence, hierarchy guided and controlled the work of inventors while networks continued to nourish them with new ideas and knowledge. Division of labour amongst collective arrangements Industrial laboratories survived the great depression. Their promoters created the erroneous belief that independent inventors had disappeared. The emerging passion for science was strengthened by the American victory in the Second World War Firms started to invest heavily in science. This led to the isolation of corporate inventors and scientists. A lack of Attentiveness started to reign in the inventive activities of large businesses. Passion is not always virtuous. After the war, Bell laboratories, the research arm of A.T.T remained the largest corporate research laboratory with 2000 scientists and engineers and 5700 people overall. Brattain and Bardeen discovered the amplifying capabilities of semiconductor devices. Shockley brought some refinement to their invention that was announced in 1948 by Bell Laboratories under the name of transistor. The three of them received a Nobel Prize in 1954 for their discovery. The transistor, to release its full economic potential, needed two fertile grounds different to the one initially offered by A.T.T. It needed specialised firms such as Texas Instruments attentive to its immediate new applications and production issues. It also needed inventive networks such as the ones that emerged in the Silicon Valley to explore its future applications. A company like Texas Instruments was a specialised manufacturer with development teams dedicated to semi-conductors. The management of the company and employees were attentive and dedicated to the exploitation of the market opportunities offered by semiconductors. Experimentation meant developing low-cost semi-conductors which was different in nature to inventing the transistor. It was essentially the work of engineers 24 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 25: focused on creating defect free and reliable production capacity. From a Persuasion perspective, demonstrating the possibility of creating an inexpensive and simple product such as a radio proved to be a winning strategy. Companies like Intel later followed a similar path of specialised manufacturers which did not have to invest in basic research but who combined rigorous engineering approaches with a market orientation. Intel, however, was the fruit of another fertile ground: the Silicon Valley. The Silicon Valley, was a network of individuals who job-hopped between firms. They were attentive to both technical and market opportunities that could make best use of their skills. They experimented by tinkering with their electronic circuits. They continuously tried to persuade others: venture capitalists, colleagues and potential users of the value of their ideas and work. They did not investigate scientific problems but simply combined and re-combined electronic components, hoping to bump into a star component or product. Today, a diverse set of collective arrangements continue to bring inventions to the market, using the Attentiveness, the ability to experiment and the persuasive powers of independent inventors, entrepreneurs, engineers, scientists and others. 25 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 26: Introduction Millions of economic transactions are performed every day and, in order to study their aggregated effects, it is a fruitful assumption to see them as the result of rational actions conducted with perfect information. However, society is also shaped by the work of individuals who, without acting irrationally, are braving the frontiers of ignorance and defy uncertainty to bring new economic goods to reality. Those individuals who face uncertainty are inventors and their practices are still badly understood by economists. Exploring how agents such as inventors act before uncertainty should therefore prove helpful in uncovering the functioning of modern economic practices. This will help to understand the abilities and practices used by agents when uncertainty prevails. It will throw some light on how agents collaborate to address this uncertainty collectively. This will also prepare the ground to better understand what a firm’s strategy is and it will offer new perspective in exploring how the preferences of economic agents are shaped and information asymmetries consciously created by firms and individuals engaged in inventive activities. The inventor has often been portrayed as a lucky guy, a mistakes maker, a hero or an acclaimed magician. Economists have tended to regard him as someone alien to the economic system. The inventor can, more prosaically, be treated as an agent who contributes to the creation of new markets thanks to a number of specific abilities: Attentiveness, Experimentation and Persuasion, as this will be demonstrated here. Schumpeter defines the entrepreneur as the one who brings innovation, new combinations of economic factors to the market: ‘(F)or actions which consist in carrying out innovations we reserve the term Enterprise; the individuals who carry them out we call Entrepreneurs’. (Schumpeter, 1939) He therefore outlines a difference between the inventor and the entrepreneur but recognise that they can sometimes be the same person. ‘The entrepreneur may, but need not; be the ‘inventor’ of the goods or process he introduces’ (Schumpeter, 1939). In other words, the inventor creates something useful and the entrepreneur is the one who transforms something useful into profit. The inventor takes some necessary steps in bringing something new towards the market or the public sphere although he may not necessarily be the one who completes the process of commercialisation or diffusion. 26 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 27: Since Schumpeter’s contribution, the study of innovation has largely abandoned the ‘methodological individualism’ approach to adopt a ‘social collectivities’ perspective. This is the case, for instance, of the evolutionary and the strategic management schools of thought (Felin & Foss, 2004) for which routines (Nelson & Winter, 1982) and capabilities (Teece, Pisano & Shuen, 1997) appear in this literature as ‘social facts’ somehow independent from human actions (Felin & Foss, 2004). By adopting here a methodological individualism perspective and exploring how inventors act before uncertainty, some bridges can possibly be established between concepts and tools belonging to different traditions of economic thinking. This introduction outlines the specific form of methodological individualism adopted here (A/) and it develops a model appropriate to the study of inventive practices (B/) and, finally, it describes some methodological issues related to the use of History as a source of evidence to validate this model (C/). A. Methodological Individualism According to Hodgson (2007), methodological individualism was an expression first used by Schumpeter, he defined it as follows: ‘just means that one starts from the individual in order to describe certain economic relationships.’ In fact, Schumpeter was inspired by Max Weber who in Economy and Society looked at ‘social collectivities’, such as states, associations, business corporations, foundations: ‘in sociological work these collectivities must be treated as solely the resultants and modes of organisation of the particular acts of individual persons, since these alone can be treated as agents in a course of subjectively understandable action’ (Weber, 1968). However, methodological individualism has since been at the core of a heated debate between different traditions in social sciences. Felin and Foss (2004) presented the terms of this debate: ‘Methodological individualism in its purest form builds on the ontological argument that only individuals are real (...). This strong form of individualism denies the existence and causal influence of collectives and institutions and argues that they must be reduced to and explained in 27 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 28: terms of individuals – that is, individual endowments, intentions, desires, expectations, and goals ... In contrast, methodological collectivism starts with the assumption or even assertion of the independence of collectives from individuals. That is, collectives such as organisation and society, and ‘social facts’ such as institutions and culture serve as the independent variables determining individual and collective behaviour and outcome’. This polarised debate has hidden the diversity of interpretations behind the methodological individualism perspective. The intent in this work is not to debate methodological individualism and its diversity of interpretations but to specify what it means for the present study of inventive activities. Udehn (2001) distinguishes ‘weak methodological individualism’ from ‘strong methodological individualism’. Strong methodological individualism implies that all ‘social situations’ are themselves explicable through the understanding of individual’s actions. On the contrary, weak methodological individualists allow the existence of autonomous institutions and social structures that shape individual behaviour. In the present work, the intent is to develop an understanding of inventive practices by starting from the intentional or unintentional 1 actions of individuals. This is not a reduction to a purely atomistic perspective on human actions as it accepts the possibility that human action might have an irreducibly social dimension. Methodological individualism is here a methodological stance and a ‘weak’ version of it is adopted: It is a point of departure that can contribute to the explanation of what will be called ‘collective arrangements’ and ‘institutional transformations’ 2. In fact we will see how individual actions contribute to the formation of collective arrangements such as networks of inventors or inventive hierarchies 1 A proponent of methodological individualism is Hayek. He did not reduce methodological individualism to the idea that the world is the result of intentional human design. He provides the example of the development of a path in the woods. One person makes his way through, choosing the route that offers the least resistance. His passage reduces, ever so slightly, the resistance offered along that route to the next person who walks though, who is therefore, in making the same set of decisions, likely to follow the same route. This increases the chances that the next person will do so, and so on. Thus the net of effect of all these people passing through is that they ‘make a path,’ even though no one has the intention to do so, and no one even plans out its trajectory. It is a product of spontaneous order: ‘Human movements through the district come to conform to a definite pattern which, although the result of deliberate decisions of many people has yet not been consciously designed by anyone’ (Hayek 1942). 2 Collective arrangements can be understood here as the ‘Social Collectivities’ of Weber discussed above. The word ‘arrangement’ is used here to indicate that it can be interpreted as a result of human actions. Elster (1989) wrote ‘History is the result of human action, not of human design’. The model proposed here will take this quote seriously and see how the understanding of human actions can help to explain some institutional transformations. 28 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 29: which enable and constrain, at the same time human actions. At no point, will it be inferred that all social phenomenon can or should be reduced to individual actions. Moreover, this interpretation of methodological individualism cannot be reduced to the rational choice assumption. The present work will espouse the logic explicated by Arrow (1994) who sat with Weber and Hayek on the weak side of methodological individualism: ‘(I)n this quick presentation of individualism, I have avoided the term, ‘rational choice.’ The individualist viewpoint is in principle compatible with bounded rationality, with violations of the rationality axioms, and with the biases in judgment characteristic of human beings. The additional step to rational choice is, of course, of the greatest practical importance to theory formation, but it is not in principle necessary for the individualist viewpoint’. B. The Attentiveness-Experimentation-Persuasion model In economics, uncertainty was defined by Knight. According to him, we know something about the future but we know very little: ‘(T)he facts of life in this regard are in a superficial sense obtrusively obvious and are a matter of common observation. It is a world of change in which we live, and a world of uncertainty. We live only by knowing something about the future; while the problems of life or of conduct at least, arise from the fact that we know so little. This is as true of business as of other spheres of activity. The essence of the situation is action according to opinion, of greater or less foundation and value, neither entire ignorance nor complete and perfect information, but partial knowledge. If we are to understand the workings of the economic system we must examine the meaning and significance of uncertainty; and to this end some inquiry into the nature and function of knowledge itself is necessary’ (Knight, 1921). He suggests limiting the notion of uncertainty to situations where measurement in terms of probability is not possible. In other words, uncertainty applies when the past does not inform us about the future. ‘It will appear that a measurable uncertainty, or ‘risk’ proper, as we shall use the term, is so far different from an unmeasurable one that it is not in effect an uncertainty at all. We shall accordingly restrict the term ‘uncertainty’ to cases of the non-quantitive type’ (Knight, 1921). 29 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 30: This was also emphasized by Keynes in a famous sentence. ‘By ‘uncertain’ knowledge, let me explain, I do not mean merely to distinguish what is known for certain from what is only probable. The game of roulette is not subject, in this sense, to uncertainty...The sense in which I am using the term is that in which the prospect of a European war is uncertain, or the price of copper and the rate of interest twenty years hence (…). About these matters there is no scientific basis on which to form any calculable probability whatever. We simply do not know’ (Keynes, 1937). More recently, Post Keynesian economists have continued to explore the concept of radical uncertainty (Dequesch, 2001). Today, an appropriate definition of uncertainty would distinguish it from information asymmetries: uncertainty is not the result of disequilibrium in the allocation of information amongst agents but a partial knowledge and a shared ignorance of what will happen in the future. As outlined before, understanding how agents act individually and collectively before uncertainty is here pursued by focusing on a specific category of agents who have specialised in creating something useful and bringing it toward the market or the public sphere. This specific category of agent is the inventor, and more specifically, career inventors who met success on a recurring basis. They brave the frontiers of ignorance and defy uncertainty to bring new economic goods to reality. This does not however mean that individuals act haphazardly. They imagine what could work, balance options, explore one or more paths, and come back when they have reached a dead end. They sometimes abandon ideas and sometimes celebrate their success. As methodological individualism is adopted as an epistemological point of departure, the word ‘inventor’ will be used throughout this work to refer to agents who are engaged in inventive activities and innovation at large. It should not be reduced solely to ‘patent holders’. Economists have often used the expressions inventors as a synonym of ‘patent holders’ adopting de facto the practice of patent offices. In this work, inventors will include individuals who have sometimes been called in the profane literature ‘independent inventors’, ‘engineers’ or ‘scientists’ depending on the context studied. This terminology may be punctually used according to its relevance to the historical context. 30 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 31: As inventors have played an increasing role in economic activities due to the growing division of labour, it is safe to believe that they have developed and acquired some specific abilities to face uncertainty. The A-E-P (Attentiveness-Experimentation-Persuasion) triptych of inventor’s abilities (See Fig 1) is introduced here in order to enhance our economic understanding of human actions when uncertainty prevails. This triptych has first emerged from the reading of many biographies of inventors. These three abilities present an inventor as someone who: − is Attentive to the information, knowledge and insight that could lead him to success − Experiments in order to create new, useful information, knowledge and insight − Persuades (potential others investors, Figure 1: The A‐E‐P triptych of inventors' abilities  Attentiveness Persuasion Experimentation potential users, etc.) of the value of his work. The Model proposed is an informational one that tackles the acquisition, the creation and the transmission of information and knowledge. Such abilities are not specific skills that can help to address given problems but rather a wider set of tactics, strategies, traits and situations used by an inventor in relation to specific problems and contexts. 31 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 32: B/1 Attentiveness is about the acquisition of information, knowledge and insights. It has some similitude with (1) the importance given by Adam Smith (1776) to observation 3; (2) the concept of ‘alertness’ proposed by Kirzrner (1997) which privileges accidental discovery 4 of previous mistakes; (3) the notion of ‘opportunity recognition’ which recognises the possibility of deliberate search process (R. Teach, R. Schwartz, & F. Tarpley, 1989); (4) the concept of ‘spillovers’ especially when it is associated with a theory of entrepreneurship where knowledge created endogenously results in knowledge spillovers and give rise to opportunities to be identified and exploited by entrepreneurs (Acs, Audretsch, Braunerhjelm & Carlsson, 2006) and (5) with the idea of ‘absorptive capacity’ (Cohen & Levinthal, 1990) which from an organisation point of view refers to the ability to recognise the value of new knowledge. B/2 Experimentation has been extensively studied by the philosophers of science. For economists, two authors or schools should be mentioned. (1) John Stuart Mill has very eloquently talked about ‘the labour of the brains and the labour of the hands’. He observed that inventions are adopted and then superseded by better ones. Nature offers its secrets through Experimentation and a thorough selection, comparison and confirmation of facts 5. According to him, inventions result from sustained attention and observation: ‘(M)en are much more likely to discover easier and readier methods of attaining any object, when the whole attention of their minds is directed towards that single object, than when it is dissipated among a great variety of things. But in consequence of the division of labour, the whole of every man's attention comes naturally to be directed towards someone very simple object. It is naturally to be expected, therefore, that someone or other of those who are employed in each particular branch of labour should soon find out easier and readier methods of performing their own particular work, wherever the nature of it admits of such improvement’ (Smith, 1776). Inventions are not conceived by operators only, makers of machines and philosophers also invent through observation:’(All) the improvements in machinery, however, have by no means been the inventions of those who had occasion to use the machines. Many improvements have been made by the ingenuity of the makers of the machines, when to make them became the business of a peculiar trade; and some by that of those who are called philosophers or men of speculation, whose trade it is not to do anything, but to observe everything; and who, upon that account, are often capable of combining together the powers of the most distant and dissimilar objects’ (Smith, 1776). 4 ‘Entrepreneurial alertness refers to an attitude of receptiveness to available (but hitherto overlooked) opportunities. The entrepreneurial character of human action refers not simply to the circumstance that action is taken in an open-ended, uncertain world, but also to the circumstance that the human agent is at all times spontaneously on the lookout for hitherto unnoticed features of the environment (present or future), which might inspire new activity on his part. Without knowing what to look for, without deploying any deliberate search technique, the entrepreneur is at all times scanning the horizon, as it were, ready to make discoveries’ (Kirzner, 1997). 5 ‘Inventors, besides the labour of their brains, generally go through much labour with their hands, in the models which they construct and the experiments they have to make before their idea can realize itself successfully in act. Whether mental, however, or bodily, their labour is a part of that by which the production is brought about. The labour of Watt in contriving the steam-engine was as essential a part of production as that of the mechanics who build or the engineers who work the instrument; and was undergone, no less than theirs, 3 32 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 33: (2) Herbert Simon and his colleagues have categorized methods used as part of scientific discovery or more generally problem solving as ‘weak’ or ‘strong’ 6 depending on the extent that knowledge pre-exists in the specific fields of scientific investigation. B/3 Persuasion We can mention here two similarities with existing work. (1) Akrich, Callon and Latour see innovation very much as an act of Persuasion. They define innovation as ‘the art of interesting an increasing number of allies who will make you stronger and stronger.’ (Akrich, Callon & Latour, 2002a). They see the success of an innovation as being very much linked to the people who take cause for it: ‘(T)he fate of innovation, its content but also its chances of success, rest entirely on the choice of the representatives or spokespersons who will interact, negotiate to give shape to the project and to transform it until a market is built.’ (Akrich, Callon & Latour, 2002b). (2) Persuasion can also be related to another stream of research known as the ‘signalling’ theory. Different agents taking part in a transaction often have different levels of information about the transaction which can lead to ‘adverse selection’. This was highlighted by G. Akerlof (1970) in his articles about used cars: a good quality seller can have difficulty in signalling good quality. Spence (1973) describes signals as ‘activities or attributes of individuals in a market which (...) alter the beliefs of, or convey information to, other individuals in the market’. The signaller tries to ‘create a favourable impression or, more precisely, to affect the [receiver’s] subjective probabilistic beliefs. in the prospect of remuneration from the produce. The labour of invention is often estimated and paid on the very same plan as that of execution. Many manufacturers of ornamental goods have inventors in their employment, who receive wages or salaries for designing patterns, exactly as others do for copying them. All this is strictly part of the labour of production; as the labour of the author of a book is equally a part of its production with that of the printer and binder’ (Mill, 1848). 6 Weak methods demand little or no specific knowledge about the problem. Pure trial and error is one of the weakest methods that can be chosen. It consists simply of picking a solution and trying it. An everyday life example would be trying a full set of keys to see which one opens a door. Hill climbing, another weak method consists of going in the most promising direction and to review progress as you go. Means-end analysis consists in analyzing the gap between the current situation and the goal before starting experimenting. Weak methods rely extensively on experiments as no knowledge is there to guide the search for a solution. Strong methods are procedures or calculations which take you close to the right answer. Strong methods are typically domain dependent. They require an attentive inventor capable of associating the problem with the method. They still require experiments often in limited number but with extensive use of specialised instruments or simulation techniques. In between all sorts of situations exist where more and more domain specific knowledge can be used and less and less experiments are required. Analogy is one method that can help to bridge the gap between the weak and strong methods. An attentive inventor could see similarities between his work and another domain and therefore import some strong methods to help him solve the problem. 33 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 34: C. How the model will be tested using historical evidences The validation of the hypothesis presented above will be carried out by confronting them with historical evidences and facts and, more precisely, by investigating the practices of inventors at different points in time and space. The present dissertation will proceed by studying a diversity of cases throughout history. This approach is well-suited to understanding complex issues. The case will focus on human actions but will require outlining the context of those actions. Yin (1984) defines the case study research method as an empirical enquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context. It is sometimes contended that generalising from a series of case studies can be difficult. To prevent this, a clear and limited set of hypothesis to be tested has been established before proceeding and well informed and fact based sources of information used to build the cases will be preferred to judgemental interpretation of what happened. Furthermore, by adopting an historical perspective it is possible to identify what has endured and what has changed over time, a form of analysis that contributes to bringing to the surface the modalities of human actions before uncertainty. This will require careful investigation of the events, discourses and circumstances that have shaped inventive practices and the actions of inventors. Three groups of evidences throughout three periods and places within the History of inventive activities will be investigated. The three periods have been selected because they are recognised as periods of intensive inventive activities within human history. The rationale behind the selection of each individual inventor or collective arrangement will be introduced at a later stage. The inventors selected here are career inventors who have met success more than once in their inventive practices; this makes the investigation of the practices they use richer and more robust. The collective arrangements selected are ideal types of their time, and for most of them, the first or amongst the first of their kind. This provides an opportunity to see the events, discourses and practices underpinning them at the very specific moment when significant institutional transformations occur. 34 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 35: D/1 The study of the inventive abilities of three ‘career inventors’ for each of the periods studied. This will include Arkwright, Wedgwood and Watt for the late 18th century in Britain: ‘the age of the machines’ (Chapter 1); Bell, Edison and Sperry for the late 19th century in America: ‘the age of the systems’ (Chapter 2); Midgley, Coolidge and Carothers for the early 20th century: ‘the age of predictive science’ (Chapter 3). These inventors are not selected because they are sometimes treated by their hagiographers as iconoclastic genius but because they have achieved success more than once. They are career inventors who brought a diversity of inventions to life. This will therefore require detaching the legend from the basic historical facts, to focus on evidences and not their existing interpretations. D/2 The analysis of the ‘regimes of invention’ and the collective arrangements supporting inventive activities during each of those periods. This will include a network of inventors such as the ‘Lunar Society’ during the late 18th century in Britain (Chapter 1); inventive hierarchies in the railroad industry during the late 19th century in America (Chapter 2) and the soft hand of management (superposition of network and hierarchy) in research laboratories such as in the General Electric research laboratory in America during the early 20th century (Chapter 3). This will reveal the role of the A-E-P triptych within collective actions. We will describe each regime using these three abilities. This will provide an opportunity to connect individual behaviours and collective arrangements. It will also help to understand how the collective arrangements studied can enable and constrain human actions. We will describe different ‘regimes of invention’ in order to compare inventive practices adopted by groups of agents. A regime of invention is a coherent set of inventive practices used by a group of individuals at a particular point in time and in a given situation. It is not the description of what one individual has done but a description of what a group of people has done. It is not a recipe for success but a set of practices. Regimes of invention here are an organised description of the reality that uses the A-E-P triptych to guide the analysis. When appropriate, regimes of invention will be seen as a particular case that embodies the 35 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 36: chief characteristics of a common case, an ideal type 7. An ideal type should not be confused with a general truth, a law that could be applied, for instance, to understand how History unfolds. An ideal type is considered here as an abstract description of a set of practices and their context that can be common to a diversity of situations that resemble each other. Such a ‘regime of invention’ that can represent a diversity of daily practices and situations will therefore be called here: ‘collective arrangement’. In other words by describing regimes of invention we intend to characterize recurring patterns of how individuals can work together to invent. D/3 The investigation of some institutional transformations that have impacted inventive hierarchies during the three periods studied. This includes the widespread passion for Experimentation during the late 18th century (Chapter 1); the transformation of the regimes of invention in the railroad industry during the late 19th century in America (Chapter 2); the rise and limits of fundamental research conducted by the industry during the 20th century (Chapter 3). Such investigation will focus on the contiguity of historical facts during a given period. It will highlight the succession of practices, at the specific cases that were much talked about in order to understand what lead to ‘tipping points’. It will look at the coherence throughout time between what is said and what is done. Some institutional factors will be considered to investigate how the economic history of organisation takes time and history into account. The emergence of new collective arrangements or the passage from one collective arrangement to another will be treated in the present work as an institutional transformation. Here again, the intent is not to look for underlying causes in history but to look at tipping points. We will investigate how, throughout a certain period of time, specific inventive practices have evolved, how they succeeded each other, how they have created new situations, how they have sometimes contradicted their initial intention and therefore left very different practices emerge. 7 Ideal types are often associated with the research work of Max Weber. They are common mental construct in the social sciences derived from observable reality. They are a constructed ideal used to approximate reality by selecting and accentuating certain elements. 36 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 37: Recent History is not studied here. It is first due to a certain caution, historians have not yet distilled their analytical power to comprehend this period. We need a certain distance in time and peace in mind to look at our period in the same way as we will study the other three. Without doubt, the crest of knowledge has progressed, new ideas, new tools, new problems and new practices have emerged but it is safe to assume that they can still be interpreted using the approach developed here. The dissertation will proceed by investigating the three Ages (the ‘Age of the machines’; the ‘Age of the systems’ and the ‘Age of predictive science’) one after the other. The three career inventors, the collective arrangements and the institutional transformation will be examined in this order for each of them. This will lead to the establishment of a table that presents the three abilities along different levels of uncertainty 8 and to another table that present a diversity of collective arrangements supporting inventive activities along the same three levels of uncertainty 9. Further potential development will finally be suggested. 8 9 See infra: ‘Taking Stock and looking ahead’. See infra: ‘Taking Stock and looking ahead’. 37 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 38: Introduction Des millions de transactions économiques s’effectuent tous les jours et, afin d’étudier leurs effets cumulés, il est judicieux de les envisager comme le résultat d’actions rationnelles menées par des individus parfaitement informés. Cependant, la société est également façonnée par le travail d’individus qui, sans pour autant agir de manière irrationnelle, bravent les frontières de la connaissance et défient l’incertitude afin que de nouveaux biens économiques voient le jour. Les individus qui affrontent l’incertitude sont des inventeurs, et les économistes comprennent encore mal leurs pratiques. Etudier la manière dont certains agents tels que les inventeurs agissent face à l’incertitude devrait, par conséquent, nous permettre de dégager le fonctionnement des pratiques économiques modernes, et de mieux comprendre les aptitudes de ces agents et les pratiques auxquelles ils ont recours lorsque l’incertitude prévaut. Cette analyse se propose également de mettre en lumière la manière dont les agents coopèrent pour faire face ensemble à cette incertitude. Cette nouvelle perspective concluera par des suggestions pour mieux comprendre comment les firmes exécutent leur stratégie. Des propositions seront aussi faites pour étudier sous un angle nouveau la manière dont les préférences des agents économiques sont façonnées, et comment des asymétries d’informations sont consciemment créées par les entreprises et les individus impliqués dans des activités inventives. On a souvent décrit l’inventeur comme un homme découvrant des idées par chance, progressant par erreurs, comme un héros ou encore un magicien acclamé par tous. Les économistes ont souvent eu tendance à le considérer comme un élément étranger au système économique. De manière plus prosaïque, on peut concevoir l’inventeur comme un agent contribuant à la création de nouveaux marchés grâce à certaines facultés spécifiques, à savoir l’Attention, l’Expérimentation et la Persuasion, comme nous le démontrerons plus loin. Selon Schumpeter, l’entrepreneur apporte des innovations et de nouvelles combinaisons de facteurs économiques au marché : « Pour les actions qui consistent à faire
Slide 39: preuve d’innovation, nous réservons le terme d’Entreprise; et les individus qui les accomplissent sont appelés Entrepreneurs » (Schumpeter, 1939). Schumpeter fait ainsi la distinction entre la figure de l’inventeur et celle de l’entrepreneur mais reconnaît qu’ils peuvent parfois ne faire qu’un: « L’entrepreneur peut être, mais pas nécessairement, l’inventeur des biens ou des procédés qu’il introduit (sur le marché) » (Schumpeter, 1939). En d’autres termes, l’inventeur crée quelque chose d’utile tandis que l’entrepreneur est celui qui transforme quelque chose d’utile en profits. L’inventeur prend les initiatives nécessaires pour apporter quelque chose de nouveau vers le marché ou à la sphère publique, même s’il n’est pas nécessairement celui qui réalisera la commercialisation ou la diffusion. Depuis les travaux de Schumpeter, les recherches dans le domaine de l’innovation ont largement abandonné l’approche de « l’individualisme méthodologique » pour lui préférer un angle d’étude centré sur les « collectivités sociales ». C’est par exemple le cas des théories du management stratégique et le courant évolutionnistes (Felin & Foss, 2004) qui considèrent dans les ouvrages qui leur sont consacrés les routines (Nelson & Winter, 1982) et les compétences (Teece, Pisano & Shuen, 1997) comme des « faits sociaux » indépendants des actions humaines (Felin & Foss, 2004). En adoptant ici l’approche de l’individualisme méthodologique et en cherchant à comprendre comment les inventeurs agissent face à l’incertitude, certains liens peuvent être établis entre des concepts et des outils d’analyse appartenant à différents courants de pensée économique. Nous présenterons dans cette introduction la forme spécifique d’individualisme méthodologique employée dans cette étude (A/) et proposerons un modèle permettant l’analyse des pratiques inventives (B/). Enfin, nous décrirons certaines difficultés méthodologiques liées au recours à l’Histoire en tant que source de preuves pour valider ce modèle (C/). 39 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 40: A. La notion d’individualisme méthodologique Selon Hodgson (2007), le terme d'individualisme méthodologique a été employé pour la première fois par Schumpeter, qui le définit comme suit: « il faut tout simplement se baser sur l'individu afin de décrire certaines relations économiques 10 ». En effet, Schumpeter s’est inspiré de Max Weber qui, dans son ouvrage « Economie et société », se penche sur les « collectivités sociales » telles que les États, les associations, les entreprises, ou les fondations: « Lors de toute étude sociologique il faut uniquement envisager ces collectivités comme des modes d'organisation résultant des actions d’individus donnés, étant donné que seuls ces derniers peuvent être considérés comme des agents engagés dans des actions compréhensibles subjectivement 11 » (Weber, 1968). Toutefois, l'individualisme méthodologique a depuis lors fait l’objet d'un vif débat entre différentes traditions des sciences sociales. Felin et Foss (2004) ont présenté en ces termes ce débat: « l'individualisme méthodologique dans sa forme la plus pure se fonde sur l'argument ontologique selon lequel seuls les individus sont réels (...). Cette forte forme d'individualisme nie l'existence et l'influence déterminante des collectivités et des institutions et soutient qu'elles doivent être réduites et expliquées en termes d’individus – à savoir de dotations, intentions, désirs, attentes et objectifs individuels (...). En revanche, le collectivisme méthodologique se base sur l'hypothèse voire même l’affirmation de l'indépendance des collectivités par rapport aux individus : les collectivités telles que les organisations et sociétés, et les « faits sociaux » tels que les institutions et la culture servent de variables indépendantes déterminant les comportements et les résultats individuels et collectifs 12 ». Ce débat polarisé a occulté la diversité d’interprétation inhérente à la perspective de l'individualisme méthodologique. Le but de ce travail n'est pas de débattre de l'individualisme méthodologique et de la diversité de ses interprétations, mais de préciser ce que nous entendons par « individualisme méthodologique » lors de notre analyse des activités inventives. Udehn (2001) fait la distinction entre « individualisme méthodologique faible » et « individualisme méthodologique fort ». 10 11 Traduction personnelle. Traduction personnelle. 12 Traduction personnelle. 40 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 41: L’individualisme méthodologique fort implique que toutes les « situations sociales » s’expliquent elles-mêmes à travers la compréhension des actions individuelles. Au contraire, l’individualisme méthodologique faible conçoit l'existence d'institutions et de structures sociales autonomes qui façonnent les comportements individuels. Notre intention est de développer au cours de notre étude une compréhension des pratiques inventives en partant des actions intentionnelles ou non intentionnelles des individus. Nous ne nous restreignons nullement à une perspective purement atomistique des actions humaines dans la mesure ou nous acceptons l’éventualité que l'action de l'homme puisse posséder une dimension sociale irréductible. L'individualisme méthodologique s’emploie ici comme positionnement méthodologique et nous l’adoptons dans sa version « faible » : il s'agit d'un point de départ qui peut contribuer à expliquer ce que nous appellerons les « arrangements collectifs » et les « transformations institutionnelles ». Nous verrons en effet comment les actions individuelles contribuent à la formation d’arrangements collectifs tels que les réseaux d'inventeurs ou les hiérarchies inventives qui favorisent et limitent à la fois les actions humaines. Nous n’insinuerons à aucun moment que tous les phénomènes sociaux doivent ou devraient être réduits à des actions individuelles. En outre, cette interprétation de l'individualisme méthodologique ne peut être assimilée à une hypothèse de choix rationnel. Le présent travail épousera la logique explicitée par Arrow (1994) qui se situe du côté de l'individualisme méthodologique « faible » avec Weber et Hayek. « Dans cette rapide présentation de l'individualisme, j'ai évité le terme de «choix rationnel». Le point de vue individualiste est, en principe, compatible avec la rationalité limitée, les violations des axiomes de rationalité, et les préjugés caractérisant les êtres humains. L'étape supplémentaire que constitue le choix rationnel est, bien sûr, d’une grande importance pratique à l’heure d’élaborer une théorie, mais n'est en principe pas nécessaire pour ce qui est de la perspective individualiste. 13 » 13 Traduction personnelle. 41 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 42: B. Le modèle AEP : Attention, Expérimentation et Persuasion En économie, l'incertitude a été définie par Knight. Selon lui, nous avons quelques connaissances quant à l’avenir, mais elles demeurent très limitées: « Concernant l’avenir, les choses de la vie sont dans un sens superficiel importunément évidentes et relèvent de la pure observation élémentaire. Nous vivons dans un monde de changement et d'incertitude. Nous vivons uniquement en ayant une idée de l'avenir, tandis que les problèmes de la vie, ou de gestion du moins, résultent du fait que nous en savons si peu. Ceci s’applique tant aux entreprises qu’aux autres sphères d'activité. L'essence de la situation est l'action découlant de l'opinion, possédant une valeur ou un fondement plus ou moins important. Il n’existe ni ignorance totale ni information parfaite, mais une connaissance partielle. Si nous voulons comprendre le fonctionnement du système économique, nous devons examiner le sens et l'importance de l'incertitude, et à cette fin, il est nécessaire d’explorer la nature et la fonction de la connaissance elle-même 14 » (Knight, 1921). Il suggère de limiter la notion d'incertitude aux situations où la mesure en termes de probabilité est impossible. En d'autres termes, l'incertitude est de mise lorsque le passé ne nous fournit aucune information sur l'avenir. « Il apparaît qu’une incertitude mesurable, ou un « risque » proprement dit, comme nous l’appellerons, est si différent d’une incertitude non mesurable, qu’elle n’en est en fait pas une du tout. Nous allons par conséquent restreindre le terme d «’incertitude » aux seuls cas où elle n’est pas mesurable. 15» (Knight, 1921). Keynes l’a également souligné dans une phrase célèbre : « Par le terme de connaissance « incertaine », je ne souhaite pas simplement faire la distinction entre ce qui est connu comme certain de ce qui est seulement probable. Le jeu de la roulette n'est pas soumis, en ce sens, à l'incertitude (...). Le sens dans lequel je comprends ce terme est celui dans lequel la perspective d'une guerre européenne est incertaine, ou le prix du cuivre et le taux d'intérêt d’ici vingt ans (...). Pour ces questions, il n'existe aucune base scientifique permettant de calculer une quelconque probabilité. Nous ne savons tout simplement pas 16 » (Keynes, 1937). Plus récemment, les 14 15 Traduction personnelle. Traduction personnelle. 16 Traduction personnelle. 42 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 43: économistes post-keynésiens ont poursuivi leurs recherches sur le concept d'incertitude radicale (Dequesch, 2001). Aujourd'hui, une définition adéquate de l'incertitude ferait la distinction entre incertitude et asymétries d’informations: l'incertitude n'est pas le résultat d'un déséquilibre au niveau de la répartition de l'information entre les agents, mais d’une connaissance partielle et d’une ignorance partagée de ce qui se passera dans l'avenir. Comme nous l’avons indiqué précédemment, nous cherchons ici à comprendre comment les agents agissent individuellement et collectivement face à l'incertitude; nous nous basons sur une catégorie particulière d'agents qui s’attachent à créer quelque chose d'utile et à l’amener sur le marché ou dans la sphère publique : il s’agit de l'inventeur, et plus précisément des inventeurs de carrière dont le parcours témoigne de multiples succès. Ils bravent les frontières de la connaissance et défient l’incertitude afin que de nouveaux biens économiques voient le jour, ce qui ne veut pas pour autant dire qu’ils agissent de façon aléatoire. Ils imaginent ce qui pourrait fonctionner, envisagent différentes options, explorent une ou plusieurs voies, et changent de stratégie quand ils atteignent une impasse. Ils renoncent parfois à des idées et célèbrent d’autres fois leur succès. De même que nous adopterons l'individualisme méthodologique comme point de départ épistémologique, le mot « inventeur » sera utilisé tout au long de ce travail pour se référer à des agents engagés dans des activités inventives et d'innovation au sens large. Il ne se réduit pas uniquement aux « détenteurs de brevets ». Les économistes ont souvent utilisé l’expression d’inventeur dans le sens de « détenteurs de brevets », entérinant de fait l’existence des offices de brevets. Dans ce travail, le terme d’inventeur inclura les individus que la littérature populaire a parfois appelé «inventeurs indépendants», «ingénieurs» ou encore «scientifiques ». Cette terminologie pourra être ponctuellement utilisée en fonction de sa pertinence pour le contexte historique étudié. 43 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 44: Etant donné que les inventeurs ont joué un rôle croissant dans les activités économiques en raison de la division croissante du travail, on peut affirmer qu'ils ont développé et acquis des compétences spécifiques pour faire face à l'incertitude. Le tryptique A-E-P (Attention, Expérimentation, Persuasion) des facultés de l’inventeur (voir figure 1) est présenté ici afin d'améliorer notre compréhension économique des activités humaines quand l'incertitude prévaut. Ce triptyque a été formulé après la lecture préalable de nombreuses biographies d’inventeurs. Ces trois aptitudes présentent Persuasion Attention l’inventeur comme un individu : - Attentif aux informations, connaissances ou idées qui pourraient accroître ses chances de succès, - qui Expérimente afin de créer des informations, des connaissances et des idées nouvelles et utiles - et Persuade les autres (investisseurs et utilisateurs potentiels) de la valeur de son travail. Experimentation Figure 2: Le tryptique A‐E‐P de facultés des inventeurs  Le Modèle proposé est informationnel et prend en compte l'acquisition, la création et la transmission des informations et des connaissances. Ces aptitudes ne sont pas des compétences spécifiques qui peuvent aider à résoudre certains problèmes mais plutôt un ensemble plus vaste de tactiques, stratégies, caractéristiques et situations utilisées par un inventeur pour faire face à certains problèmes et contextes spécifiques. B/1 L’Attention fait référence à l'acquisition d'informations, de connaissances ou d'idées. Elle est comparable à (1) l'importance accordée par Adam Smith (1776) à l'observation, et à (2) la notion de « vigilance » (alertness) proposé par Kirzrner (1997), qui privilégie la 44 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 45: découverte accidentelle par essais et erreurs. On peut également rapprocher cette notion de celle de (3) « reconnaissance d’opportunités » qui admet la possibilité que le processus de recherche soit délibéré (R. Teach, R. Schwartz, et F. Tarpley, 1989); (4), et du concept de « retombées » (spillovers), tout particulièrement lorsqu’il est associé à une théorie de l'entreprenariat qui considère que le savoir créé entraîne des retombées endogènes sur la connaissance, et créé un contexte favorable lui permettant d'être identifié et exploité par des entrepreneurs (Acs, Audretsch, Braunerhjelm et Carlsson, 2006). On peut enfin l’associer (5) à l'idée de « capacité d'absorption » (Cohen et Levinthal, 1990), qui, du point de vue d’une organisation, se réfère à la capacité de reconnaître la valeur de nouvelles connaissances. B/2. L'Expérimentation a été largement étudiée par les philosophes des sciences. Pour les économistes, deux auteurs ou écoles se doivent d’être mentionnés. (1) John Stuart Mill a longuement écrit sur le « travail des cerveaux » et le « travail des mains». Il a fait observer que les inventions sont adoptées puis remplacées par de meilleures. La nature dévoile ses secrets à travers l'Expérimentation et une sélection, une comparaison et une confirmation des faits rigoureuses. (2) Herbert Simon et ses pairs ont classé les méthodes utilisées dans le cadre de la découverte scientifique ou, plus généralement pour la résolution de problèmes, comme « faible » ou « forte » en fonction de la mesure dans laquelle la connaissance préexiste dans les domaines spécifiques de la recherche scientifique en question. B/3. La Persuasion. Nous pouvons citer ici deux similitudes avec d’autres travaux. (1) Akrich, Callon et Latour considèrent largement l’innovation comme un acte de Persuasion. Ils définissent l'innovation comme « l'art d’intéresser un nombre croissant d'alliés qui vous rendront de plus en plus fort 17» (Akrich, Callon et Latour, 2002a). Ils considèrent que le succès rencontré par une innovation est étroitement lié aux personnes qui la soutiennent: «Le sort de l'innovation, son contenu mais également ses chances de succès, repose entièrement sur le choix des représentants ou porte-paroles qui vont interagir et négocier pour donner forme au projet et le transformer jusqu'à ce qu’un marché soit créé » (Akrich, Callon et Latour, 2002b) (2). 17 Traduction personnelle. 45 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 46: On peut également rapprocher la Persuasion d’un autre courant de pensée connu sous le nom de théorie de la « signalisation ». Les différents agents qui prennent part à une transaction disposent souvent de différents niveaux d'informations quant à cette transaction, ce qui peut conduire à «une sélection adverse» ou « antisélection ». G. Akerlof (1970) a souligné cette idée dans ses articles sur les voitures d'occasion: un vendeur possédant des produits de bonne qualité peut avoir des difficultés à « signaler » au public cette bonne qualité. Selon Spence (1973), les « signaux » sont des « activités ou attributs d’individus sur un marché qui (...) modifient les croyances d’autres personnes sur ce marché, ou leur transmet des informations ». Le « signaleur » tente de «créer une impression favorable ou, plus précisément, d'affecter les croyances subjectives et probabilistes [du récepteur] 18». C. De quelle manière le modèle sera testé en utilisant l’Histoire comme source de preuves Les hypothèses présentées ci-dessus seront validées après avoir été confrontées à des preuves et faits historiques et, plus précisément, en étudiant les pratiques des inventeurs à différents points de l’espace et du temps. Nous procéderons à l'étude d’une large gamme de cas à travers l'Histoire. Cette approche est bien adaptée à la résolution de questions complexes. Nous nous concentrerons sur les actions humaines, tout en décrivant le contexte de ces actions. Yin (1984) définit la méthode de recherche procédant par l'étude de cas comme une enquête empirique qui étudie un phénomène contemporain dans son contexte réel. On a parfois avancé qu’il peut être difficile de généraliser à partir d'une série d'études de cas. Pour éviter cet écueil, une série claire et limitée d'hypothèses à tester a été établie avant de procéder à notre analyse. Nous nous référerons à des sources d’informations sûres et basées sur des faits concrets pour construire nos cas, et non à des interprétations biaisées de ce qui s’est produit. 18 Traduction personnelle. 46 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 47: En outre, en adoptant une perspective historique, il est possible d'identifier ce qui a changé ou non au fil du temps, une forme d’analyse qui contribue à révéler les modalités des actions de l'homme dans un contexte d’incertitude. Une étude minutieuse des événements, des discours et des circonstances qui ont façonné les pratiques inventives et les actions des inventeurs est ici requise. Nous étudierons trois groupes de preuves au cours de trois périodes de l'Histoire des activités inventives. Nous avons choisi ces trois périodes car elles ont été reconnues comme des périodes d'intense activité inventive. Nous expliquerons à un stade ultérieur le processus de sélection de chacun des inventeurs et arrangements collectifs. Les inventeurs sélectionnés ici sont des inventeurs de carrière dont le parcours témoigne de multiples succès, ce qui rend l'étude de leurs pratiques inventives plus riche et plus solide. Les arrangements collectifs choisis sont des idéaux-type de leur temps, et pour la plupart, le premier ou parmi les premiers du genre. Nous pourrons ainsi appréhender les événements, les discours et les pratiques qui les sous-tendent au moment précis où d'importantes transformations institutionnelles ont eu lieu. D/1. L'étude des facultés inventives de trois « inventeurs de carrière » pour chacune des périodes étudiées. Il s'agira notamment de Arkwright, Wedgwood et Watt à la fin du 18ème siècle en GrandeBretagne : «l'âge des machines » (Chapitre 1); de Bell, Edison et Sperry à la fin du 19ème siècle aux Etats-Unis: « l'âge des systèmes » (Chapitre 2); et de Midgley, Coolidge et Carothers au début du 20ème siècle: « l'âge de la science prédictive » (Chapitre 3). Nous n’avons pas choisi ces inventeurs parce que leurs hagiographes les ont parfois qualifiés de génies iconoclastes, mais parce leurs activités inventives ont été couronnées de succès plus d'une fois. Ce sont des inventeurs de carrière qui ont donné naissance à des inventions diverses et variées. Il faudra donc s’attacher à dissocier la légende des faits historiques, et se concentrer sur les preuves et non sur leurs diverses interprétations. 47 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 48: D/2. Analyse des « régimes d'invention » et des arrangements collectifs soutenant les activités inventives au cours de chacune de ces périodes. Il s'agira notamment d'un réseau d'inventeurs tel que le « Lunar society » à la fin du 18ème siècle en Grande-Bretagne (Chapitre 1); des hiérarchies inventives en vigueur dans l'industrie du rail à la fin du 19ème siècle aux Etats-Unis (Chapitre 2) et de la « main souple du management » (superposition de réseaux et de hiérarchies) dans les laboratoires de recherche tels que celui de la General Electric aux Etats-Unis au début du 20ème siècle (Chapitre 3). Cette analyse révèlera le rôle du triptyque A-E-P au sein des actions collectives. Nous décrirons chaque régime au moyen de ces trois facultés, ce qui permettra de faire le lien entre comportements individuels et arrangements collectifs, et nous aidera à comprendre comment les arrangements collectifs peuvent favoriser mais également limiter les actions humaines. Nous décrirons différents « régimes d'invention » afin de comparer les pratiques inventives adoptées par des groupes d'agents. Un régime d'invention est un ensemble cohérent de pratiques inventives employées par un groupe d'individus à un point donné dans le temps et dans une situation précise. Il ne s’agit pas de décrire les actions d’un individu mais celles d’un groupe de personnes. Nous ne dégagerons pas une recette du succès, mais un ensemble de pratiques. Les régimes d'invention sont ici une description organisée de la réalité au moyen du triptyque A-E-P qui guide cette analyse. Le cas échéant, les régimes d'invention seront considérés comme des cas particuliers incarnant les principales caractéristiques d'un cas courant, un « idéal type ». Il ne faut pas confondre la notion d’idéal-type avec celle de vérité générale, telle une loi qui pourrait être appliquée, par exemple, pour comprendre comment se déroule l'Histoire. Un idéal-type est une description abstraite d'un ensemble de pratiques et de leur contexte qui pouvant s’appliquer à une diversité de situations similaires. Un tel « régime d'invention » qui 48 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 49: peut représenter une diversité de pratiques et de situations quotidiennes sera donc appelé ici : « arrangement collectif ». En d'autres termes, en décrivant les régimes d’invention nous avons l'intention d’identifier des modèles récurrents décrivant la manière dont les individus travaillent ensemble pour inventer. D/3 Analyse de certaines transformations institutionnelles ayant eu un impact sur les hiérarchies inventives au cours des trois périodes étudiées. Il s’agira, notamment, de la généralisation de la passion populaire pour l'Expérimentation à la fin du 18ème siècle (Chapitre 1), de la transformation des régimes d’invention dans l'industrie du rail à la fin du 19ème siècle aux Etats-Unis (Chapitre 2); et de l’essor de la recherche fondamentale menée par l'industrie au cours du 20ème siècle, ainsi que ses limites (Chapitre 3). Cette étude se penchera sur la continuité des faits historiques au cours d'une période donnée. Elle mettra en lumière la succession de pratiques relatives à des cas spécifiques largement débattus afin de comprendre l’origine des « points de basculement » (tipping points). Nous nous pencherons sur la cohérence dans le temps entre ce qui est dit et ce qui est fait. Certains facteurs institutionnels seront pris en compte afin d’étudier la façon dont l'histoire économique des organisations prend en compte le temps et l’Histoire. L'apparition de nouveaux arrangements collectifs ou le passage d'un arrangement collectif à un autre sera traité dans le présent travail en tant que transformation institutionnelle. Là encore, notre intention n'est pas de rechercher leurs causes historiques sous-jacentes, mais de se pencher sur les « points de basculement » (tipping points). Nous étudierons comment, au cours d’une période de temps donnée, certaines pratiques inventives spécifiques ont évolué, comment elles se sont succédées, comment elles ont créé de nouveaux contextes, comment elles ont parfois été en contradiction avec leur intention initiale et ont donc permis à une large gamme de pratiques de voir le jour. L’Histoire récente ne sera pas prise en compte ici, tout d’abord par prudence, les historiens n’ayant pas encore distillé leur pouvoir analytique pour comprendre cette période. Il est 49 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 50: nécessaire d’avoir un certain recul pour pouvoir se pencher sur notre époque de la même manière que pour les trois autres. La crête de la connaissance a indubitablement progressé, de nouvelles idées, de nouveaux outils, de nouveaux problèmes et de nouvelles pratiques ont vu le jour mais nous espérons que celles-ci pourront toujours être interprétées au moyen de l'approche développée dans notre étude. Notre procéderons à l’étude successive des trois « Ages » (l’ «Age des machines », l' « Age des systèmes » et l’ « Age de la science prédictive»). Les trois inventeurs de carrière, les arrangements collectifs et les transformations institutionnelles seront examinés dans cet ordre pour chacune de ces périodes. Nous établirons ensuite un tableau/taxonomie qui présentera les trois facultés des inventeurs en fonction de différents « degrés » d'incertitude, et un autre tableau qui présentera une large gamme de régimes collectifs soutenant les activités inventives selon ces trois niveaux d'incertitude. D’autres axes de recherche prometteurs seront enfin proposés. 50 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 51: Part 1. Inventing during the late 18th century in Britain Preliminary Chapter - Overview of the late 18th century The high middle age was a period when many inventions were brought to life in different activities such as building, shipbuilding, metallurgy, textile and the military arts. Hydraulic energy was widely used. Human labour started to be replaced by machines, such as the watermill and windmill (Mokyr, 1990). Later on, the population saw bright and dark periods alternating. Periods of economic progress and social stability stimulated demography and inventive activities, periods marked by war, plagues and demographic deficit did not bring as many inventions to life (Gilles, 1978). During the Renaissance, most inventions continued to be the work of craftsmen. Their workshops were a source of inspiration for the people who transformed the practice of sciences and invented the experimental method. In Italy, Galileo used to observe extensively the people working in the arsenal of Venice. In England, Gilbert 19, one of the physicians of Queen Elizabeth I, investigated the properties of lodestones that could move other stones containing iron. During the late 16th century, the French potter Bernard Palissy 20 tried to apply the experimental method to inventive activities in order to make an Italian style enamel (Fayence). The work of the potter involves combining together a number of parameters: the quality of the clay, the pot’s thickness, the melting point, quality and colours of the enamel, the level and consistency of the fire, and the pot position in the kiln. Epstein commented: ‘(i)t is all very well to define the ‘scientific method’ as ‘accurate measurement, controlled experiment, and an insistence on reproducibility’. As Palissy noted, the problem with this ideal, to which in principle he subscribed, was to know what to measure and experiment with’ (Epstein; 2005). Moving from trial and error to more predictable forms of Experimentation was difficult. Many inventors tinkered in their workshop. Some could see the value of a more systematic approach to Experimentation, Gilbert (1544-1603) pioneered research on magnetism. He became the most distinguished man of science in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. 20 Palissy (1509-1590), potter and writer, was a pioneer of the experimental method. 19 51 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 52: like Bernard Palissy. However, they often lacked the required instruments and knowledge to progress in this direction. Prior to the 18th century, technical information circulated slowly, few books were available but it was mainly the circulation of people and goods themselves (Mokyr, 1990) that supported the diffusion of technical information. The first historical period studied in this dissertation investigates inventive activities during the late 18th century in Britain. This period is commonly called the ‘industrial revolution’ even though the validity of the word ‘revolution’ can be questioned (Landes, 1999), as it spreads over 60 years and as the Growth Domestic Product (GDP) per Capita did not progress at a rapid rate. Nevertheless, it was the period when inventive activities, measured by the number of patents filed, started to ramp up (McLeod, 1989). It was a time spearheaded by inventors who started to transform the economic system from a cottage industry towards a factory system. Machinery appeared and replaced human labour, especially in the textile industry. Machine tools spread across industries. Natural energies were slowly replaced by steam power. This period can be described as ‘the age of the machines 21’. The development of machines stimulated the discovery and use of a large diversity of mechanisms and materials that could be re-used and combined together to create new applications. The number of mechanisms available grew rapidly in numbers, quality and precision, as machines became bigger, more robust and more volatile in their applications. Only 70 years separate the flying shuttle (1733) of John Kay 22 from the Trevithick 23 locomotive (1803). Thanks to progress of the machine tools, machines started to construct new machines. All these machines were not a product of science but the result of the curiosity, the entrepreneurial spirit and the technical mastery of inventors. Undoubtedly, this is a restrictive appellation as, for instance, some chemical reactions also started to be mastered. Nevertheless, the machine is probably the most emblematic innovation of this period. 22 John Kay (1704-1764) was an English machinist and engineer, inventor of the flying shuttle, which was an important step toward automatic weaving. Woollen manufacturers in Yorkshire were quick to adopt the new invention, but they organised a protective club to avoid paying Kay a royalty. After he lost most of his money in litigation to protect his patent, Kay moved to France, where he is said to have died in obscurity. 23 Trevithick (1771-1863) was an English mechanical engineer and inventor who successfully harnessed highpressure steam and constructed the world’s first steam railway locomotive. 21 52 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 53: The first chapter studies three career inventors to investigate the role of the AttentivenessExperimentation-Persuasion triptych in the context of the intensification of inventive activities: Arkwright, who was the leading figure of the transformation of the textile industry (Chapter I, Section I), Wedgwood, who brought many changes to the pottery industry (Chapter I, Section II) and Watt, who developed a steam engine that was used for multiple applications (Chapter I, Section III). These inventors were not fully dedicated to inventive activities; they were also entrepreneurs, managers and held other professional occupations. They were attentive to technical and social changes that were happening in Britain and across Europe. They moved beyond trial and error to organise what could be described as ‘organised experiments’. They relied on family, friendship and business relations to advance and promote the result of their inventive work. Arkwright was chosen for his role in the transformation of the textile industry where he seized a number of technical and business opportunities. He combined existing mechanisms to create the water frame and the carding machine, two important inventions that engendered significant productivity increase for the industry. He established some of the first modern factories and contributed to revolutionise working practices in the British cottage industry. Wedgwood was a master experimenter who built his own laboratory, separate from the production line. He was chosen because he understood and served the needs of the rising wealthy class that aspired to more luxurious goods. He created modern showrooms and used his association with the queens and kings of the world to grab their attention. Watt is the emblematic career inventor of the late 18th century. He is most famous for bringing to life a new steam engine that became a commercial success. He pursued many other inventions with success. The development of his steam engine required from him the investigation of natural phenomena through experiments before he could scale up his concept step by step. The second chapter (Chapter II) is dedicated to the study of a collective arrangement that brought together people who shared a common passion for Experimentation, scientific investigations and inventive activities. The role of networks in inventive activities has been 53 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 54: highlighted by a number of scholars over the years. We will suggest here that the A-E-P triptych helps to characterise and explain the role of such networks. A network will be understood as sets of relationships that help individuals face uncertainty. Inventors form networks to share and gather useful information. It will be done by investigating a specific network that was active in the region of Birmingham in England during the late 18th century: the Lunar Society. Wedgwood and Watt were actively involved in this informal group and Arkwright came in contact with some of its members. The third part (Chapter III) investigates an institutional transformation that led to the intensification of inventive activities as measured by the evolution of the number of patents filed. Institutional economics suggest that institutional arrangements can impact the economic evolution of a region, country or group of countries. North (1990) studied, for instance, the structures of incentives related to property rights that encouraged innovation and private entrepreneurships. Experimentation became a passion of people from all walks of life. It was entertaining, educational and it inspired optimism. New sets of norms, incentives, and organisational structures developed. Economic agents developed a preference for occupations and investments that involved pursuing experiments and inventive activities. The widespread interest for balloons and natural phenomena such as electricity will be explored before looking at how Experimentation became a common denominator to many social fields such as art, religion, education and politics. However, before moving to the study of the three career inventors, some elements of context that impacted inventive activities during the late 18th century in Britain need to be presented. Three salient facts are encountered throughout this study: (1) the evolution of the economic practices; (2) the transformation of the textile industry especially in the North of England; (3) the development of societies and networks interested in science, philosophy and political matters. (1) The late 18th century in Britain was a time of intense changes across all social practices. Local markets had already developed and multiplied over the 16th and the 17th centuries. During the late 18th century, new shops opened in towns and local markets saw the development of an intense social life. New professions emerged; the division 54 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 55: of labour was not solely applicable to manufacturing. Courtiers, salesmen, merchants and other agents of commerce developed (Braudel, 1979). However, Britain at that time was still like the rest of the Europe: a rural world where people tended to live all their lives were they were born. Canals and the introduction of new roads modified the transportation system and contributed to the expansion of human exchanges. A middle class of industrialists rose. It was happening at a time when the nature of economic demand was altered and human desires started to shape the functioning of the economic system. Working class did not benefit from those transformations. Child labour was common. Hygiene and safety conditions were poor. Moreover, people had to face rapid changes in the pattern of work. This led to revolts. (2) The textile industry and its transformation at the end of the 18th century in Britain are emblematic of the so-called ‘industrial revolution’ (Toynbee, 1884). In 1760, Manchester had a population of 17, 000 people compared to 500, 000 for London. The cotton industry was barely noticeable at that time, linen and wool were the main raw materials used in textile. The value of exported cotton goods grew from £ 0.2 M in 1754 to £ 5.4 M in 1800. By the 1830’s, cotton represented 20% of British imports, and cotton goods amounted to 50% of the exports. In 1830, Manchester had grown to 180,000 people and, by 1850, it was producing 40% of the world cotton textile production. In the meantime, other traditional textile production areas, such as the regions of Worcester and Norwich, stagnated in terms of population. Cotton goods production grew, as the price of cotton goods fell dramatically. The production of cotton goods in Britain was competitive, even compared to countries like India, where wages were one sixth of the British ones. The cost of manufacturing one pound of cotton yarn in 1784 was equivalent to one week’s wage for an unskilled manual labourer. By 1832, it was equivalent to less than three hours wages. This drastic fall was due to a number of technical innovations that led to the development of a new system of production. At the start of the 17th century, the textile industry was a domestic one. Women spun the yarn on a spinning wheel and men wove it on looms in sheds. It was a human powered industry. The invention of the flying shuttle by John 55 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 56: Kay (1733), the spinning jenny by James Hargreaves 24 (1769), the water frame by Arkwright (1769), the mule by Samuel Crompton 25 (1779) and the power loom, by Edmund Cartwright 26 (1785) automated the production and transformed the industry. Factories replaced the domestic system of production. Water and then steam were used to power the industry. (3) The late 18th century in Britain saw the rise of an increased complexity of urban life, commerce and techniques. At the same time, the transport network was expanding and newspapers multiplied. These trends supported the developments of formal and informal academies, clubs and societies that offered people opportunities to learn (Schofield, 1963). An eloquent observer of his time, Doctor Jonhnson, talked of his contemporaries as ‘clubbable men’. At the beginning of the 18th century, only two formal scientific societies existed in England: the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal Society. The first one was elitist as it only accepted fellows from Oxford and Cambridge and the second one was not interested in practical concerns. The Society of Arts was established in 1754 to promote practical improvements and encourage local arts. The development of industry in some regions of Britain encouraged people to establish their own local clubs and societies. In a city like Birmingham, it meant book clubs and societies, such as the Birmingham Sunday Society that organised lectures on scientific or technical topics like chemistry, physics, optics, electricity, mechanics and astronomy. Lectures on non-technical issues were less common at that time in Birmingham but they included philosophy, morals, and history. Another society was formed in 1796. It was known as the Brotherly Society and included reading, writing, arithmetic, drawing, geography, natural and civil history, and morals on its list of topics. It later became the first mechanics' Institute in Britain. A number of debating societies also existed. They were called the Robin Hood Free Debating Society or the Amicable Debating Society. They addressed philosophical and political questions. James Hargreaves (?-1770) was an English inventor of the spinning jenny, the first practical application of multiple spinning by a machine. 25 Samuel Crompton (1753-1827) wan a British inventor of the spinning mule, which permitted large-scale manufacture of high-quality thread and yarn. 26 Edmund Cartwright (1743-1823) was an English inventor of the first wool-combing machine and of the predecessor of the modern power loom. 24 56 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 57: Chapter 1- Career inventors and the three abilities Section 1. Richard Arkwright Richard Arkwright was born in Preston, England in December 1732. He was a career inventor who dedicated his inventive and entrepreneurial efforts to the textile industry. He developed the water frame, the carding machine and mechanised textile production. He replaced human power by other sources of energy, such as water and steam, and spearheaded the transformation of the cotton industry from small-scale cottage craft to large scale factory production. He developed the factory system with his Cromford Mill by employing hundreds of people in the same place. Richard Arkwright was from a working class family and the youngest of thirteen children. He received a basic education. He was trained as a barber and started as an apprentice in Kirkham. After moving to Bolton, he opened his own barber shop and enjoyed a commercial success. He used to debate mechanical issues with his customers. He had a mechanical clock on the shelves of his shop, he liked to tinker with it. On his trade card, it read: ‘Rich Arkwright – Peruque maker – hair cutter in Bolton, Lancashire – in the neatest and best Fashion’ (Hills, 1973) Arkwright married his first wife, Patience Holt, in 1755. In 1756, she died of unspecified causes. Arkwright later married Margaret Biggins in 1761. By the time he was 30, Richard Arkwright started to buy and sell hair to be used in wigs, a fashionable product of the time. He therefore travelled extensively around the country. He came into possession or invented a secret way of dying hair, which enabled him to sell to other wigs-maker (Guest, 1823). However, as fashion changed and the demand for wigs vanished, he had to find another occupation. 57 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 58: By 1767, a machine for carding cotton had been introduced in England. Arkwright developed the water frame thanks to the help of John Kay, a clockmaker. It was used to spin cotton and was able to do the handwork of spinners. It used rollers to guide the yarn and was run by horse power or water power. It helped the manufacture of hard yarn suitable for weaving. The spinning Jenny invented by James Hargreaves produced the weaker yarns. In 1750, Arkwright was established as a manufacturer. The water frame was improved over the following years. The first water frames were powered by horses, Arkwright established a first water powered mill in 1771, in Cromford. The investment was significant, it amounted to £12,000. It was capable of producing night and day, six days a week, using a shift system. Arkwright also created Masson Mill in 1783. Following a number of subsequent inventions, Arkwright took a second patent in 1775 on the full carding process. By 1780, with his partners, he had set up six mills using the water frame. He expanded his activities throughout the country and in Scotland. His fortune was made. In 1781, he prosecuted competitors for breach of his patents. His second patent was challenged in a trial by manufacturers from the region of Lancashire. He lost the case as his patent lacked accuracy in the description of the invention. In 1782, he estimated his workforce at more than 5,000 people. In 1785, the verdict of the first trial was reversed. Another trial was initiated during which his inventions were challenged by Thomas Highs who claimed the original use of rollers for spinning and the widow of James Hargreaves, another inventor in the textile industry. Arkwright lost it but he had already made a fortune from his own exploitation of his inventions. In 1786, he was knighted by King George III and he was made High Sheriff of Derbyshire. In 1792, he died of asthma at the age of 60. This chapter will start by looking at how Arkwright, by listening to the people he met throughout his travels and as part of his business activities, became an attentive inventor and entrepreneur (A/ Attentiveness: listening to people). Arkwright was a perceptive entrepreneur who recognised the business opportunities he encountered. He was also a conscientious inventor who capitalised on existing discoveries to create his own machines. 58 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 59: Arkwright appears as a talented mechanic capable of experimenting using an arduous tinkering process. Arkwright was able to get the different part of his machines to work together. Individually, none of them was an innovation but, together, they changed the face of the textile industry (B/ Experimentation: tinkering for success). To conclude, Arkwright will appear as a restless persuader. He convinced investors to trust him, lobbied the government with success and developed a loyal workforce during troubled times. He used his glibness to self-fashion himself and seek public recognition (C/ Persuasion: glibness and self fashioning). A. Attentiveness: listening to people Richard Arkwright was someone attentive to the rumours, discussions and issues that surrounded mechanical developments in the textile industry. Being an astute entrepreneur, he was also very alert to business opportunities. Industrial secrets did not remain secrets for long at that time and Richard Arkwright was able to recognise a promising idea when he heard about or saw one. Many hypothesis and stories have circulated about Richard Arkwright’s initial interest in spinning (Fitton, 1989). One hypothesis was that he studied Lombe’s silk mill 27. A different proposition suggested that he accidentally purchased a spinning jenny. Less credible stories said that his interest rose when working on perpetual motion or that he heard in his barber shop a sailor talking about an incredible Chinese machine. In his barber shop, he often engaged in conversations about mechanical issues. He heard weavers complaining about the lack of yarn and many stories about recent inventions in spinning. It was a common topic of discussion at that time, as it was difficult for the spinners to fulfil the demand (Hills, 1973). As he travelled around the country for his wig business, he met many people in markets and inns, with whom he talked about the current mechanical Lombe is often refered to as an ‘industrial spy’. He discovered the silk throwing machine in Italy before building his mill in Britain. 27 59 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 60: developments. It is apparent from the hearings of his second trial in connection with his patents. During his travels, he met Kay, a clockmaker from Warrington, who told him that he had made a model of a spinning machine for Thomas Highs, a reed maker from Leigh. Highs, with the help of Kay, had tried to build a spinning machine. They faced months of failed attempts. Highs, nevertheless, went back to his garret and succeeded in building a spinning jenny in 1764. Later, he again used the skills of Kay and they worked together on a machine for spinning cottons that used rollers. Highs made significant progress in that direction but he did not manage to refine the process. The first encounter between Arkwright and Kay occurred in 1767. They worked together again in Warrington, when Kay had returned there. Arkwright asked him to make a wooden model of this machine. It was the first step that led to the development of the water frame. Later, his choice of the region of Nottingham to settle his business shows that he had understood that manufacturers in this region were dependent on the yarn manufacturers from Lancashire. He saw this as a market opportunity. He also certainly realised that many skilled mechanics were available in this region, of whom he could make good use. His interest for different sources of energy is very indicative of his Attentiveness to technical matters. The use of water power might have been an obvious solution to the limitation that Arkwright met with his first water frames powered by horses. In many places at that time, investments were made with the aim of exploiting the energy of running water. At the beginning of the 18th century, it was used in silk mills by entrepreneurs like Lombe. One of the partners of Arkwright, Strutt, was certainly well aware of this as his business included the manufacture of silk in Derby. The chronology of the use of Newcomen28 and Watt engines with separate condensers in the cotton industry somehow lacks clarity. It appears that the first Boulton and Watt steam engine used in a cotton mill was operational at Papplewick by the Robinsons in 1786 (Fitton, 1989). However, Arkwright tried to install and Thomas Newcomen (1663-1729) was a British engineer and inventor of the atmospheric steam engine. The first Newcomen engine was erected in Staffordshire in 1712. Newcomen’s engine was used in the draining of mines and in raising water to power waterwheels. 28 60 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 61: use a Newcomen engine that could provide rotary power as early as 1782. By October 1783, he abandoned his efforts as they were proving unsuccessful. He ended up using the engine to replenish the reservoir by pumping back water that had passed the watershed. Throughout his legal cases, Arkwright showed that he knew how to pay attention to the slightest details. The second patent of Arkwright was first challenged on the basis that the description of his invention was incomplete and obscure. Having lost his rights, Arkwright fought back by running a systematic search for evidence to support his position. He and his partners made enquiries about previous inventors, like Kay and Hargreaves. They started to consult many people: attorneys, a prominent draughtsman master of an academy, natural philosophers, such as Erasmus Darwin 29 and Samuel More, inventors and mechanics, such as Watt and Wilkinson 30, manufacturers and also Members of Parliament. All those efforts paid off and Arkwright’s patent was re-instated. The development of the factory system was not just the achievement of an inspired entrepreneur. To develop a work place with over 1,000 people, close attention to the problems that emerged was fundamental. Fitton (1989) described Arkwright as follows: ‘(A)lthough Arkwright’s career confirms the superiority of his instinct in business over rules, his was an instinct supported by unremitting toil and a meticulous attention to details extending from the highest policy decision to the personal supervision of the mills room’. The transformation of the cottage industry and the development of factories worked to the disadvantage of workers who saw their work disappearing. It led to a number of revolts. Richard Arkwright understood that such revolts had a disastrous impact on the fortune of inventors. Therefore, he installed his mills in areas where such revolts were less likely to happen and implemented working conditions that were above the traditional standards of the time, to install a positive attitude from his workforce. He also ensured that he could rapidly improvise an army of 6,000 men, 1,000 guns and cannons if rioters approached his mills. Indeed, he was never threatened by these movements. Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) was a prominent English physician, grandfather of the naturalist Charles Darwin and the biologist Francis Galton. 30 John Wilkinson (1728-1808) was a British industrialist known as ‘the great Staffordshire ironmaster’ who found new applications for iron and who devised a boring machine essential to the success of James Watt’s steam engine. 29 61 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 62: B. Experimentation: tinkering for success Experimentation, in the case of the water frame, the first machine patented by Arkwright, meant tinkering and trying to bring all the pieces to work properly together. As mentioned, Arkwright asked John Kay to make a model of the machine he and Thomas High worked on. This machine used rollers to draw out the fibres of cotton. The model of Kay was a working prototype. It allowed playing and experimenting with the basic principles of the machine. However, the development required the construction of a full scale machine that Arkwright could then fine tune. Arkwright’s inventions were performed with the help of smiths, clockmakers and frame-makers. There are very limited accounts of the invention of the water frame (Hills, 1980). However the trials where the rights of Arkwright were challenged provide interesting information that can help to reconstruct the nature of the experiments he performed. The challenge in court was motivated by an alleged absence of innovation which could lead to a misunderstanding of the technical achievements of Arkwright. By looking at the originality of each separate elements of his invention, Arkwright might appear as someone who assembled together sets of existing discoveries, without bringing anything new. This is misleading as getting the whole system to work together is usually the most challenging exercise in the development of a machine. During the trial, the ten parts that appeared in the patent were examined. Five of them were useless and they were presented as ‘mischievous’ (Fitton, 1989). It included the beating hammer, which could have served to beat hemp but was useless for cotton. The role of the feeder was debated, as it was proved that such feeders had been used prior to Arkwright’s invention. The crank 31 that served to take the carded cotton into continuous sheet was also presented as being a device that had been used previously. The widow of Hargreaves testified that her husband had used such a crank and that it had been developed in 1772, in collaboration with George Whitaker, a smith and frame maker. The fillet cards 31 In mechanics, important motion-transmitting device. It converts linear to rotary motion, and vice versa. 62 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 63: enabled the cylinder to give off the cotton in a continuous fleece. Robert Pilkington testified that he made one with Richard Livesay in 1770 and that it had been used in the presence of Arkwright prior to his invention. The revolving can was said to have been used as early as 1759. It also appeared that two former workmen of Arkwright had made one for Neddy Holt in 1774. Thomas Highs and John Kay also testified. Critical aspects of the two patents of Arkwright were at stake. Highs affirmed that he had made rollers himself in 1767 and that, in 1769, he had designed one similar to the one currently used by Arkwright. Highs mentioned a conversation he had with Arkwright in 1771 during which he had mentioned the model made for him by Kay. It was confirmed by Kay that use of rollers in such circumstances was an idea of Highs. Mr. Serjeant Adair, who was in charge of the defence of Arkwright, said that ‘the more important part of the mechanical powers have been discovered, rather than invented, many centuries ago, many thousands years ago (…) this is a new invention in a machine, which consists of a new combination of old parts’ (Fitton, 1989). Adair advanced the idea that the one who brings an invention to a certain degree of maturity is the one who is entitled to a patent. This confirms that Arkwright was as an attentive inventor who was able to see how previous ideas, improvements and inventions could be brought together to form a new machine. As mentioned before, looking at each piece one by one is misleading. The originality of Arkwright’s machine compared to existing ones rested in the correct spacing of the rollers and their weighting (Hill, 1973; Fitton, 1989). Arkwright recognised the importance of the distance between the pairs of rollers to avoid gripping both ends of the same cotton fibre, if they were too close and gripping any cotton fibres at all or if they were too far apart. He also weighted the top rollers so that they pressed firmly against the lower counterparts to help hold the fibres tightly in the nip of the rollers. Finding the right distance and the right weight required trial and error guided by some simple measurement distance in the first case and weight in the second. This fine tuning of the water frame is not the only proof that Arkrwright was a talented mechanics who could turn experiments into achievements. In order to bring the carding machine to life, Arkwright improved, one after the other, the different steps of the spinning and carding process. As Fisk (1998) commented on the achievement of Arkwright: ‘the whole 63 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 64: process of yarn manufacture, including carding, drawing, rolling and spinning, was now performed by a beautifully arranged succession of operations on one machine.’ The improvement to the spinning process turned the carding process into a bottleneck. The mechanisation of one part of the process made the mechanisation of the other part necessary. One thing of great importance was the possibility to improve on each steps independently and, then, to connect them together. Bradshaw 32 (2005) alleged that dividing a problem in different parts allows conducting easier and cheaper experiments. It limits the number of parameters to be controlled and ease the interpretation of the outcome of experiments. In the case of Arkwright, the different steps of the process were ‘naturally’ separated and the connections and interfaces were basic. Therefore, it was possible for Arkwright to experiment and improve on each of them separately and, then, bring all of them together. Today, such developments appear as being simple mechanical issues. However, they were great challenges at that time. According to Hill (1973), as Arkwright was facing his trials, he claimed that ‘(M)any years intense study and painful application, and after a great variety of experiments’ were needed to invent his machine. C. Persuasion: self-fashioning and glibness Richard Arkwright had a strong sense of how to best fashion himself. He claimed for instance: ‘I can plainly prove, on the best of all authorities, that Noah was the founder of our family, for he was undoubtedly the first Arkwright in the world’ (Fitton, 1989°) 33. Richard Arkwright’s ability to persuade others to support him was demonstrated by his ability to mobilise capital for his ambitious plans. He first persuaded two merchants, who were distant relatives of his from Preston and Liverpool, John Smalley and David Thornley. The family bond helped him to convince them to enter into this risky venture. The partnership later included Need and Strut who had many connections in the textile industry. Bradshaw studied the development of rockets by young people in the late 1950’s. He analysed the strategy and tactics they used to experiment. He also studied the work of the Wright brother and suggested that functional decomposition allowed them to meet success before their competitors. 33 Arkwright means the ‘builder of arks’ in old English. 32 64 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 65: Need was a wealthy hosier in Nottingham. The other one, Strutt, was established in the hosiery trade in Derby. They had made a significant profit together out of a patent on the Derby rib machine and they were looking forward to exploiting new opportunities. Their personal experience as inventors and entrepreneurs certainly helped Arkwright to persuade them to support him 34. Arkwright and his partners needed to persuade the government to change the law. Early in the century, finished fabrics such as calicoes faced double excise duties and printed calicoes were almost completely prohibited. In February 1774, Arkwright and his partners petitioned the Parliament. Not accustomed to this exercise, they had to be patient. In May and June, their petition was heard again and it was turned into a law without amendments. Arkwright suggested that each piece of cloth made in Britain with cotton should be marked with three blue threads at both ends of the piece. This would help to distinguish them from imported ones. It was decided by the board of excise to add a stamp ‘British Manufactory’ to the proposition of Arkwright. Arkwright was somehow more successful than other inventors in the textile industry in making money out of his patent, until it was challenged before the court. He certainly took seriously the patenting process. However, he did not manage to enforce what he considered to be his rights. His fortune was made from exploiting his own invention. After the first challenge of his patent on the basis of the obscurity of the description of his invention, he led a systematic effort to collect evidence that his patent should be considered valid. To persuade his opponents, he said that he had kept the patent obscure to prevent his invention to fall into the hands of foreigners. As we already outlined, he also secured the support of natural philosophers, such as Erasmus Darwin or Samuel More who was the Secretary of the Society of Arts. They could make a favourable impression during the trial. The story of Arkwright is interestingly fully aligned with recent research on the funding of innovative ventures. Information from the Global Enterprise Monitor has shown that informal sources of finance are larger than formal ones (Mason, 2006). Informal sources comprise family money, sometimes called ‘love money’ and individuals outside of the family called ‘business angels’. ‘Business angels’ are, or were often, successful entrepreneurs. The importance of an informal source of finance shows that entrepreneurs get significant support from the people who are ‘the easiest ones to convince’: their family and people who resemble and understand them the most. 34 65 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 66: Somehow contradicting himself, he found experienced and admired inventors who could testify that they could have built the machine based on his description. Five witnesses also testified that they had been able to build the machine based on the specifications. This approach turned out to be a successful Persuasion tactic. After Arkwright lost his rights on the carding machine on the basis that it was not a new invention, Wedgwood visited him. Following their encounter, he pleaded for both Arkwright and Watt to work together on making some proposals to improve the patent system (Fitton, 1989): ‘you two great geniuses may probably strike out some new lights together, which neither of you might think of separately.’ They, therefore, drew up the ‘Heads of a Bill’. Even though it was not taken forward in the end, it is interesting to note the way inventors could decide to use their powers of Persuasion not just to support their activities, but also to influence the institutional rules and laws. As mentioned before, Arkwright took good care of his employees in comparison to other industrialists of the time. It allowed him to secure their loyalty, but also to prevent the development of riots. He built rows of cottages for his workforce. He established a school for children and banned child labour before the age of ten. No work was carried out on Sundays to allow attendance at the churches and chapels built for the workers. Loans were available for their families to buy a cow. Clearly, Arkwright fashioned himself amongst his employees. Once a year, he held a festival. In 1776, 500 workmen paraded around the village. Upon their return, they received ale and buns, followed by a ball in the evening. In 1778, a song praising Arkwright was composed and sung at the festival. It finished with: ‘To our noble Master, a Bumper then fill, The matchless Inventor of the Cotton-Mill, Each toss off his Glass with a hearty Good-Will, With Huzza for the mills now at Cromford, All join with a jovial Huzza.’ 66 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 67: In 1781, Syllas Neville, a medical doctor, commented that Arkwright ‘by his conduct, appears to be a man of great understanding and to know the way of making his people do their best. He not only distributes pecuniary rewards, but gives distinguishing dresses to the most deserving of both sexes, which excites great emulation. He also gives two Balls at the Greyhound to the workmen and their wives and families with a week’s jubilee at the time of each ball. This makes them industrious and sober all the rest of the year’ (Hills, 1973). 67 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 68: Section II. Josiah Wedgwood If Arkwright brought some lasting changes to the textile industry, Josiah Wedgwood (17301789) led the transformation of the pottery industry. A visitor to the region of Burslem in England reported that: ‘Innovation is running mad’ (Dolan, 2004). He could see a mix of cooperation and competition between the local producers. New companies were appearing through a burst of innovation. A spirit of open collaboration reigned in the region, even if some tried to develop their invention within the secrecy of their laboratories. During the first half of the 18th century, the pottery industry traditionally produced jugs, porringers, baking dishes made of black or red ware. Cream coloured earthenware was available during the mid 1740’s. Artisans mixed chemicals and monitored the temperature of the kilns. They were backed up by throwers, modellers and packers. Fragile pottery was very much at risks when travelling by road. Their market was essentially local. The extraction of raw materials was done in mills powered by water or wind. Those natural sources of power acted as a constraint on the development of the industry. Having the mill close to the kiln offered some advantage, as the artisans could oversee the mix of raw materials (Roberts, 2001). This situation changed as, during the second half of the 18th century, a middle class developed. These people were living longer and had new needs. They were seeking comfort and were eager to demonstrate their new social status. The career inventor who answered those needs and was at the forefront of this transformation was Josiah Wedgwood. Wedgwood was born in 1730 in Burslem and was raised within a family of English dissenters 35. A vein of clay had made this town a centre of production for bricks, tiles, teapots and other products. Potters from Burslem served the whole country. They used kilns in the shape of a cone. In the 1680’s, Robert Plot had described this town in his history of Staffordshire: ‘the greatest pottery they have in this county is carried on in Burslem, where for making their several sorts of pots they have as many different sorts of clay which they dig round Any English Protestant who does not conform to the doctrines or practices of the established Church of England. 35 68 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 69: about the town’ (Dolan, 2004). This area of North Staffordshire contained rare deposits of clay. However, the potters of Burslem did not make much money before the generation of Wedgwood because of a lack of entrepreneurship spirit and widely-spread alcoholism that had brought poverty. Wedgwood was from a poor family and lost his father when he was nine years old. He attended school at the age of seven in Newcastle-under-Lyme but was rapidly sent to work with his elder brother Thomas. He had to become an apprentice in 1744 with his brother from which, due to special arrangements, he did not receive any money. The same year, he also suffered smallpox which left him with an injured leg. His apprenticeship came to an end in 1749. He, then, worked for Thomas Alder, a potter from whom he continued to learn the trade. He went into partnership between 1754 and 1759 with a master potter, Thomas Whieldon. Whieldon had developed the tortoiseshell ware that raised much interest across the country. In 1759, Wedgwood discovered a new green glaze that had the best effect. As Whieldon was losing interest in his business, Wedgwood turned to his cousins to secure support in order to start his own pot-works. He started at the Ivy House works where he produced green glaze and later a yellow-orange one. The shapes he produced were cauliflower, pineapple and melon allowing for defects to be somehow hidden in such odd shapes. He started to sell cream coloured earthenware in 1761. He had an accident on his way to Liverpool in 1762 and, during his recovery, he met Matthew Turner, a local doctor and Thomas Bentley, an aristocrat who had both a great scientific curiosity and a knack for political issues. They brought Wedgwood into contact with a diversity of people at the forefront of ideas and concerns of the time, while offering him business opportunities. He became a close friend and a business partner of Bentley. Bentley organised foreign trade for Wedgwood, lived for some time with him and ended up representing their common interests in London. The abundant correspondence between the two gives a good account of the life of Josiah Wedgwood. 69 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 70: In 1764, Wedgwood moved to a new factory: the ‘Brick house’ or ‘Bell Works’. By that time, he was married to Sally Wedgwood, a distant cousin who supported him throughout their life in his inventive and business activities. In the summer of 1765, he sold cream coloured earthenware to Queen Charlotte. This was an important landmark in his business activity as, at that time, the royalty set the fashions and the aristocrats followed. He created a line of pottery for them called ‘Queensware’. In 1768, he developed another glaze, the black Basalt, and opened a third showroom in London. His work was now very much in fashion with the rising wealthy class of England. By 1768, he led the pottery industry in the world, selling all over North America and Europe Wedgwood realised the importance of canal transport. In 1766, he joined the Duke of Bridgewater 36 and James Brindley 37 and played an important role in the construction of Trent & Mersey Canal. In 1769, he and Bentley opened a new factory: ‘Etruria’. It was outside of the town, with good working conditions compared to the ones in Burslem. The canal ran in front of the factory. The canal contributed to reducing the costs for clay and served to deliver the finished pottery avoiding the breakages encountered on the roads. The factory had 278 workers in 1790 who worked according to a thorough division of labour. The blue and white colour called ‘jasper’ was developed in 1775. Wedgwood became a Unitarian and, like most of them, he was a political reformer. He supported universal male suffrage and took a position against slavery. Bentley died in 1780. In 1789, Wedgwood created the Portland vase, a replica of a blue and white glass vase dating back to the first century BC. It is still regarded as one of his masterpieces. He died that same year. His grandson was Charles Darwin. This chapter will start by looking at how Josiah Wedgwood learned from history and how he paid attention to aspirations of the aristocrats to serve them (A/ Attentiveness: The Duke of Bridgewater (1739-1803) is considered as the founder of British inland navigation, The Bridgewater canal was built from his estates at Worsley, where he owned mines, to the city of Manchester. 37 James Brindley (1716-1772), pioneer and canal builder, constructed the English canals of major economic importance. After the Bridgewater canal, he led the developments of the Grand Trunk Canal. 36 70 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 71: learning from history and scouting in London). By paying attention to the recent local history of his industry, he was able to take some valuable lessons for the conduct of his own affairs (1). He developed friendships which helped him to keep abreast of recent developments in terms of the market needs and technical developments. Wedgwood also enjoyed scouting for new ideas in the streets and salons of London (2). Wedgwood was a disciplined and tireless experimenter (B/ Experimentation: Wedgwood’s modern laboratory). He established a laboratory in his kitchen outside of the production line where he could pursue long series of experiments that helped him to bring innovative products to the market. To conclude, it will show how Wedgwood developed a loyal clientele amongst the rising wealthy class of aristocrats. (C/ Persuasion: Royal Patronage). The patronage of Wedgwood’s product by royal figures and his innovative sales and promotion techniques show that Wedgwood was an astute businessman who pioneered some business practices that are still used today. A. Attentiveness: learning from History and scouting in London 1. Learning from history Wedgwood was able to learn from the past and the local history of the pottery industry. His two cousins, Long John and Thomas, were renowned potters. He talked to experienced potters to understand the source of their success. He discovered how the white glazed ware was discovered and diffused within the industry. This story impressed the young Wedgwood and he learned lessons from them. The white glazed ware had been brought to Burslem in 1698 by two Dutchmen: John Philip and David Elers. They had moved to London two decades before, at the time when the British started to adopt tea. The drink was favoured by ladies who started to meet in tea shops. There, they admired the rose-coloured tea pots imported from China. The brothers were amused by this, as, in their country, a manufacturer had already started to produce copies of the pots for some time. They saw a business opportunity and decided to 71 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 72: investigate some improved ways of manufacturing teapots, which led them to Dwight, a lawyer associated with the Royal Society. Dwight claimed that he had discovered ‘the mysteries of the stone ware’ and he had taken two patents on the production of ‘an opacious red and dark-coloured porcelain’ in imitation of the Chinese pots’ (Dolan, 2004). The two brothers listened to Dwight at a meeting at the Royal Society during which he explained his chemical experiments and his investigations of various types of clays. The Elers brothers moved to North Staffordshire and rented a pot-work in 1698 close to Burslem. After some efforts conducted with the utmost secrecy and isolation, they succeeded in manufacturing mat-red coloured teapots through the addition of salt to the glaze. The accomplishments of the brothers were reported in the journal of the Royal Society. Dwight became infuriated, as he was certain that they had used his own discoveries and he filed a lawsuit against them. However, it was too late as the secret had started to slip into other hands, including the ones of Josiah Wedgwood’s family. Dolan (2004) commented on the lessons that the young Josiah Wedgwood learned from this episode of the history of pottery to which he paid the highest attention: ‘Josiah found much that was instructive in the potters’ tale’. He saw how a potter could benefit most from learning skills beyond those traditionally associated with a craft. The ‘art and mystery’ of experimental chemistry, for instance, could produce remarkable results: trying to understand the secrets of nature could reveal how melting salt under certain conditions could form a special glaze or how grinding particular minerals could affect the colour of the finished piece. Wedgwood learned that new techniques had been introduced to Burslem through the Dutchmen because they had been anxious to harness a burgeoning London market. He also saw how through espionage, rivalling that of the Elers brothers, his cousins had profited from the stealing of secrets. All his life, Wedgwood preferred secrecy to patent in order to keep ahead of the competition, as he was attentive to what had occurred in his industry, he took such informed decisions in order to steer his progress through a period of intense innovation. Throughout his life, Wedgwood met with people who remained his friends and who played an important role in bringing novelties to his attention, such as Bentley, Turner and 72 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 73: Priestley. Meeting Matthew Turner and Thomas Bentley 38 had a profound impact on the life and work of Josiah Wedgwood. Wedgwood developed these acquaintances after he fell from his horse. His convalescence had to take place in Liverpool under the supervision of Matthew Turner, a local surgeon. As he and Turner discussed about the location where the potter fell, the surgeon said that he was giving lessons of chemistry nearby at the Warrington Academy, an institution dedicated to the ‘education of dissenters and young laymen’ (Dolan, 2004). Talks about the injured leg stopped and was replaced by inquiries into the activities of this academy and, more specifically, on the ones related to the teaching of chemistry and to the education of people. Matthew Turner then introduced Josiah Wedgwood to Thomas Bentley, an aristocrat who became his business partner, and Joseph Priestley who became a famous chemist and a friend of Wedgwood. Inspired by their conversations, Wedgwood initiated some new experiments and had plans for new ones even before his convalescence was over (Dolan, 2004). Upon his return to Burslem, Wedgwood entered into correspondence with both Turner and Bentley. His correspondence with Bentley turned to be a lifelong one 39. The friendship and business acquaintances of Wedgwood brought him much more than moral support, they brought to him the most advance knowledge, discoveries and ideas of the time. This will be further illustrated with the study, in the second chapter, of the Lunar Society. 2. Scouting for ideas in London For Wedgwood, his visits to London were an occasion to scout for ideas. His first visit to London took place in 1764. It was to help with the petition to the Parliament in order to build a new road. It was also an opportunity to see how fashion was developing, what sold and what did not. Wedgwood could see emerging trends and new shapes that could be imitated. During another visit, after the Queen of England gave him his patronage, he was walking in Pall Mall and noticed what he called ‘large shoals of ladies’ seeking fashionable entertainment. A new concept of showroom emerged in his mind from observing this scene Turner and Wedgwood could have met in different circumstances as they had acquaintance in common, such as the Reverend Willets (Dolan, 2004). 39 He wrote to him: ‘at other time I may call upon you for assistance to settle an opinion – or to help me form a probable conjecture of things beyond our ken and sometimes I may want that valuable and most difficult office of friendship, reproof’ (Dolan, 2004). 38 73 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 74: and from the discussions he had with aristocrats who visited his factory. He also took the opportunity of his visits in London to find new employees and to engage with craftsmen: enamellers, carvers, etc. During his search for new premises to exhibit his work in London, Wedgwood met a couple, the Halmintons, who had a passion for antiques. This was a rising interest amongst wealthy aristocrats, who loved to tour Europe. The Halmintons were at the forefront of such a group of people who were referred to as the ‘Virtuosi’. These encounters happened after the archaeological sites of Herculaneum and Pompeii were discovered; it provoked the curiosity of Wedgwood. To enhance his knowledge about this kind of art, Wedgwood followed the advice from his friend Bentley and visited the British Museum and toured book stores. He also met relatives of the Halmintons: the Cathcart, a couple passionate about Etruscan antiques that would later play an important role in furthering the reputation of Wedgwood, as they bought a service for the Empress of Russia, Catherine the Great, when they became ambassadors in Russia. Etruscan antiques became a source of inspiration for Wedgwood who now understood the appeal of the rich city-dwellers for such things. This led him to name his factory Etruria and to create the Portland vase. If Josiah Wedgwood was attentive to the latest trends in fashion, he was also alert to more technical opportunities. He, for instance, bought clay from merchants coming from South Carolina. He noticed that its quality was unusual as it was whiter than most clay and remained as such even after being fired at high temperature. He consulted his friends who had a good knowledge of chemistry, Joseph Priestley and James Watt, who assured him that it lacked ‘phlogiston’ a substance which allowed other substances to burn. Josiah Wedgwood asked Bentley to import such clay and they sent someone to America to oversee the provision of Cherokee clay. Wedgwood was always keen to adopt new techniques and he managed to keep an eye on promising developments. For instance, he bought a book published in Paris ‘L’art de tourner’ which brought to his attention potential improvements to his operations. In 1763, he therefore introduced an engine turning lathe that was acquired thanks to the help of some of his friends. He later made some significant modifications to it in order to use it to its full 74 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 75: potential (Roberts, 2001). He recognised that the Elers brothers were the first to introduce a lathe for pottery work but he claimed to be the first to introduce eccentric motion lathes. In 1775, Wedgwood and Turner travelled to Cornwall where they saw the Newcomen engines in actions in the tin mines. Upon their return, Wedgwood bought a book describing those machines and Turner bought a Newcomen engine. Wedgwood experimented with a horizontal windmill together with Erasmus Darwin, but it was later abandoned in favour of a steam engine. Indeed, Wedgwood bought engines from Boulton and Watt, in 1782 and 1784. These were the first two engines of this kind installed in Staffordshire (Roberts, 2001). They were used to grind flint and enamel, to operate a stamper or a crusher for saggars and to temper mix clays. This eased the preparatory work within the factory and supported mechanisation. The curiosity of Wedgwood helped him extensively to further his business activities. It also helped him to achieve technical prowess as it infused in him a passion for experimental investigations. B. Experimentation: Wedgwood’s experimental laboratory Even though he received a very basic education, Wedgwood turned into a skilled experimenter. Experimentation was more than a means to an end in the conduct of his affairs, it became a way of life for him. As part of his pottery work, Wedgwood turned his kitchen into a laboratory. Experimentation costs could therefore be significantly reduced by having research taking place outside of the production flow. He developed a systematic and coded way of recording his experiments in a notebook. He adopted a trial and error approach but a systematic one, where he changed parameters little by little. Later in his life, he developed a method to measure high temperatures, which brought further precision to his experimental work. 75 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 76: In 1744, after Wedgwood had contracted smallpox and recovered from it, his leg remained damaged. The work of the potter required the use of two legs: one to anchor the body, the other to operate the kick-wheel. It encouraged him to experiment with other parts of the work relating to preparing clay, forming pieces and firing. In 1768, he decided that his leg should be amputated, a daring decision as no anaesthetic existed. Before Josiah, Long John, his cousin, had started to experiment with new approaches to pottery making. In a book named ‘Essay on Pottery’ written in 1743, he explained that ‘(P)otmaking chiefly depends on a knowledge of ye nature of Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Clays, Marls, and some Stones, and some Minerals’. He went on ‘to try which proportion of each sort will work kindly together, Limestone, Alabaster and ye nature of them maybe tryd by several Experiments in mixing with others, Chalks, red Earth, and other Coloured Earth fullers may be considered’ (Dolan, 2004). He also emphasised the importance of keeping records into such a pursuit. The art of the potter can be best described as leaving mixtures of clay in the kiln for the right time at the right temperature. New combinations could give a competitive edge to the potter, as Wedgwood had learned from the story of the Elers brothers and of his cousins. But experimenting remained expensive. He transformed his kitchen into a laboratory. He started a notebook and wrote ‘Experiment Notebook I’ on the front of it. He had decided to pursue long experimental investigations in order to find winning combinations. He started mixing different proportions of chemicals and applied the resulting glaze to samples of earthenware subsequently heated in an oven. He proceeded systematically, changing the proportions of ingredients little by little. He took notes on each experiment with the greatest minutiae. The type of experiments conducted by Wedgwood can be assimilated to a trial and error approach. However, he started what could be described as ‘a laboratory for inventive activities’ where he could pursue his research outside of the classic production flow. It reduced costs and prevented jeopardizing the optimisation of the production process. However, one factor that still affected the experiments of Josiah Wedgwood was the lack of purity of the basic ingredients, such as clay. On 23 March 1759, experiment 7 led him to write: ‘(T)his is the result of many experiments, which I made in order to introduce a new species of colour’d ware to be fired along the tortoiseshell 76 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 77: and Agat ware in our common Gloss Ovens to be of an even self-colour, and laid upon the ware in the form of a colour’d glaze’ (Dolan, 2004). The following day, he started the production of a green glaze that surpassed all existing ones. He also started to label some teapots with his initials, ‘JW’. After the discovery of the green glaze, he discovered a yellow-orange one. It then took him until experiment 411 to make a major discovery. He labelled it: ‘A GOOD Wt. GLAZE! The best of all these trials – uniform – transparent and nearly colourless’ (Dolan, 2004). The development of the ’jaspers vase’ took about 5,000 recorded experiments (Roberts, 2001). Josiah Wedgwood used a secret code to record his experiments in order to prevent his ‘attentive’ competitors from laying their hands on his secrets. It was a time when industrial espionage was common place. Moreover, the story of Dwight and the Elers brothers had taught Wedgwood that patents afforded only a limited protection effect for his trade. During the age of the machine, Experimentation often lacked the required measurement instruments. For instance, Wedgwood had no thermometer that could help him with the monitoring of high temperature within the kiln. The cousin of Wedgwood, Long John, used clay pellets to gauge the change of temperature through the change of their appearance. Josiah Wedgwood therefore invented the pyrometer to measure temperature in kilns. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society for this invention in 1782. C. Persuasion: Royal Patronages Wedgwood wanted to ‘surprise the world with wonders’ 40 and he just did so. He understood very well how a patronage with the most prominent people such as the Queen of England could favour his business. Josiah Wedgwood was an eloquent speaker who managed throughout his life to rally people to his goals. For instance, he was a supporter and promoter of the turnpike roads, especially the ones connecting his area to Liverpool or Chester. He understood that it was going to 40 Expression used by Wedgwood to describe his ambition when writing to his friend Bentley (Dolan, 2001). 77 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 78: help him to import clay and export potteries. In 1762, he made a vibrant public speech in front at the Town Hall of Newcastle-under-Lyme to promote such roads. He highlighted the importance of access to foreign markets and warned the crowd of the risks of competition. He was helped off the stage, as he needed a crutch to walk, to a round of applause. The turnpike Bill was approved by the Parliament in 1766 thanks to a number of connections Wedgwood had established. This led him to travel for the first time in 1763 to London following the advice of Bentley. Such an experience certainly reassured Wedgwood about his ability to rally others when needed. Securing some funding to start and grow a business is crucial and often demonstrates the entrepreneur’s powers of Persuasion. Like many other inventors and entrepreneurs, Josiah Wedgwood turned to ‘love money 41’ to do this. First, he convinced his cousins to lend him a pot-works at the normal business rate. It was not enough to be just a relative, he was also able to demonstrate his abilities to come up with inventive development, such as the green glaze he had experimented with when working in the company of Whieldon. Marrying a wealthy woman strongly benefited Wedgwood, as well as other entrepreneurs, at that time. It was also the case, for instance, of Matthew Boulton, who married two sisters in turns and used their family wealth to invest in different business activities. However, his wife was much more to Josiah Wedgwood than a source of investment, as she also helped him with experiments. She could be trusted about keeping the secrets in the house and not disseminating them to competitors. Indeed, she was the first one to provide an opinion to Josiah Wedgwood on his new products. Wedgwood’s father-in-law was also conducting some banking business with a Member of Parliament from Liverpool, Lord of the Admiralty, and a collector of prints, vase and antique artefacts, called Meredith. He bought a set of tableware from Wedgwood. This was to be embossed with his family coat of arms. Josiah promised to develop the most complete and attractive service ever produced in Staffordshire. Meredith committed to recommending Wedgwood to his acquaintances in London and the potter expressed his gratitude with impressive verve: ‘(M)y heart is overflowing with sentiments of gratitude and thankfulness I am at a loss where to begin my acknowledgements. Your goodness is leading me into improvements of the 41 See supra: footnote 34. 78 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 79: manufacture I am engaged in and patronising those improvements you have encouraged me to attempt, demand my utmost attention. With such inducements to industry in my calling, if I do not outstrip my fellows, it must be owing either to great want of genius, or application’ (Dolan, 2004). Wedgwood was also a fervent supporter of James Brindley and his plans to develop canals. Wedgwood was the treasurer of one of his grand works: the connection of the rivers Trent and Mersey. The first meetings to support such development happened at the end of 1764. The canal was finally opened in 1777. It was 93 miles long and included 76 locks, 269 aqueducts and bridges and a 2,880 yards long tunnel (Roberts, 2001). This canal passed in front of Etruria, which provided Josiah Wedgwood with a convenient means of transport for his business. In 1766, Wedgwood was involved in the first meeting that gathered the promoters of this great piece of work. Wedgwood, that same year cut the first sod of earth to open the construction of this canal. Thanks to the promotion of the canal, Josiah Wedgwood met Gabett, a merchant and chemist who shared his enthusiasm for the new navigation system. Gabett recommended seeking the patronage of Lord Gower, a wealthy and influential landowner. After, they decided to gain the patronage of the Duke of Bridgewater. After offering his support to the canal work, the Duke ordered what Josiah Wedgwood reported as ‘the completest service of table service in the cream colour that I could make’ (Dolan, 2004). Soon after, an order for ‘a complete set of tea things’ with a gold flower upon it was placed for Miss Deborah Chetwynd, Seamstress and Laundress to Queen Charlotte. He used up quite some gold in experimenting to achieve the best effect for this order. However, he was ready to do so in order to gain a prestigious patronage. The result was flamboyant and immediately sparked rumours amongst the London aristocrats who rushed to place orders. Wedgwood secured the permission to title the service he did for Queen Charlotte: the ‘Queen’s ware’ and was appointed as Her Majesty’s potter. He advertised it in papers. In 1769, he wrote to Bentley ‘(T)he demand for the Cream colour, alias Queen’s ware, alias Ivory still increases – it is really amazing how rapidly the use of it has spread almost over the whole Globe, and how universally it is liked – much of this general use and estimation is owing to the mode of its introduction and how much to its real utility and beauty? ’(Roberts, 2001). 79 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 80: Wedgwood was the first potter to mark his product with his name, signing the bottom of each piece to establish his brand. He was also the first one to offer a money back guarantee, and to offer free shipping. Wedgwood also sent out unsolicited pieces to the 700 top aristocrats. The risk paid off as all of them but two subsequently bought from him. The Empress Catherine of Russia ordered a now famous dinner and dessert service made of 952 pieces, each of them hand painted with scenery of a famous house or garden. She received it in 1774. It was displayed in London and attracted many visitors. Wedgwood encouraged ladies to visit his shops with friends. Wedgwood employed renowned designers and architects to design new forms and patterns. He adopted, in 1771, the candlestick design of Sir William Chambers, architect to King Georges III. Artists like John Flaxman, Henry Webber and William Hacwood worked for him (Roberts, 2001). He recognised the importance of fashion. He wrote to Bentley in 1779: ‘(F)ashion is infinitely superior to merit in many respects’ (Roberts, 2001). 80 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 81: Section 3. James Watt During the second part of the 18th century, James Watt, a Scotsman, came up with a series of inventions. He invented a perspective drawing machines, one of the first micrometer and a telemeter for civil engineers to measure distance. He designed cranes, drew up plans for bridges and acted as a technical adviser in the pottery industry. He worked on new bleaching processes for textiles and developed schemes for the production of alkali from salt. He designed the first copy machine and another machines to replicate statues. He got involved in debates on the possibilities and difficulties related to the invention of ‘faery chariots’, now known as automobiles. But first and foremost, Watt is known for his crucial contribution to the development of the steam engine, an invention that unlocked remarkable opportunities in the mining, the manufacturing and the transportation industries, to name the main ones. James Watt, was not the sole inventor of the steam engine 42 but he brought radical improvement to it. James Watt was the son of a ship builder and ship owner. He was born in 1736 in Cartsdyke and raised in Greenock, where he went to the ordinary local school and the grammar school. It was in London, in 1755 and 1756, that he was trained as an instrument maker. He came back to Scotland and was appointed by the University of Glasgow as ‘Mathematical instrument maker to the University‘ in 1757. Watt maintained the instruments used for measurement and Experimentation at the university. He supported professors who used them to perform demonstrations within their class. This was an important role, as professors depended on the donation of the local aristocrats to get their income. They therefore had to impress their students who were the sons of those aristocrats and, sometimes, the aristocrats themselves. The attention of Watt was caught by steam in 1758 when Robinson, one of his friends, wanted to equip a wheel carriage with an engine. In 1761 and 1762, Watt experimented Savery had already taken a patent on a steam engine in 1698 and Newcomen erected his first success full engine to pump water from the mines in 1712. Watt perfected the design of the steam engine and turned it into a widespread commercial application together with Matthew Boulton, the entrepreneur. 42 81 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 82: with a Papin digester. In 1763 and 1764, he tried to make a model of the Newcomen engine work properly upon request of the university. He went much beyond this assignment and ended up inventing the separate condenser to improve the efficiency of the steam engine in 1765 demonstrated by a model he built. The concept was great and simple but scaling up the model engine turned out to be a daunting task. James Watt started to supply people outside of the university and ended up in a partnership with John Craig in 1759. It lasted six years and proved to be a commercial success. Watt had the expertise and the contacts, Craig had the capital and knew how to keep the books. Growth led them to recruit apprentices. Their reputation spread. Watt moved beyond copying existing tools and started to invent new ones. The perspective machine was his first achievement. As its name suggests it, it was meant to draw perspectives. They also expanded their business into musical instruments. Craig died in 1765 and, subsequently, Watt had to change the course of his career as he was lacking the capital to pursue his trade. Watt had married Margaret Millar in 1764 and had a family to support. After the death of his business partner, he erected a Newcomen engine and then moved into civil engineering. He surveyed canals, as the financial reward appeared greater there than in other fields. He developed some surveying instruments to measure distances. Watt erected at Kinneil in 1768 a large steam engine of his own design. In 1769, he patented his engine with separate condenser. Between 1765 and 1770, Watt’s steam work was financed by Roebuck, a captain of industry who had a strong knack for technical innovation. They also collaborated on the production of alkali from salt together with Black 43, a professor from Glasgow. Watt also got involved in pottery work, he invested £477 in it in 1768 and acted as a technical adviser. He brought improvement to the kiln design. This activity provided him with regular income. Later, he advised Wedgwood on types of Cornish clays. In 1770, the engine at Kinneil was not yet working properly. Roebuck faced financial troubles in 1772. Due to his financial support from Watt, he owned two thirds of the patent Joseph Black (1728-1799) was a British chemist and physicist best known for the rediscovery of ‘fixed air’ (carbon dioxide), the concept of latent heat, and the discovery of the bicarbonates. 43 82 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 83: rights. Matthew Boulton 44 an inventor and captain of industry from Birmingham, had already offered Watt and Roebuck to buy back Roebuck’s participation in the steam engine. However, Roebuck had decided that he wanted to remain a partner. With his financial troubles, the situation changed and his rights were transferred to Boulton in order to settle some of his debt. Watt’s wife died in 1773. Watt decided to move to Birmingham to pursue his work. There, he invented a method of copying letters and drawings. He led the way for the manufacture of chlorine and acted as technical adviser for his friends. However, it was the steam engine that remained his main occupation. In 1775, Watt and Boulton decided to petition Parliament to extend the application of his patent; time was running too fast for them to make money out of it. The first orders arrived in 1776. The first engines erected needed substantial repairs, maintenance and improvements but they nevertheless proved the value of the invention. The method of payment for the steam engine consisted of taking a share of the savings occurring through the use of the engine. Boulton and Watt manufactured some specific parts of the engine but their customer had to provision others from suppliers. This method of payment created some resentment from customers. In 1777, Watt had to move to Cornwall to supervise the erection of engines. Success was now on their side even though Boulton had to face some financial worries. By 1778, 78 reciprocating engines had been erected. Over time, Boulton and Watt tried to secure patents in France, America, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Prussia, etc. In 1781, Watt filed five patents to give life to the rotative motion including the ‘sun and planet’ motion, solving a long standing mechanical puzzle. It paved the way for new applications in the textile industry and new sources of revenue for Watt and Boulton. In 1782, Watt invented the double acting engine, then, the parallel motion and, finally, the centrifugal governor. All those demonstrate the technical elegance of the Scotsman. Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) was an English manufacturer and engineer; in 1762, he built the Soho manufactory near Birmingham. The factory produced small metal articles such as gilt and silver buttons and buckles, Sheffield plate, and a variety of other items. 44 83 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 84: However, he was not the sole inventive steam worker. Hornblower had developed a more efficient engine. Watt was well aware of this. It copied some of the invention of Watt but offered 50% more power. Hornblower challenged the patent of Boulton and Watt who used their parliamentary connections to oppose this move. They continued to oppose competition over the years, therefore, securing their wealth. By 1800, more than 800 steam engines could be attributed to them (Marsden, 2002). Engines were not the only field of interest for Watt. Like Wedgwood, he was part of the Lunar Society. In 1783, Watt intended to develop a calculating device but did not pursue this line of research. He developed a method to copy letters and drawings and invented the iron cement to make steam-tight joints. Watt also played a part in scientific efforts, such as the discovery that water was a compound and not an element. During retirement, he developed machines that could be used to duplicate statues. He died rich in 1819, at the age of 84. Watt’s ability to observe and his numerous friendships in inventive and scientific circles brought him a wide diversity of problems to solve. He even used ‘Observare’ as a motto (A/ Attentiveness: the power of observation) Watt had to use a sophisticated experimental approach in order to come up with a radically improved version of the Newcomen steam engine. He had to investigate natural phenomenon to grasp what prevented his engine from becoming perfect (B/ Experimentation: the ‘perfect engine’ as a guide). In order to find investors and partners, James Watt lacked the eloquence of Wedgwood and the glibness of an Arkwright; he therefore relied on his friendships and connections to persuade others and help him to progress in his inventive activities (C/ Persuasion: ‘steam connections’). At the end of his life, James Watt and later, his heir, embellished the accounts of the invention of the steam engine and made a legend of him. 84 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 85: A. Attentiveness: the power of observation Adam Smith and James Watt knew each other. The philosopher and economist had Watt in his mind when he wrote eloquently in the first pages of ‘The Wealth of Nations’ about speculators and philosophers: ‘(A)ll the improvements in machinery, however, have by no means been the inventions of those who had occasion to use the machines. Many improvements have been made by the ingenuity of the makers of the machines, when to make them became the business of a peculiar trade; and some by that of those who are called philosophers or men of speculation, whose trade it is not to do anything, but to observe everything; and who, upon that account, are often capable of combining together the powers of the most distant and dissimilar objects’ (Smith, 1776). It is not known today whether it was Watt who brought the word ‘observation’ to the attention of Smith or Watt developed his motto ‘Observare’ following the steps of Smith. In any case, this emphasises the role of observation in inventive activities. The primary interest of Watt for observation led him to develop many friendships and a vast knowledge. Watt was at the forefront of most of the technical and scientific developments of his time, which could sometimes work against his business interests. As an instrument maker, Watt recognised the need for specialisation to decrease costs. Nevertheless, he enjoyed copying other people’s products. It provided him with opportunities to observe interesting mechanism. According to Robinson, one of the professors at the University of Glasgow, Watt was ‘continually striking into untrodden paths, where I was always obliged to be a follower’ (Hills, 2002). Such versatility provided him with many opportunities to re-use some mechanism from one machine or another. Hills (2002) suggested that the perspective drawing machine use of parallel drawers could have been a source of inspiration for his later parallel motion on his rotative steam engine. Every time he faced a new technical puzzle, Watt started by reading the relevant literature before experimenting. He once said: ‘I have never yet read a book, or conversed with a companion, without gaining information, instruction, or amusement’ (Hills, 2002). Watt, according 85 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 86: to Robinson, got acquainted with the German language in order to understand the ‘Theatrum Machinarum’, written by Leupold 45. Sometimes, Watt was kindly helped by other people in his research. To support his work on the Newcomen engine, it was Robinson who assisted him in searching the literature, as he was occupied by his business. Never accepting the presence of obstacles between him and knowledge, Watt, for instance, asked helped from a Swiss dyer to read a book in German about the work in the mines in the Upper Hartz (Dickinson, 1967). Through his many friends, Watt was always confronted with the most challenging problems and the most interesting discoveries. For instance, Watt enjoyed going to London where he could meet instrument makers and exchange ‘professional gossips’ (Marsden, 2002). At the University of Glasgow, he ended up at the centre of an informal circle of minds passionate about natural philosophy and inventive activities. He was also accepted as member of the Anderston club amongst the most famous mathematicians and professors of Scotland. In Birmingham he took part in the Lunar Society. Robinson described how Watt became the centre of scientific and technical discussions in Glasgow: ‘(A)ll the young lads of our little place that were any way remarkable for scientific predilection were acquaintances of Mr Watt; and his parlour was a rendez-vous for all of this description. Whenever any puzzle came in the way of any of us, we went to Mr. Watt. He needed only to be prompted; everything became to him the beginning of a new and serious study; and we knew that he would not quit until he had either discovered its significance, or had made something of it. No matter in what line, language, antiquity, natural history, - nay, poetry, criticism and works of taste; as to anything in line with engineering, whether civil or military he was at home and a ready instructor’ (Hills, 2002). The intense exchanges between those brilliant minds sometimes led to polemics. For instances, it has been said that Watt’s invention of the separate condenser was inspired by the findings of Black’s and his theory of the latent heat. According to Watt himself, it was not the case. Black, who was a friend of Watt, had discovered that different bodies had Jacob Leupold (1674–1727) was a German instrument maker, mining commissioner and an engineer who published an important and popular book Theatri Machinarum (The General Theory of Machines). 45 86 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 87: different capacities for heat and that all bodies require for their fusion an immense quantity of caloric. This did not inspire the work of Watt. It is only when Watt was puzzled by some of his own measures that he talked to Black and realised that his own work was in fact a confirmation of Black’s. The investigations of Watt spurred new research by Black (Hills, 2002). James Watt, the attentive inventor who believed in the power of observation, not only used that skill to spot technical or business opportunities, he also put it to good use as part of his experiments on the steam engine. B. Experimentation: the ‘perfect engine’ as a guide Watt learned a lot through experiments and he made this very clear when he declined, in a letter, an offer for employment in Russia: ‘I am a person of no great learning, but I have had from my infancy a propensity to mechanics and chemistry, and have tried many experiments in both these sciences. What little knowledge I have is the fruit of these experiments’ (Hills, 2002). As outlined below, Watt’s knack for experiments was supported by his access to some of the well-known natural philosophers 46 of his time. His concept of the perfect engine was essential to his success. At the University of Glasgow, as instrument maker for the faculty, Watt was at the best school possible to learn the practices of Experimentation. His affiliation with Anderson, Black and other professors such as Wilson 47 played an important role. Anderson, professor of natural philosophy at the University of Glasgow, appointed Watt to mend demonstration apparatus covering the disciplines of physics, mechanics, pneumatics and electricity. He was also asked to demonstrate himself the apparatus on a number of occasions. Watt thanked Black for teaching him reason and experiment in natural philosophy and recognised that it facilitated his own progress. The systematic approach of Black to note-taking in experiments influenced the practices of Watt (Hills, 2002). Watt is considered by Hills (2002) as one of Natural philosophy is a term applied to the objective study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science. 47 About Wilson, see infra. 46 87 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 88: the first to use graphs instead of tables for engineering purpose. One of these was relating pressure against temperature. He later related such measurement to atmospheric pressure. As an instrument maker, Watt was able to develop scientific instruments and apparatus. It played an important role in his work. Wilson ordered barometers from him. He was familiar with the use of balance in chemistry pioneered by Black. By using barometer and mercurial manometers, he explored the relationship between temperature and the pressure of steam. Watt also developed a micrometer to measure the length of pieces of metal and to create scales on glass. In 1773, he claimed he was able to ‘divide an inch in 1,000 tolerably equal and distinct parts on glass’ (Hills, 2002). When Watt started to work on the model of the Newcomen engine of the university, he was unimpressed by its performance and decided to improve it. He started to experiment by relating the performance of the engine to different parameters. In many instances, he was concerned that some parameters could interfere with the experiments he intended to conduct. It led him to adopt a measurement discipline and to multiply experiments to gain accuracy and understanding of the mechanism. Following this episode, he concluded that the steam engine was imperfect: ‘(F)irst because the cylinder having been cooled by the Injection in the preceding stroke condenses a considerable quantity of steam besides what is necessary to fill it. Secondly, because the vacuum is imperfect without the cylinder and all the water in it be cooled down to 90° Fahrenheit thermometer. If this was done, the vacuum could be made perfect but the condensation of the team the next stroke would much over balance the power gained, therefore experience has taught Men that an engine works most advantageously when loaded about half the pressure of the atmosphere’ (Hills, 2002). From this analysis, he derived the concept of ‘Perfect engine’ that would use only one cylinder full of steam at each stroke and the steam would be condensed to a perfect vacuum. This concept of perfect engine is very important to understand the approach of Watt to Experimentation. In a random trial and error situation, it is impossible to know if a mechanism is perfectible or not and to what extent it is perfectible. By using the perfect engine as a standard of performance, Watt knew that the engine was perfectible and had clear means to measure how far it was from perfection. Such a concept of perfection was 88 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 89: used at that time in religious or architectural and engineering matters. For instance, it was applied by Smeaton, a civil engineer, to the design of the waterwheel (Marsden, 2002). When applicable, it is a means to increase one’s chances of success when pursuing experiments. This concept is similar to the notions of ‘hill climbing’ and of ‘Means-end analysis’ suggested by Simon and his colleagues (Klahr & Simon 2001). The perfect engine helped Watt to move beyond random investigation and to learn whether he was on the right track. Watt had already ensured that the boiler would consume as little heat as possible in order to improve fuel consumption 48. He investigated the relationship between the volume of steam and the volume of water, it helped him to measure the steam consumption of an engine. He also explored the heat capacity of different materials. At that stage, he concluded that ‘it was necessary that the cylinder should be as hot as the steam and that the steam should be cooled down below 100° in order to exert its full powers’ (Hills, 2002). This research led to the invention of the separate condenser, the separation of the two actions of heating the cylinder with hot steam and cooling it to condense the steam for every stroke of the engine. After Watt invented the separate condenser, he decided to abandon the use of a water-jet and to use surface condensers. However, it was in 1775 that success materialised when he reverted his approach to the water jet. To understand the ‘mysteries’ of steam, Watt’s approach to Experimentation was to breakdown a problem into a series of simple ones for which practical Experimentation could be conducted. He unveiled the secrets of steam by studying different phenomena in separation 49. Having made progress on the model of the Newcomen engine, Watt had to develop his own model and to scale up his invention. At this stage, it appears that he stopped altering parameters one by one and started to make major changes from one experiment to He discovered that the surface and the quantity of water played no role, but that the distance between the source of heat and the boiler as well as the use of thin sheets of metal was important. 49 It relates to the notion of ‘functional decomposition’ that was already mentioned in the case of Arkwright, see Section 1. 48 89 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 90: another. Such an approach led to many fruitless experiments. Hills (2002) suggested that this could be explained by the absence of help from Robinson and Black during this period. Later in a letter to Small 50, Watt wrote an interesting comment to warn his friend about the risks of chasing more than one goal at a time: ‘(…) unless I do what I have done too often, neglect certainty for hope’ (Hills, 2005). Dickinson (1967) summarised such difficulties related to Experimentation: ‘(O)f a number of alternatives, he does not seem to have had the flair of knowing which was the most practicable, hence he expended his energies on many avenues that lead to dead ends. In truth, this is the attitude of the scientist rather than the one of the craftsman. Still, unless he had explored these avenues he could not be certain they were dead ends.’ Troubleshooting the invention ended up being a long and painful process. The achievement of Watt and his approach to Experimentation are remarkable, his progress was not guided by scientific knowledge but by some of the experimental stratagems of science in order to investigate natural phenomena that helped him to come as close as possible to the ‘perfect engine’. Without this search, the separated condenser would not have imposed itself as a solution. C. Persuasion: ‘steam connections’ James Watt had, at the same time, a reserved character and an aptitude for developing friendships. He was never skilled at confronting adversity, and he lacked a diplomatic temperament. One of his contemporaries said of him that he was ‘modest, timid, easily frightened by rubs and misgivings and too apt to respond’ (Dickinson, 1967). However, the deep friendships he maintained demonstrate an attractive personality and convincing manners (Hills, 2002). 50 About Small, see infra. 90 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 91: In his obituary, Lord Jeffrey 51 painted a highly eloquent portrait of Watt. He insisted on his vast knowledge and his intelligence but he also described him as a man who could easily engage and capture the attention of others: ‘(H)e had infinite quickness of apprehension, a prodigious memory, and a certain rectifying and methodising power of understanding (…). It is needless to say, that, with those vast resources, his conversation was at all times rich and instructive in no ordinary degree… No man could be more social in his spirit, less assuming or fastidious in his manners, or more kind and indulgent towards all who approached him. He rather liked to talk. His talk, too, though overflowing with information, had no resemblance to lecturing or solemn discoursing, but, on the contrary, was full of colloquial spirit and pleasantry’ (Hills, 2002). In his early career, the progress of James Watt could be compared to the irresistible ascension of an asset towards its most valuable use, thanks to the people he met at every stage. Watt made his way to Glasgow thanks to his uncle Muirheid who introduced him to professors at the university where he was himself a professor. He met with a professor of natural philosophy named Dick, who encouraged him to go to London and offered him a letter of introduction to a famous telescope maker. In London, he learned and worked under the guidance of five or six instrument makers in order to gain a wide range of skills that could be used back in Scotland. On his return, Dick offered him some work at the university. He met eminent scientists, such as: • Robinson who shared with Watt his plans for using the steam engine to power wheel-carriages; • Anderson, who asked him to maintain the university model of the Newcomen engine; • Wilson who ordered from Watt a barometer to record temperature changes at the boiling point, he also involved him in canal survey; • Black, who pioneered the use of balance in chemistry and developed the theory of latent heat, which both played a role in the development of the steam engine. Lord Jeffrey was editor of The Edinburgh Review, a quarterly journal that was the pre-eminent organ of British political and literary criticism in the early 19th century. 51 91 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 92: Later, Black introduced Watt to Roebuck who financed his first full scale works on steam engines in Kinneil. Roebuck recognised the value of Watt’s steam engine and of the Alkali from the salt project. As a civil engineer, Watt met with Small, a Scotsman who moved to Birmingham in 1765. Small introduced Boulton, Keir and other prominent Birmingham figures to Watt (Dickinson, 1967). Watt was able to convince his peers at the University of Glasgow and in Birmingham of the significance of the separate condenser because he was able to relate it to his concept of ‘perfect engine’. Developing a model was also instrumental in convincing people of the value of the concept. Watt had often a humble and modest attitude. However, on a number of occasions, he did not hesitate to ‘self-fashion’, especially when his reputation was at stake. To support the extension of his patent in 1775, he presented his work as a series of philosophical investigations. It helped him to differentiate his own findings from the engines of Newcomen and Savery. However, securing the legal success around Watt’s patent was very much owed to Boulton’s ability to bargain for the support of influential people. In the 1790’s, Robinson wrote articles about the steam and steam engine in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. It turned out to be different from the eloquent and panegyric account that Watt wanted. Pressed by some friends, Watt published his own account of his contribution to the steam quest (Marsden, 2002). Watt insisted he had a flash of genius that led to the invention of the separate condenser as he was walking in a park of Glasgow. Such stories tend to hide the laborious progress and the countless experiments that were needed to progress the steam engine but it offered a certain aura to the inventor. 92 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 93: Chapter 2. Networks of inventors in 18th century Britain The study of the three career inventors proves that their successes relied deeply on their network of acquaintances, friends and peers that they could mobilise. Arkwright listened to the people in order to spot business and technical opportunities. Wedgwood developed a network of friends and acquaintances who guided him around recent technical developments, fashion as well as current political and philosophical issues. James Watt relied on his numerous acquaintances to find business partners and investors. This raises the question of the nature and functioning of collective arrangements that supported inventive activities at that time. This second chapter investigates, through the lenses of the A-E-P triptych, networks of individuals engaged in inventive activities. Social networks have been considered as omnipresent social contexts to economic transactions. The economic sociologist saw human action embedded in networks of relationships: ‘(T)heir attempts at purposive action are instead embedded in concrete, ongoing systems of social relations’ (Granovetter, 1985). Trust has often been presented as an interpersonal feature of networks (Axelrod, 1984), it limits the frictions inherent to the use of the price mechanism by reducing the uncertainty that can exist when market exchanges occur. Håkansson and Johanson (1988) distinguish between social and industrial networks; social networks consist of actors while industrial networks consist of a complex pattern of three interrelated elements, actors, activities and resources. Others have proposed to move beyond social networks to consider ‘a national system of innovation’ (Edquist,1997), (Lundvall, 1992) (Nelson, 1993), defined as ‘the networks of institutions in the public and private sectors whose activities and interactions initiate, import, modify and diffuse new technologies’ (Freeman, 1987). In other circumstances, the term network is used to refer to large firms and their suppliers. The focus will be here on individuals engaged in inventive activities. It will look at both social and industrial networks. 93 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 94: Patton and Kenney (2003) present a core difference between networks and markets that are both based on reciprocal exchanges. ‘Networks differ from these other forms of economic organi(s)ation in terms of the identity of the actors and the relationships among them. Reciprocity is a crucial consideration in these relationships. Unlike market actors, members of a network engage in reciprocal exchange where benefits are given without the expectation of immediate benefits in return. In other words, the exchanges are not treated as though they are taking place on a spot marker. Although benefits may very well balance out in the long run, network exchange is not simultaneous and is not subject to the short-term rational calculations of a market transaction – the issue that much of the network proponents miss is whether there is a long-term rational calculation. Often, the distinction between short-term and long-term rationality and efficiency is missed’. In some specific situations, networks are less regarded as an omnipresent social context but more as a mode of collective arrangement supportive of inventive activities. The archetype of this mode of governance is the network of individuals involved in innovation within the Silicon Valley. Its foundation can be traced back to the ideas proposed by Alfred Marshall (1890) who identified ‘industrial district’ as specialised local economies where knowledge is freely shared. The pioneering work of Saxenian presented here by Casuntila, Hwang, Granovetter and Granovetter (2000) present the role of network in the Silicon Valley. ‘Saxenian (1994) shows that Silicon Valley shares many of the characteristics of European industrial districts, and thus promotes collective learning among specialist producers of interrelated technologies. In this decentrali(s)ed system, dense social networks and open labour markets encourage entrepreneurship and the ongoing mobili(s)ation of resources. Companies compete intensely, but simultaneously learn about changing markets and technologies through informal communications, collaborative projects, and common ties to research associations and universities. High rates of job mobility spread technology, promote the recombination of skills and capital, and aid the region’s development. Silicon Valley companies, just as those in Germany and Italy, trade with the whole world, but the core of knowledge and production remains local. One way the Valley accomplishes this recombination of knowledge and capital is through spin-offs, which have contributed to the construction of dense social networks of entrepreneurs, inventors, and other institutional actors.’ 94 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 95: Networks have been presented as ‘a mode of governance that aims at addressing high level of uncertainty’ by Robertson and Langlois (1995). They revisited the argument of Knight 52 that modes of governance are a function of uncertainty and they suggested that markets best fit low level of uncertainty and innovative network best fit high level of uncertainty. The present work will suggest that networks can be defined as sets of relationships between individuals (not firms) facing uncertainty and that such relationship can be interpreted as transactions where information is exchanged for free. This will be investigated by looking at the ‘Lunar society’, a network of people who had interests in scientific, inventive and money-making activities. First, after a presentation of the Lunar society, two types of relationships will be studied: the ones amongst members of the Lunar society and the ones between regular members of the Lunar society and other persons (Section 1) This will lead to an analysis of how the A-E-P triptych of abilities can be mobilised to explain the existence and functioning of such network of inventors (Section 2). 52 See infra, Part 2, chapter 2. 95 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 96: Section I. The Lunar society and relationships A. Presentation of the Lunar Society The Lunar society brought together over the years a number of individuals, most of them were involved in some sort of inventive activities. Watt and Wedgwood were both associated with this group. Schofield (1963) dates the start of collaboration between three of the members in 1765. They lived near Birmingham and met on the Monday nearest to the full moon. Marsden (2002) described their association as a ‘fertile test-bed for new ideas’. Matthew Boulton 53 was one of the individuals at the origin of this group. Erasmus Darwin was a doctor, a poet and a renowned botanist to name a few of his areas of predilection. Small brought to America new methods of education before coming back to England and settling down as a doctor in the area of Birmingham. He played an important role in keeping the Lunar circle a lively one. Thomas Day was a philanthropist who had limited interest in scientific or inventive activities but who, nevertheless, participated to the exchanges amongst the members of the society. Richard Edgeworth was a brilliant mechanic. James Keir was a chemist and an inventor. James Priestley was a renowned scientist and polemist. As mentioned in the introductory pages, the Lunar Society was not the sole network at that time. A number of ‘Lunar men’ were associated with the Royal Society of London, sooner or later in their life. This society had no interest in applied science but had a highly regarded social status. Other societies were covering specific fields: the Botanical society, the British Mineralogical society, etc. The one that supported improvements and technical development of businesses was The Society of Arts. Awards were given for best solutions related to specific problems, it gathered the majority of prominent manufacturers of England and its reach went far beyond London. Local societies appeared to support local efforts in cities such as Bristol, Bath, Manchester, Birmingham and Newcastle. Studying networks can prove difficult as informal relationships rarely leave many traces. Moving beyond the collection of evidence can be difficult. However, the Lunar circle offers a 53 See supra, Chapter 1, Section 3. 96 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 97: unique opportunity as its members established a lively correspondence amongst themselves and with others. These primary sources have now been studied and analysed. This paves the way for a more systematic approach to the analysis of the formation and exploitation of the network as a collective resource. The method used here aims at providing a quantitative analysis within a very qualitative field of enquiry. Relationships between individuals will be systematically analysed to see if, and how, the three abilities play a role in the institutionalisation of the network or if they justify the exploitation of the network by agents. All relationships will be studied as to whether they involve one of the abilities or not. The order of introduction follows the chronological logic of Schofield, the Lunar Society of Birmingham, a social history of provincial science and industry in Eighteenth-Century England, (1963). The present study will be based on the chapters 2, 3 and 4 who introduced the main participants to the Lunar Society one by one. Galton, Johnson and Stokes are not covered by this analysis as they were late additions to a group that had passed its apogee. Whenever a reference to one of the three abilities is made, the ability at play is mentioned in bracket. The relationships that do not involve one of the three abilities of the A-E-P triptych are highlighted in grey. Primary sources are quoted in brackets. The text of Schofield is presented as such and most of the time in an abridged version. The relationships are presented using their order of appearance within the book. Regular participants to the Lunar Society will be studied in a first table; other people who have been connected to the group will be studied in a second table. 97 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 98: B. Relationship between regular members of the Lunar Society Table 1: Relationship between regular members of the Lunar Society Relationships Boulton-Darwin The relationship and how it relates to Attentiveness, # Experimentation and Persuasion • Darwin was the first acquaintance of Boulton with a formal education and a trained interest in science54 (Attentiveness). • Boulton might have assisted Darwin in experiments related to the ascent of vapour (Experimentation). • Around the time they first met, Darwin sent a letter to Boulton about ‘faery chariots’ where he wrote ‘I shall lay my thoughts before you, crude and indigested as they occur to Darwin-Whitehurst me…as by those Hints you may be led into various Trains of thinking upon the subject, and by any means (if any Hints can assists your genius, which without Hints is above all others I am acquainted with) be more likely to improve or disapprove’ (Attentiveness). • The previous letter may have been the beginning of the interest of Boulton in steam engines (Attentiveness). 1 Darwin-Whitehurst • Whitehurst conducted some co-operative investigations with Darwin (Experimentation). • Whitehurst was the first to bring the subject of Geology to the Lunar circle (Attentiveness). 2 BoultonWhitehurst Small-Boulton Small-Galton • Whitehurst constructed a pyrometer for Boulton to be used in experiments to investigate heat expansion of metal; hygrometers and barometers are also mentioned (Experimentation). • Boulton did little in science without Small’s advice (Attentiveness). • Galton said of Small: ‘some eminently scientific men have shown their original power by little more than a continuous flow of helpful suggestions and criticism‘(Attentiveness). • Darwin wrote to Boulton ‘Our ingenious friend Dr Small. From whom and from you, when I was last at Birmingham I received ideas ...’ (Attentiveness). • Darwin wrote to Boulton about a new friend, Edgeworth: ‘he has ye principles of nature in his palm, and moulds them as He pleases. Can take away polarity or give it to the needle by rubbing it thrice on ye palm of his hand and can see through two solid Oak boards without glasses! 3 4 5 Darwin-SmallBoulton Darwin-EdgeworthBoulton-small 6 7 In SCHOFIELD, The Lunar society of Birmingham, a social history of provincial science and industry in Eighteenth-Century England, (1963), page 19. 54 98 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 99: Astonishing! Diabolical!!! Pray tell Dr. Small He must come to see these Miracles’ (Attentiveness, Experimentation, and Persuasion). Darwin-Edgeworth • Someone not mentioned by his name had mentioned to Edgeworth a carriage invented by Darwin. Edgeworth wrote ‘from this hint (…) I invented a very handsome Phaeton upon this principle’ (Attentiveness). • He wrote to Darwin about this and was later invited by him for a visit. 8 Edgeworth-Boulton • Edgeworth wrote ‘I shewed some of those deception of Comus, which I had discovered. They were particularly a propos, as at that time Mr Bolton was making a large number of magnets for exportation. He asked me to his house (…)’ (Attentiveness). • Day had limited interest in science or mechanics, his concerns were metaphysical philanthropic, educational and political. Schofield explains his participation to the Lunar circle because of ‘money lent and affection.’ • Day had the eloquence to make the belief of the other members glamorous and morally right (Persuasion). 9 Day-other members 10 Darwin-Boulton • Darwin wrote to Boulton: ‘I (…) am going to make innumerable Experiments on aqueous, sulphurous, metallic, and saline vapours. Food for Fire-engine!’ (Experimentation). • As Watt joined the Lunar society, steam engine experiments independent of Watt disappeared. (Experimentation) • Keir and Watt competed on the production of Alkali through experiments (Experimentation). Small, who was in relation with both, contributed to the emulation. He encouraged them to exchange on the topic (Attentiveness) 11 Watt-other members Keir-Watt-Small 12 13 99 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 100: C. Relationship between regular members of the Lunar Society and another person Table 2: Relationship between regular members of the Lunar Society and another person People part of the The relationship and how it relates to Attentiveness, # Experimentation and Persuasion relationship Darwin-Eeles • Eeles was a scientist associated with the Royal Society. Darwin started a controversy with him about the ascent of vapour. This was based on some experiment conducted by Darwin with probable support of Boulton (Persuasion). • Michell, a distinguished scientist, frequently visited Birmingham and the members of the Lunar circle. The experiments of Darwin on the ascent of vapour probably supported by Boulton might have been the cause of his first visit. (Attentiveness). • Michell was responsible for the further extending of the horizons of the Lunar circle (Attentiveness) 1 Darwin-BoultonMichell 2 Boulton Baskerville Franklin Boulton-FranklinMichell - • Boulton and Baskerville were friends. • Franklin was keen to meet Baskerville who printed the writings of Virgil (Attentiveness) • Michell sent a letter of introduction to Boulton about Franklin. He referred to Boulton’s interest in electricity (Attentiveness). • Boulton became an agent for procuring electrical apparatus for experiments (Persuasion, Experimentation). • Franklin was to become a recurrent visitor to the Lunar circle (Attentiveness). • Franklin and Boulton conducted experiments together on electricity (Experimentation). • Franklin promised to send to Whitehurst a journal of the weather a friend of his kept for several years (Attentiveness). • Whitehurst had promised to deliver a thermometer to Franklin (Experimentation). • Petit from, the Royal Society, ordered thermometers from Boulton through Darwin (Experimentation) • Boulton and Roebuck, the entrepreneur collaborated thermometer. (Experimentation) • Boulton later bought his shares in the partnership with Watt on the 3 4 WhitehurstFranklin 5 Boulton – Darwin – Petit Boulton-Roebuck 6 7 Boulton-DarwinFerguson Boulton-SmallFranklin • Ferguson, an astronomer, gave some lectures in Birmingham where Boulton and Darwin attended. Schofield says that the inimitable performance attracted the attention of Boulton (Attentiveness) • Franklin introduced Small to Boulton in a letter as an ‘ingenious philosopher and a worthy man’ (Persuasion) 8 9 100 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 101: Small-Jefferson • Small educated Jefferson, the American politician who said of him: ‘from his conversation, I got my first views of the expansion of science and of the system of things in which we are placed’ (Attentiveness) • Small shared a house with a local respected physician Ash • In a committee that was formed to petition for parliamentary approval of a canal, Darwin first saw the pamphlet written by Wedgwood and Bentley as a nuisance but later he became a canal enthusiast (Persuasion). • Bindley and Garbett also supported the scheme (Persuasion). • Darwin involved Boulton and Small. Wedgwood wrote to ‘Boulton who had taken ‘ye infection’ (Persuasion). • The interest for canals was later shared by almost all members of the Lunar Society (Attentiveness, Persuasion). • Willet was a Reverend versed in scientific subjects. He helped Wedgwood, his brother-in-law, with his self-study (Attentiveness). • He was a host of Priestley when he was teaching at Nantwich. • Wedgwood was encouraged to experiment by Whielden, a master potter (Experimentation). • Wedgwood was introduced to Priestley and Bentley by Turner, the surgeon, when he was being treated by him in Liverpool • Bentley introduced Wedgwood to a new world of people and ideas. He sent advice on books, hints on pottery design, suggestion on techniques to increase sales, and advice about experiments (Attentiveness, Experimentation). • Wedgwood talked in a letter about a new carriage of Mr Butlers with interesting technical devices that were first suggested by Darwin (Attentiveness). • Edgeworth attended a show in London by the ’Celebrated Comus’ described as a combination of Magic and Parlour-science. Together with a friend, Delaval he created a show of his own which won him many acquaintances in London (Attentiveness, Experimentation, Persuasion). • After reading books of Wilkins and Hooke, Edgeworth designed a mechanical telegraph. His experiments are anterior to the ones of Chappe in France. Chappe was the first to introduce an operating system and Edgeworth did the same after him (Attentiveness). • Edgeworth decided to make a fair trial of Rousseau’s system described in ‘Emile’. The boy ended up unmanageable. Rousseau criticised the results when he met the child. (Attentiveness, Experimentation). • Day adopted two girls to educate them in the principles of Rousseau. He wanted a perfect wife for himself. He abandoned it, as the results were not promising. (Experimentation). • Anne Seward, who would become a poetess, hosted coteries where members of the Lunar circle attended. • Day and Edgeworth both fell in love with Honora Sneyd, a friend of Anna 10 Small-Ash WedgwoodBentley-DarwinBindley-GarbettBoulton-Small 11 12 WedgwoodPriestley-willet WedgwoodWhielden WedgwoodTurner—PriestleyBentley Wedgwood-Bentley 13 14 15 16 Darwin-Butlers- 17 Edgeworth-Delaval 18 EdgeworthWilkins-HookeChappe EdgeworthRousseau Day-Rousseau 19 20 21 Day-Edgeworth— Darwin-BoultonSmall-Keir-Anna Seward-Honora 22 101 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 102: Sneyd Seward. Day transferred his affection to her sister Elisabeth, who ended up rejecting him. After the death of his wife, Edgeworth married Honora. • When Edgeworth was in love with Honora, Day asked him if reason could not prevail over his emotions. Edgeworth answered ’nothing but trial could make me acquainted with the influence, which reason might have over my feelings; that I would go with my family to Lichfield, where I would be in the company of the dangerous object’ (Experimentation). • Day and Bicknell wrote an anti-slavery poem together (Persuasion). • Carbioni wrote to Boulton ‘I recently visited Dr. Pringle and Dr. Franklin. We spoke much of your goodness, your merits, and your project of a new steam engine. I would like very much to see it.’ (Attentiveness). • Boulton sent a model to Franklin to get his opinion (Attentiveness). • Franklin responded that Experimentation will best decide (Experimentation) • All of them were members of the same club in Glasgow. Watt wrote ‘our conversations…turned principally on literary topics, religion, belles-lettres.; and to those conversations my mind owed its first bias towards such subjects’ (Attentiveness). • Watt’s shop became the favourite gathering spot for them. Watt became a listener and a participant in scientific conversation held there. From such discussions, he acquired his first knowledge of scientific, experimental procedures. (Attentiveness, Experimentation). • Watt said of Black ‘the correct modes of reasoning and of making experiments to which he set me the example, certainly conduced very much to facilitate the progress of my inventions’(Attentiveness, Experimentation). • Roebuck and Black experimented on decomposition of salt (Experimentation). • Roebuck had invested in mines that were flooded, Black told him about Watt’s engine. He agreed to carry the cost of development (Attentiveness). • Boulton later bought the shares of Roebuck in the steam engine and started his partnership with Watt. • Watt started his correspondence with Small after a visit to Birmingham. He mentions reading a book of De Luc and experiments he started following his reading (Attentiveness, Experimentation). • He expresses worries related to the progress of Smeaton. • Small encouraged Watt to publish, offers to help him and to present it to the Royal Society (Persuasion). • Small also made suggestions to Watt (Attentiveness). • They testified for Keir in a petition that aimed at exempting him from salt duties, as he developed a method to produce salt from Alkali (Persuasion). • As for Keir, those ones testified for Watt in a petition that aimed at exempting him from salt duties, as he developed a method to produce salt from Alkali (Persuasion). 23 24 Day-Bicknell Boulton-PringleFranklin- Carbioni Watt-AndersonMillar-SimpsonSmith-Black Cullen Watt-Robinsonother students 25 26 Watt-Black 27 Watt-BlackRoebuck-Boulton 28 Watt-Small-De Luc-SmeatonBoulton 29 Keir-WhitehurstBlair-BoultonWatt-More Watt-BoultonJames Black 30 31 102 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 103: Section II. The A-E-P triptych, a framework to explain the existence and functioning of network of inventors The work of the historian Schofield offers a springboard to better understand the nature of networks of inventors. Out of 44 of the relationships recorded above, all, except for two, have at least one of the three abilities playing a role in their establishment or exploitation. The two remaining ones do not demonstrate a role for any of the three abilities, which does not necessarily mean that they never played a role in specific relationships. Within the remit of the Lunar circle and with the outside world, the three abilities have different weights in the establishment and the exploitation of the network (see table 3). Attentiveness is ahead of the others: Within Lunar circle Attentiveness: Experimentation: Persuasion: 11 7 2 Outside of Lunar circle Attentiveness: Experimentation: Persuasion: 28 15 12 Table 3: role of the three abilities in the establishment and exploitation of networks Attentiveness tended to play an important role. On the one hand, participants to the network of inventors brought interesting information to the attention of the others. On the other hand, participants to the network sought advice from each other. Attentiveness is not solely based on the exchange of technical information, exchanges on other topics, such as literature, occurred between participants within the network. This might not have contributed to inventive activities but it brought the participants to the network closer to each other. Experiments were conducted together by members of the network. They also regularly benefited from the help of others to access instruments and apparatus in order to perform those experiments. In a number of cases mentioned above, experiments simply acted as a means to share useful pieces of information amongst people with common interests. 103 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 104: Persuasion took the form of letters of introduction and alliances to support new schemes, such as petitioning the government. In some cases, individuals put their Persuasion ability at the disposal of others. Networks created relationships that helped inventors access investors and business partners. Persuasion played a more significant role with the outside circle of the Lunar Society than within it. Within the network, participants tended to share the same views of the world and Persuasion was very much about joining forces to convince the outside world. The A-E-P triptych of abilities also came into play together. Experiments help to persuade others. By experimenting in groups, participants to the network benefit from the advice and suggestions made by others. By bringing information to the attention of some participants, one can persuade others of the value of their work and, sometimes, secure some funds. Inventors taking part in the Lunar Society were bound together by these abilities. They were attentive to each other’s ideas and achievements, they used experiments to gain feedback from each other and to spread knowledge. They joined forces to persuade others to adopt their inventions. Such networks play a fundamental role in inventive activities. Looking beyond the Lunar Society, a network is, first and foremost, a collective arrangement along which information circulates freely. When uncertainty is high, when costs and benefits are considered unpredictable by inventors, such a form of network is an appropriate collective arrangement to progress together. Networks bring interesting information to the attention of individuals, they provide physical and informational resources to conduct experiments and they help to mobilise allies when one needs to persuade others. Taking a marginalist perspective, a new participant to a network will be keen to bring new information or experiments to the attention of others in order to be accepted. As his contribution is valued by others, he will have access to the information detained by them, to the resources they use to experiment and to their collective Persuasion power. As the three abilities contribute to reduce uncertainties, networks appear as a collective arrangement that provides a means to advance knowledge and reduce uncertainty. The 104 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 105: study of the Lunar society tends to confirm the ideas of Robertson and Langlois (1995), who suggested that markets best fit low levels of uncertainty and innovative network best fit high levels of uncertainty. A network also appears as a self-reinforcing arrangement; as the three abilities come to play, relationships intensified and networks solidified. In the case of the Lunar Society, the networks appear as a sort of magma from which markets and firms tend to emerge. For instance, along the different branches of the Lunar network: • • • • • a market for instruments emerged; a partnership between Boulton and Watt was formed and solidified; Watt, Roebuck and Black started a venture to manufacture alkali; Wedgwood built his partnership with Bentley; Arkwright started to buy steam engines. As long as uncertainty was high, ideas and inventions could not be attributed a reliable price. Markets for inventions did not exist. In such circumstances, such networks nourished ideas about unfinished inventions until the price mechanism could be applied to them. Network therefore appear as sets of relationships between individuals (not firms) facing uncertainty. When uncertainty prevails, attentive inventors tend to form networks to share and gather useful information that could lead them to a winning combination of factors. They acquire information, they jointly experiment with others and they enhance their reputation and build their social capital as they interact with established inventors, investors, entrepreneurs, etc. Such relationships can be interpreted as repeated transactions where information is exchanged for free. 105 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 106: Chapter 3. Passion for Experimentation ‘One day when Miss Cunegund went to take a walk in a little neighbouring wood which was called a park, she saw, through the bushes, the sage Doctor Pangloss giving a lecture in experimental philosophy to her mother’s chambermaid, a little brown wench, very pretty, and very tractable. As Miss Cunegund had a great disposition for the sciences, she observed with the utmost attention the experiments, which were repeated before her eyes; she perfectly well understood the force of the doctor’s reasoning upon causes and effects. She retired greatly flurried, quite pensive and filled with the desire of knowledge, imagining that she might be a sufficing reason for young Candide, and he for her.’ Voltaire, Candide The late 18th century in Britain witnessed an intensification of inventive activities as measured by the number of patents registered (see figure 1). The core proposal of this third chapter is that, during this period, a widespread passion for Experimentation stimulated the development of a new set of norms, incentives, and organisational structures that led economic agents to develop a preference for business activities and investments that involved experiments and inventive activities. 106 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 107: Figure 1: Number of patents registered per annum (Source: Mcleod, 1988) Institutional economics suggests that institutional arrangements can impact the economic evolution of a region, country or group of countries (North, 2005; Eggertsson, 1990). Institutions consist of formal and informal rules that offer incentives and impact the choice of individuals (North, 1990; Williamson, 2000). Formal rules, such as constitutions, laws and property rights, are the results of the exercise of power and a cumulative change process. Rules embedded in customs and cultures tend to remain in place for long periods of time; changes in informal rules tend to occur gradually. Different governance mechanisms ensure the coordination of human activities in market economies. The market and the firm are the most classic forms of governance. Other forms of governance such as alliances, collaborations and networks have been extensively studied over the past decades. Such governance mechanisms are supported by the institutional environment that surrounds them. Individuals, through their choices and actions, provide the fundamental input for the governance mechanisms to operate effectively. They also influence the institutional environment over time. The behaviours, skills and knowledge that pay off appear as a function of the incentive structure inherent in the institutions (North, 2005). The widespread interest for balloons during the late 18th century is first presented as an illustration of the growing public interest for Experimentation (Section I). Then, the interrelationships between Experimentation and entertainment (Section 2) and the account of 107 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 108: the life and work of Joseph Priestly (Section 3) will contribute to demonstrate that Experimentation became a common denominator to many social fields such as art, religion, education and politics. Section I. Balloons, igniting a passion for Experimentation The analysis of the causes of the intensification of inventive activities during the second part of the 18th century starts in France with the invention of the balloon by the Brothers Montgolfier, Joseph and Etienne, the sons of a wealthy paper manufacturer. The aim here is not to look at the inventive abilities of the brothers Montgolfier but to understand how the contemporaries of the two brothers reacted to such inventions. Like no other discovery, the balloon captured the imagination of the people of that time and contributed to inspire interest for Experimentation. In this regard, the most relevant events took place in the year 1783, with the first public demonstrations of balloons in France. After some successful attempts in Annonay, their home town, the two brothers organised a demonstration at the Court of Louis XVI, in Versailles. Because it was the biggest balloon they had ever made, the demonstration was in itself a daring experiment. As a matter of fact, the balloon they had built did not resist an early trial due to the rain. A new balloon of 1,400 m3, 400kg and shaped as a sphere was built in five days. As expected, on 19 September 1783, it took its ascent in front of Louis XVI, with a sheep, a duck and a cockerel as passengers. The balloon reached 500 meters and flew eight minutes over three and a half kilometres. This first success made a strong impression on many of the people present at the Court, including the Queen of France who used her influence to permit the first human flight. It took place on 21 November with Pilatre de Rozier on board. They flew nine kilometres over Paris. Pilatre de Rozier later died dramatically during an attempt to cross the channel in a balloon from France to England. The brothers pursued their experiments in Paris, Lyon and other towns, rallying passionate crowds every time. In December 1783, the two brothers were appointed at the French ‘Académie des Sciences’ and were knighted in April 1784. Their motto was ‘Sic itur ad astra’ (‘this is how one can reach the sky’). Following the first flight of the Montgolfier brothers, a popular interest rapidly spread in France and 108 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 109: beyond. Everyone, poor or rich, educated or not, saw in the balloon an exciting sign of the time. Poets celebrated the events, for instance, Gudin de Brenellerie (Anglade, 1990) wrote: ‘Montgolfier taught us how to create a cloud. His surprising genius, as bold as wise Under an immense sail locking up the steam, By its ability, destroys heaviness. Our audacity, soon will know how to use it We will subdue the air, the mobile element…’ The sheep, the hen and the duck, the three passengers of the first flight instantly inspired artists and singers. Engravings commemorated their adventure. Chairs and clocks were designed with balloon as ornaments. Less affluent people could buy crockery decorated with naive pictures of balloons. Marion (2004) described this wide interest: ‘(B)alloon mania was manifested in a thousand and one ways. It swept through arts and literature, even everyday life. One had merely to claim that an object was ‘au ballon’ (in the balloon style) for sales to increase. Ceramics are a perfect example. Often inexpensive plates and teapots enabled people of all classes to own a tangible souvenir of the great invention.’ Newspapers all around Europe reported the first flights. People from all walks of life were fascinated by the balloons. Horace Walpole wrote: ‘(B)alloons occupy senators, philosophers, ladies, everybody’ (Keen, 2006). Even though the balloon ended up being a pretty useless invention, many applications were foreseen and formed the subject of discussion between people: it could help to explore new parts of the world and to bring back some bird’s eye views of their scenery. It could help prisoners to escape from prison, it could help physicists to understand natural phenomenon such as lightning and clouds. It could help to draw the map of cities and kingdoms. It could help generals to conduct wars. It could help the police to carry on the secret service, etc. In 1784, balloons were built with unexpected shapes, such as a barrel of whisky, a sausage, bottles, etc. (Anglade, 1990). 109 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 110: Carlyle 55 (Keen, 2006) saw the balloon as a symbol of this period. He wrote ‘the beautiful invention; mounting heaven ward, so beautiful, so unguidably! Emblem of much and of our Age of Hope itself’. This is also perfectly illustrated by the story reported by Marion (2004) about the Marechal Villeroi: ‘an octogenarian and an invalid, was conducted to one of the windows of the Tuileries, almost by force, for he did not believe in balloons. The balloon, meanwhile, detached itself from its moorings; the physician Charles, seated in the car, gaily saluted the public, and was then majestically launched into space in his air-boat; and at once the old Marechal, beholding this, passed suddenly from unbelief to perfect faith in aerostatics and in the capacity of the human mind, fell on his knees, and, with his eyes bathed in tears, moaned out pitifully the words, ‘Yes, it is fixed! It is certain! They will find out the secret of avoiding death; but it will be after I am gone!’’. The balloon contributed to a passion for Experimentation and ignited the belief that many things were possible. The story of the balloon is emblematic of this period of history. Experiments were attempts to reach what was not reachable before, demonstrations of the wonders of nature mastered by men caught the attention of everyone in society. New was good and Experimentation was the way to get there. This example shows how Experimentation and popular enthusiasm could blend together and raise the hopes placed in inventive activities. But balloons were not the sole invention that captured the minds of people Section II. Experimentation and entertainment Mechanical wonders and the magic of electricity were common sources of entertainment throughout the 18th century. Experiments became demonstrations and demonstrations turned out to be entertaining for all people. Hauksbee, an assistant of Bacon, the philosopher, developed in 1706 a machine with a wheel and globe where, after some time turning the wheel, an electric light would start to shine and flashes would start to spark across the globe of glass. Luminosity created a mysterious atmosphere that delighted many. 55 Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)was a British historian and essayist who wrote about the French revolution. 110 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 111: After the discovery of the Leyden jar 56 by Pieter van Musschenbroek in 1745, Nollet, a French scientist, arranged some spectacular demonstrations of its power at the Court in France. He gave a shock to 180 royal guards and, later, joined 700 monks in a circle to a Leyden jar leading to a surprising effect for both the monks and the public. The wide interest in electricity encouraged lecturers and instrument makers to follow on that road. Those itinerant teachers travelled across Europe and offered lectures for both the learned and the uneducated. Hochadel described the content of the lessons of one of them, Giacomo Bianchi: ‘(a) report of his activities in Swabia from 1759 mentions the following phenomena: a one-foot-long electrical spark can be drawn from the machine, an entire deck of cards as well as six eggs can be struck through, several animals are killed, butter, oil as well as gunpowder can be ignited, different metals can be melted. The list seems endless and there is hardly one trick missing which had made electricity so popular in the 1740’s: the electric chime, the beatification, which makes the hair of a person ‘glow’, the electric spider and so on and so forth.’ Such lectures ignited sparks of interest for those who wanted to replicate the wonders of the masters. Experiments, at that time, had to accept the laws of fashion and the interest for electricity declined during the 1760’s and the 1770’s, until the medical application of electricity revived the public interest. University professors, far from being secured in their position, had to make their classes enjoyable for their students and to look for patrons. They used experiments to cause the most seductive effects on both of these audiences. This trend explains the circumstance of the recruitment of Watt by the University of Edinburgh. Sometimes, experiments were turned into pure entertainment. Edgeworth, one of the members of the Lunar Society, attended, for instance, a show in London by the ‘Celebrated Comus’ that was described as ‘a combination of Magic and Parlour-science’. Together with a friend, he created a show of his own which won him many acquaintances in London (Schofield, 1963). 56 Device for storing static electricity discovered accidentally and investigated by the Dutch physicist Pieter van Musschenbroek of the University of Leiden in 1746. 111 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 112: It is interesting to note that experiments started to appear on paintings. It was more specifically the case in the work of Joseph Wright who was closely associated with the Lunar experimenters but who was not formally part of them. As a painter, he was interested in light and in the technical practicalities of his art. In 1766, he caused some stir within the artistic gentry when he presented his painting: ‘A philosopher giving that lecture on the Orerry, in which a lamp is put in place of the sun’. The philosopher on this painting explains the functioning of an eclipse, demonstrating therefore the value of experiments and knowledge in dissipating fears and educating people. The attention of children and adults, of men and women, seems intense and the painter illustrated that demonstrations and experiments could attract the interest of all people. In another painting, he represented ‘An experiment on a bird in the air pump’. He chose there to represent the archetypal instrument used in experiments at the time: the air pump. The history of balloons and this description of the relationship between entertainment and Experimentation help to understand how experiments became of so much interest in the late 18th century. Many individuals developed an interest in the entertaining nature of experiments. They also developed the belief that those experiments announced an ‘Age of Hope’. The aggregation of those individual interests is best described as a ‘passion’, a passion that contributed to some transformation of the institutional environment of the time. It is misleading to regard the popularisation of science as an unimportant event compared to a fantasized development of a noble and academic science. This view has been expressed by Oliver Hochadel: ‘(t)o say that itinerant lecturers and instrument makers only performed eyecatching tricks while the institutionali(s)ed scientists did the ‘real’ research would be to misconstrue the character of eighteenth-century scientific practice. Despite being called ‘the Age of Reason’, the eighteenth century is a ‘visual culture’. Science, and in particular electricity, was fashionable, not because it was useful but because it was entertaining. The visual character of a large part of natural philosophy is not peripheral or negligible but central to its ‘success’, i.e. the widespread public attention. And therefore a strict dichotomy between the ‘playful’ electricians and the ‘serious’ natural philosophers would be completely misleading. The practice of electricity in academies and universities is often no less performative than that of itinerant lecturers and instrument makers.’ 112 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 113: The study of the life and life-work of Joseph Priestley, a chemist, presents the relationship between Experimentation and a number of social practices such as education, politics and religion. Experimentation was a common denominator to social practices in 18th century Britain. Section III. Experimentation, education and religion, the figure of Joseph Priestley The following analysis shows how Experimentation made its way in some of the social practices that constituted the institutional environment, such as the political, the religious and the educational arena. In order to do this, along with generic evidences, the life of Joseph Priestley, one of the inventors of chemistry seems particularly appropriate to enhance the understanding of such phenomenon. During his youth, following a popular path similar to the one of Josiah Wedgwood or Erasmus Darwin, experimenting was a source of entertainment for Joseph Priestley. His brother told the story that he used to put spiders in bottles to see how long they would live (Uglow, 2002). When he grew older, Priestley became a precursor of modern chemistry, a polemist, a priest and a teacher at the same time. Experimentation was at the core of all of those activities. As a man of experiments, even more than as a man of science, he wrote a history of electricity. He chose to write a history as it was best suited to arouse ‘sublime emotions’ (Uglow, 2002). He wanted to show that no genius was required to experiment in an attempt to convince many to try. He often insisted on the accidental nature of discovery for the same purpose. This also reinforced the providential nature of discoveries. He experimented with water and gas and was recognised as a pioneer of modern chemistry. He insisted that experimental apparatus should be kept inexpensive and easy so many people could use them. He opposed Lavoisier, the French chemist, on the grounds, that he was not adhering to such principles. He opposed what he called speculative theories: ‘speculation is a 113 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 114: cheap commodity. New and important facts are most wanted and therefore of most value’ (Golinski, 1992). As a teacher, Priestley offered courses at Warrington, a dissenting academy. He bought scientific instruments, such as an air pump and an electrical machine. He taught his students, boys and girls, to use them, to maintain them and to entertain their family with them. According to him, the result was that he ‘considerably extended the reputation of (his) school’ (Uglow, 2002). Courses were also opened for the local population. Many itinerant lecturers incorporated the experiments he had described in his books in their performances. Before him, chemistry was not part of such curriculum. He advocated a liberal education that would give significant room to experiments. This was, in his eyes, a means to improve business. As a man of religion, he started as a dissenting preacher in Suffolk. He saw science as a means to understand the working of the divine providence in nature. He belonged to the Unitarian church. His religious views were intimately mixed with his views in politics. For example, he preached: ‘(l)et all the friends of liberty and human nature join to free the minds of men from the shackles on narrow and impolitic laws. Let us be free ourselves, and leave the blessings of freedom to our posterity’ (Uglow, 2002). As a polemist, he was an enthusiast, he expressed his belief with grandiose terms: ‘(t)he morning is upon us and we cannot doubt that the light will increase, and extend itself more and more into the perfect day.’ His vision of the future was supported by the belief that experimenting with electricity or chemistry would unleash humans from their chains, allowing them to question the authority of the traditional and corrupted powers that reigned at this time: the political system and the Church. He promoted emancipation and social progress. He supported the French revolution and wrote some political pamphlets that led him to be seen as an insurgent. When his house near Birmingham was destroyed, he moved to London. He had, in the end, to leave for America, where he retired. 114 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 115: Priestley is not a ubiquitous case, the Unitarian church 57 was highly supportive of political transformation and saw Experimentation as a means for emancipation. Dissenters mainly came from the middle-class involved in commerce, industry or finance. Josiah Wedgwood’s grandfather was a Unitarian minister. Unitarians believed that knowledge based upon reason and experiment was preferable to dogma. Unitarians believed in free enquiry, free worship and voluntary prayers. Another emblematic example is Reverend William Willet, who preached at Newcastle-under-Lyme. He was of the view that the truth about God’s creation was to be found through experimental practices. The reverend pursued the development of improved telescopic lenses. His adage was ‘Invention without Experiment signifys very little.’ He later married Josiah Wedgwood’s sister. Wedgwood borrowed books on chemistry from him. Methodists also had an interest in Experimentation. John Wesley was spreading around his religion from one village to another, throughout America and England. He had written ‘Electricity made plain and useful’, a summary of Benjamin Franklin’s discoveries. Dissenting academies stressed natural philosophy and opposed traditional education that was promoting the classics, literature, theology and other established disciplines. ------------------------------------------------------- Closing remarks on Experimentation and institutional transformation The interest for experiments had started at the royal courts across Europe. It offered many opportunities for scientists to pursue their work as long as they would amaze the nobility. The success of scientific demonstrations and experiments gained ground well beyond the courts of Europe. Many people wanted to see the wonders of electricity and of the balloons that could reach the sky. This passion for Experimentation grabbed people’s mind in countries like France and Britain. It was grounded in the preferences of individuals, in their This church had dissented from the Church of England. In England, Unitarianism got off to a bad start. Most notable is John Bidle (1615-1662), who looked to reason, rather than tradition, for guidance and ended up dying in prison where others like him were burned. 57 115 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 116: knack for amazement and, at the same time, stimulated their interest for new phenomena. It made people believe that what still appeared as impossible could soon become a reality. Experimentation was entertaining, educational and stimulated optimism. Individuals like Priestley promoted together Experimentation as part of religious, educational and political activities. Art started to represent experiments, university professors used experiments to attract students. Many clubs and network of inventors, such as the Lunar Society, were collective arrangements that contributed to the diffusion of new knowledge and ideas while they also promoted Experimentation. The institutional environment of the time was transformed, new attitudes emerged and people saw Experimentation as a practical way of addressing the challenges they encountered. Protestant and dissenters provided many first generation entrepreneurs and inventors. Hagen (1962), Jeremy (1988, 1998), Bergoff (1995) and Merton (1938), also found that puritans and dissenters tended to be overrepresented in the Royal Society. Following the thesis of Weber (1905), it led scholars to see a link between the religious values of Protestantism and the spirit of capitalism. This can also be interpreted differently in the light of the present analysis. The passion for Experimentation reached people from many different backgrounds and origins in Britain but the Protestants and dissenters, more than any other group, integrated Experimentation in their education, religion and political activities. This passion stimulated the development of a new set of norms, incentives, and collective arrangements that were even more significant for people from this religious obedience. As a consequence, many economic agents developed a preference for occupations and investments that involved pursuing experiments and inventive activities. In this context, the intensification of inventive activities was the result of a much wider number of individuals who used Experimentation as an approach to guide their decision. It was the outcome of a passion for Experimentation that had created an incentive for people to embrace and support inventive activities. Douglas North remarked that ‘institutions reduce uncertainty by providing a structure to everyday life’ (North, 1990). The case studied here is a perfect illustration of this as it connects together uncertainty, Experimentation, the intensification of inventive activities and the 116 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 117: institutional environment. Economists have paid significant attention to the role of formal rules provided by the legal environment (Hodgson, 2006). Here, the widespread passion for Experimentation falls in a different category, informal rules, customs and culture. Yet, because such a collective passion, together with other forces, have profoundly transformed the institutional environment of Britain during the late 18th century, it is valuable to understand how such changes can provide a different set of incentives to people and impact the preferences of agents. 117 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 118: Part 2. Inventing during the late 19th century in America Preliminary Chapter - Overview of the late 19th century The 18th century saw the development of mechanisms and machines alongside the mastering of power technologies such as the steam engine. Inventions were the result of many improvements made by craftsmen as part of their work but some people started to make their lives revolve around inventive activities. They appeared as a passion for Experimentation had spread across Europe, people from all walks of life enjoyed the experimental tricks of the itinerant lecturers. Some of them developed a scientific curiosity and saw nature as an endless chest full of ideas and resources that could help to emancipate people and bring them money. This passion encouraged people to defy uncertainty and some of them started to form networks, such as the Lunar Society in England. Amongst peers, they exchanged ideas, shared scientific and technical information, they organised experiments together and, sometimes, they joined forces to persuade other people of the value of their ideas. The A-E-P triptych helped us to understand how some of those individuals brought to life new modes of production within the textile industry, steam engines with multiple applications and a revolution in the pottery business that turned into a fashion industry serving the rising wealthy class. The second historical period investigates the inventive practices in America that surrounded the development of networks such as the train, the telegraph, the telephone or the electric system. The rail and the telegraph were loosely coupled systems that emerged out of a machine shop culture thanks to the contribution of many inventive minds and hands. These large-scale technical systems were fertile soil for the development of large firms. The history of the railroad industry will provide an interesting testing ground to see if the A-E-P triptych can help to understand the transformation of an industry structure and, more specifically, the evolution of the collective arrangements supporting inventive practices. Electricity and 118 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 119: the telephone were tighter systems which needed master architects to develop them. The career inventors studied in this part dedicated their lives and work to inventive practices. They haunted the same cities where they could meet with master mechanics, scientists, lawyers, financiers and businessmen. Some of them established laboratories where their collaborators worked systematically on their inventive endeavour. They became public figures and promised to people that the magic of invention would enlighten their life when in fact technological progress was paving the way for a new kind of war. The first part studies the individual abilities of three career inventors: Alexander Bell (Chapter I. Section I), Thomas Edison (Chapter I. Section II) and Elmer Sperry (Chapter I Section. III). The focus is to be on inventors who pioneered new fields and brought radical changes; who acted as master architects for new systems, such as the telephone or electricity, and who saw their inventive endeavour turned into large businesses. At that time, towns like Boston offered to attentive inventors many information and resources they needed: libraries, scientific institutions, the expertise of many other inventors and access to investors. They conducted systematic investigation of patents, technical and scientific literature and they performed systematic search for appropriate materials. They enjoyed working on a diversity of projects that cross fertilised each other and they learned to recognise when to invest in a business field. Experimenting still included painstaking trial and error. Sometimes, metaphors and analogies acted as guides for experiments. Finalising an invention often meant systematically testing design parameters in search for the most efficient solutions. Some inventors created their own laboratory where teams of experimenters and machinists worked together. To persuade others, they often simply demonstrated their talents to investors and potential business partners who were eager to rip some benefits from the transformations at play in America. They used their eloquence and self-fashioned themselves to become public figures and brands synonym of magic and progress. The understanding of late 19th century is somehow broad here. The starting point of this period is the end of the civil war in 1865 and the end point is the engagement of America in the First World War in 191758. 58 This reasoning follows the logic of Hobsbawm, an Historian who wrote an essay entitled The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century in which he suggested the 20th century started with the First World War (Hobsbawm, 1994). 119 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 120: Alexander Bell is the well known inventor of the telephone. He was chosen as he is a transition figure between the 18th century inventor, with a curiosity for the gifts of nature, and the 19th century professional and independent inventor who established large businesses. More than any other inventor, he illustrates the figure of the inventor who depended on entrepreneurs and managers to mainstream their work. Thomas Edison was chosen as he is the archetypal figure of the American industrial revolution. His contribution goes well beyond the light bulb to cover the whole electrification process and many other technical and business fields. Edison brought the division of labour to Experimentation and inventive activities by creating two laboratories: Menlo Park and the Orange Lab. Elmer Sperry, with more than 350 patents, is without a doubt a career inventor. He has been active in a diversity of business and technical fields such as electric lighting, mining machinery, electric devices for trolley cars, electric automobiles, gyroscopes, gyrocompass, torpedoes and aeroplane stabilizers. He applied his understanding of electrical and control systems to this diverse group fields. Sperry was chosen for this reason and because he was a successful engineer and entrepreneur beyond being a professional inventor. At the same time, the rail industry was the first sector where large businesses decided to rely on engineers for routine invention, standardisation and improvement thanks to a collective arrangement called in the present dissertation ‘inventive hierarchy’. This transformation occurred during the last thirty years of the 19th century. Its analysis provides both insights into the functioning of a diversity of collective arrangements and remarkable perspective on the transformation of an industry throughout history. In this context, A-E-P triptych will contribute to describe and understand the evolution of the collective arrangements supporting inventive activities within an industry. This will be an opportunity to comprehend how it complements the analysis in terms of transaction costs. Seminal contributions to the economic theory of the firm such as the ones of Knight, Coase and Williamson will be juxtaposed to the A-E-P triptych in order to interpret the salient facts observed as part of the transformation of the railroad industry (Chapter 2). 120 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 121: Before studying the three career inventors, some elements of context can help to characterise the late 19th century in America. Even though America resists a simple and homogeneous description, three salient facts can be outlined. The country faced a secession war during the 1860’s. Following the war, the economic system was unified. (1) A transportation and communication system developed rapidly across the country. The North-East saw the rapid development of urbanisation while the West acted as a promised land for an ongoing flow of emigrants coming mainly from Europe. (2) New business practices emerged with the rise of large firms. The rail, the telegraph, the telephone and electricity were the emblems of a profound transformation. (3) They were the fruits of what was called the ‘Yankee ingenuity’, a knack for practical problems in a vibrant and vast new country. (1) The development of the transportation system was a necessity in a young, large and demographically dynamic country it was also economically significant. Roads, canals and trains contributed to an open market and stimulated the economy. They were widely supported by governments. The Cumberland road, the first national road, was started in 1811. The Erie Canal was opened in 1825. This was the route connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. It was mainly financed by the states themselves. It was both an engineering and a financial success. The Canal helped New York City to become a major trading centre. However, roads and canals were going to face fierce competition from a new mode of transportation, the rail, an emblem of America in the making. Over 100,000 miles of tracks were laid between 1877 and 1893, therefore doubling the network. On 10 May 1869, at Promontory Utah, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific lines met, connecting the Mississippi Valley and the Pacific coast. The Southern States, Chicago were connected through rail to the rest of the country. The development of a railroad in America was supported by the state and local authorities which granted land, offered tax concessions and bought their bonds. Railroad had significant economic impacts. First, the sheer size of the project itself was economically considerable: railroads needed workers to build and operate their lines. It also stimulated the production of steel on a large scale. Secondly, such a network of transport facilitated economic exchanges and growth. The development of the railroad also led to some institutional harmonisation, such as the adoption of a time zone 121 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 122: system. The telegraph, a new system of communication, developed along the lines of the railroads. In 1844, Samuel F. B. Morse created his signalling code for the telegraph. By 1860, the telegraph connected the country from the Eastern coast to the Mississippi. However railroad companies were pitiless in exploiting their dominant position: they fixed prices at their convenience, discriminated among customers and favoured the development of corruption. (2) The business practices during this period were transformed by an increasing specialisation, the expansion of markets and capital accumulation. This was a time when large firms started to flourish and when the question of monopoly took on a new significance. The so-called ‘tycoons’, moguls or business barons started to create business empires and amassed vast financial powers. The railroad sector was the first to see the emergence of large corporation but it was followed by others. For example, in the oil sector, Rockefeller organised the Standard Oil Co. by buying out small manufacturers and integrating them. Andrew Carnegie took a dominant position in the steel business through a combination of technical advantage and rapid expansion. J.P. Morgan built an empire in banking and invested in nascent industries. It was often done with the use of a new organisational form: the trust 59. It was no surprise that this series of business consolidation resulted in reduced competition and an increase in profits for small groups of shareholders. If political leaders first adopted a ‘laissez faire’ approach with limited interference in economic affairs, they started, at the end of the 19th century, to change their views as pressure groups, small businesses and labour movement started to ask them to intervene. Here again, the railroad was ahead of other industries with the voting of a law regulating railroad in 1887, this was the Interstate Commerce Act. This law made it illegal for a railroad to charge more for a short haul than for a longer one. In 1890, the Sherman Act was passed to prevent monopoly to control a single industry. It took ten years in order to use it to break up a monopoly. Under this pressure, trusts, such as Standard Oil, became holding companies. Anticompetitive behaviour continued to flourish in industry such as tobacco with the creation of the American Tobacco Company and, in sugar, with the American Sugar Refining Company. In the meantime, the business barons started to employ 59 In such an organisation, the voting rights of a controlling number of shares of competing firms were gathered by a small group of men, who could therefore prevent competition among the companies they controlled. 122 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 123: managers, the ‘visible hand of the capitalist system’ elegantly described by A. Chandler (1977). The use of the capital necessitated a larger number of workers and larger plants than ever before. Administrative structure and coordination by managers replaced Adam Smith's invisible hand and became a core mode of governance of the economic system. (3) In the 1870’s, government support for engineering and science was limited. It was dedicated to geological survey and agriculture in order to support the ‘Go West’ movement. However, only a few universities offered advanced degrees in sciences and engineering. Most people interested in these fields had to study in Germany. The situation changed over the years. The Morrill Land-Grant Acts provided land to State colleges 60. It was very much dedicated to support the agricultural research. Private philanthropy also provided funds to universities. New educational programmes were offered including doctoral ones. In 1900, universities graduated hundreds of scientists and engineers. Nevertheless, compared to Europe, America was not a land of basic science. As part of a young nation in expansion, Americans were facing very practical challenges and they had to solve problems. The socalled ‘Yankee ingenuity’ was at work. People who had some interest and aptitude for technical matters were attracted by those numerous practical issues that needed to be solved. Transport and communication issues topped the list. The maxim ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ applies perfectly to the American situation during the 19th century. Furthermore, the deep interest in inventive practices led to the development of a modern patent system and, in return, the patent system served the development of inventive activities. In addition, the realisations of inventors fostered the development of a passion for invention. American citizens loved and admired their inventors for the new technologies such as electric lighting or the phonograph. They enjoyed the rising number of articles in the press that described their work and the new technology that were brought to life by them. Such a passion for invention stimulated vocations for inventive activities. It can be illustrated by this quote in which Lincoln, in 1859, celebrated inventions as a true distinctive trait of the nation: ‘(w)e, here in America, think we discover, and invent, and improve faster than any of (our predecessor nations) (…). In anciently inhabited countries, the dust of ages – a real downright oldfogyism – seems to settle upon, and smother the intellects and energies of man. It is in this view The Morrill Act was passed in 1862, it granted each state tracts of land that could be used to finance new agricultural and mechanical schools. 60 123 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 124: that I have mentioned the discovery of America as an event greatly favouring and facilitating useful discoveries and inventions’ (Usselman, 2002). Finally, inventions fuelled the rise of large corporations and helped a new class of capitalists to become rich. These business barons shared the country interest for inventions. They financed inventors and recruited engineers who came up with promising solutions from which their business could benefit. This virtuous circle can be summarised in the following figure. A passion for invention The multiplication of practical problems Inventive practices The rise of large systems and corporations Efficient patent system Figure 2: Virtuous cycles of inventive practices during the late 19th century in America 124 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 125: Chapter I. Inventors at the age of large systems Section I. Alexander Bell Alexander Graham Bell was born in Edinburgh on 3 March 1847. He is a career inventor with about 30 individual and collective patents related to telegraphs, telephones, medical devices, aeronautics, engineering structures, etc. His interests went well beyond the invention of the telephone, pursuing what he felt would be useful to the world and what he felt passionate about. All his life, he dedicated his efforts to teaching deaf people how to speak. His grandfather, father, uncle and brothers were all engaged in work on elocution and speech. His mother and his wife were deaf. At the age of 12, Bell showed his knack for inventing. He was playing with the son of a neighbour who owned a flour mill. The father of his friend asked the two boys to remove the husk from the wheat, a long and laborious task. Bell built a rudimentary de-husking machine using rotating paddles and nail brushes (Mackay, 1997). The machine was subsequently used for a number of years. At the age of 15, Bell moved to London to live with his widowed grandfather. The older man, with his zeal for education and his belief in the importance of eloquence, had a major influence on Alexander Bell. At the age of 16, back in Scotland, he became a teacher of elocution and music at the Weston House Academy. He studied at the University of Edinburgh and taught in Bath in 1866 and 1867. During those years, his scientific curiosity for the human voice became his main leisure pursuit, for example, he joined the Philological Society and took some courses in anatomy and physiology at the University College in London. In 1867, Bell’s father published his work on visible speech: a system of symbols that can be used to represent any sounds the human voice can produce. He had developed it some years before but kept it secret, hoping to attract some funding from government in order to diffuse it. His three sons helped him with demonstrations. Finally, Bell’s father did not 125 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 126: receive the recognition he was eager to get. He was, however, invited to Canada and America to demonstrate his system. The same year, Alexander Bell lost his younger brother to tuberculosis and, three years later, in May 1870, his other brother also died from complications of tuberculosis. The Bell family decided to move to Canada and to settle in Ontario. There, Alexander Bell learned the Mohawk language and translated its vocabulary into visible speech. He left for Boston the year after. His father had been offered a position by Sarah Fuller, Principal of the ‘Boston School for Deaf Mutes’. He declined the offer and recommended his son. There, Alexander enjoyed many successes with teaching elocution using visible speech to deaf mutes and he went on to open his own class in October 1872. Deaf mutes were traditionally considered stupid by society and the progress Bell helped them to achieve enthused parents and scholars. In 1872, Alexander Bell developed the idea that his work on acoustics could lead to a multiple telegraph that would send numerous messages simultaneously along a single wire. He progressed with experiments during his leisure time and often late at night. He became Professor of Vocal Physiology and Elocution at the Boston University School of Oratory. His time was fully absorbed by the teaching and the experiments he conducted. In order to keep time for his experiments on his multiple telegraphs 61, Bell decided to concentrate his efforts on two private students: ‘Georgie’ Sanders, a six-year old boy, son of a leather merchant and 15-year old Mabel Hubbard. The fathers of the two pupils became the financial backers and associates of Bell from February 1875 (Grosvenor & Wesson, 1997). Mabel Hubbard became his wife in 1877. Free from other obligations, Bell was able to concentrate on his experiments and started to employ Thomas Watson, an experienced mechanical and electrical designer. Experiments went on throughout 1874 and 1875. In June 1875, while working on his multiple telegraph, they discovered that sound could be transmitted using electric current. They went on and discovered, step by step, the working principles of the telephone. Bell pursued some inventive work afterwards. In 1879, he came The terminology ‘multiple telegraph’ is used here to refer to the work of Bell. This device is sometimes also called ‘acoustic telegraph’ or ‘harmonic telegraph’ by historian and biographers. 61 126 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 127: up with an audiometer to measure hearing ability. This led to the adoption of his name for a unit of measure: the decibel. His ‘Photophone’, developed with Charles Tainter, accomplished a wireless transmission. In 1880, Bell received the Volta Prize from the French government. He used the money to fund the Volta Laboratory in Washington. In this laboratory, he developed, together with his cousin Chichester Bell and Charles Tainter, the ‘Graphophone’, a phonograph using wax cylinders. In 1881, Bell worked on a metal detector following an attempt to assassinate James Garfield, The U.S. president, with a gun. In 1883, he invented a vacuum jacket following the death of his newborn son. A patent was issued to Bell on 7 March 1876 and covered ‘the method of, and apparatus for, transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically (…) by causing electrical undulations, similar in form to the vibrations of the air accompanying the said vocal or other sound.’ This was going to be one of the most money-spinning patent in history and a vastly contested one. The Bell Telephone Company was created in 1877 and the commercialisation of the telephone started at a rapid pace. That year, Bell went on honeymoon to Europe. He demonstrated the telephone to Queen Victoria in England. Back in America, he remained loosely connected with the business. His main role was to defend the rights of his invention. As a matter of fact, the company faced legal challenge from Gray 62 and other inventors. More than 600 litigations, over 12 years were conducted. None of them were lost by Bell and his associates. In 1882, Alexander Bell became an American citizen. He and his family shared their time between Washington and Nova Scotia, in Canada. His interest went well beyond inventive activities. In 1883, Bell contributed to funding the publication of ‘Science’, a scientific journal. He was also one of the founding members of the National Geographic Society. He continued to help the deaf and established the Volta Bureau in 1886 as a centre for studies on the deaf. In 1990, Bell also founded the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to Gray is an American inventor and contestant with Alexander Bell in a famous legal battle over the invention of the telephone. On 14 February, 1876, the day that Bell filed an application for a patent for a telephone, Gray applied for a caveat announcing his intention to file a claim for a patent for the same invention within three months. 62 127 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 128: the Deaf. Bell received many honours and awards before he died of pernicious anaemia on 2 August, 1922. Some of his ideas are still debated today 63. The first part will look at how the Bell family and the city of Boston channelled his attention towards acoustical problems (A/ Attentiveness: family and city as crucibles of inventions). Indeed, the most striking fact when studying Alexander Bell’s life and work is the role of his family, specialists of elocution and speech, son of a deaf mother and the husband of a deaf wife (1). The city of Boston nourished Bell’s work with all he needed to bring the telephone to life (2). Bell had a very strong belief in the value of Experimentation and was ready to learn as much from failure as from success: ‘(i)n scientific researches, there are no unsuccessful experiments; every experiment contains a lesson,’ he wrote, ‘(i)f we don’t get the results anticipated and stop right there, it is the man that is unsuccessful, not the experiment’. In order to develop the telephone, he used analogies, insights from his work on the multiple telegraphs and a systematic approach to guide his experimental work. The full spectrum of Experimentation practices, starting from providential discovery and ending with a quasi-rational or systematic approach was used (B/ Experimentation: analogies, cross fertilization and systematic debugging). This will be studied by looking at the different stages of the development of the telephone from his exploratory work (1) to the optimisation of what was to become a very successful commercial product (2). Some inventors persuade others of the value of their work by associating themselves with prominent partners (C/ Persuasion: prominent partners and occupations). Bell offers an interesting case as he was himself a prominent figure thanks to his work on visible speech (1). This provided him access to the scientific institutions of Boston and led him to find his financial backers. His father-in-law, Hubbard, also played an important role in persuading others of the value of his inventive work (2). He acted as a financial backer but also paid special attention to matters related to patents and to the promotion of Bell’s invention. Finally, Bell turned the demonstration of his invention into a useful but temporary 63 For instance, in 1917, in a paper on the depletion of natural resources, he stated that the unchecked burning of fossil fuels would lead to a ‘sort of greenhouse effect’ and global warming. 128 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 129: occupation that paved the way for a commercial success (3). Bell’s theatrical skills served him to promote the telephone in such a way that it nearly became a business in itself. Quickly the magic of the telephone attracted the attention of the press and potential users. A. Attentiveness: family and city as crucibles 1. Family of Bell channelled his attention toward acoustical problems In February 1879, Bell started to enjoy his nascent wealth. He bought an exemplar of the Encyclopaedia Britannica with the firm intention to read it from A to Z. In 1992, Johnson’s encyclopaedia served him as night reading. He eloquently commented on it: ‘my usual night reading, Johnson encyclopaedia. Find this makes splendid reading matter for night. Articles not too long – constant change in the subject of thought – always learning something I have not known before – provocative thoughts – constant variety’ (Bruce, 1973). Bell’s scientific curiosity had was vast and immensely served his inventive work. Without such a curiosity, the influence of his family on his inventive work would have been of limited impact. Nevertheless, it was his family who channelled his attention towards acoustical problems. Surrounded by specialists of elocution and speech and as the son of a deaf mother and the husband of a deaf wife, one could imagine that Alexander was guided by destiny in his inventive activities. Alexander Bell’s father, Melville Bell, was an elocutionist and a speech teacher. He taught elocution to ministers and children from rich families. He wrote books with the help of his brother David, and he believed a scientific alphabet could be established to represent all possible human sounds. Alexander Bell grew in the shadow of his father and older brothers. In his solitude, he developed an interest for science, Experimentation and technical matters. When he lived in London, Alexander Bell benefited from the lessons of elocution and declamation of his grandfather. It was in London, at the age of 19, that Alexander Bell and his father visited Sir Charles Wheatstone, one of the leading English scientists of that time, who believed that, one day, it could be possible to articulate speech electrically. He owned one of the exemplars of Baron de Kempelen’s speaking machine and, before lending Alexander Bell a copy of the Baron’s book describing the machine, he offered the father and the son the opportunity to listen to it. After this visit, Bell’s father suggested to him and his 129 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 130: brother to conceive a speaking machine. This machine ended up saying ‘Mama’ but, most importantly, Bell, probed by his father, was starting to perform scientific investigations on how speech was produced by human organs. In 1864, Melville Bell had developed his universal alphabet. He taught the system to his three sons who were able to demonstrate that ‘visible speech’ was suitable to transcribe languages such as Arabic, Hindi or Urdu. ‘Visible speech’ started to gain Melville Bell a reputation in America. He declared in the press that he hoped for ‘acoustic and articulative principles be developed, which could lead to mechanical invention no less wonderful and useful than those in optics’ (Bruce, 1973). Melville Bell encouraged by his brother David, opted for a lecture tour in America. During this trip, Melville Bell started to describe the early success of his son Alexander with deaf children. It was this trip to America that led to the establishment of the family in Canada. Alexander Bell was also influenced by his deaf mother who played piano helped by her ear tube. In his youth, Alexander became an excellent pianist and was encouraged by his mother who hired a renowned pianist to give him lessons. Years later, when he was still in England, Alexander Bell developed the idea of an electric piano combining electromagnets, pitchforks and the principle of resonance. He did not turn this idea into a practical device. However, with his understanding of the telegraph he could see that ‘not only could a chord be transmitted over a single wire and unscrambled at the other end, but also a number of simultaneous Morse code messages sent in different pitches. His mind was hovering about the idea of a multiple telegraph, of a kind that would be called ‘harmonic’’ (Bruce, 1973). If it was Bell’s curiosity and his inquisitiveness that helped him to gather the many valuable hints he needed, it is without a doubt Alexander Bell’s family who engaged him during his time in Scotland and England on the right trail to invent the telephone. The following words written much later by his wife outline a portrait of an attentive inventor: ‘(W)hat a man my husband is! I am perfectly bewildered at the number and size of ideas with which his head is crammed… Flying machines to which telephones and torpedoes are to be attached occupy the first place just now from the observation of sea gulls… Every now and then he comes out with ‘the flying machine has quite changed its shape in a quarter of an hour’ or ‘the cigar-shape is dismissed to the 130 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 131: limbo of useless things’. Then he goes climbing about the rocks and forming theories on the origin of cliffs and cave… then he comes home and watches sugar bubbles’ (Bruce, 1973). It was in England that Bell started to explore acoustical phenomenon and to enrich his knowledge of electricity by using telegraphic instruments. However, it was America, and more specifically Boston, that offered him the resources and people he needed to invent the telephone. 2. Boston’s inventive environment: people and libraries Alexander Bell always enjoyed participating in scientific circles even though he could not actively take part in all the ones of which he was a member. Later in his life, when he lived in Washington, he was an assiduous member of the National Academy of Science and the regent of the Smithsonian Institution. He organised Wednesday’s dinners where men of science were invited to debate and discuss recent developments. This interest from Bell for societies was not a late hobby of an established patriarch. Boston with its institutions, scientific circles and libraries played a fundamental role in the birth of the telephone. When Alexander Bell arrived in Boston, he discovered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.). An acquaintance of his father, Professor Monroe, gave him a copy of the latest book on sound of a prominent scientific figure: Tyndall. Bell read his other books at the public library and attended his lectures at the university. This was where he first heard about the undulatory theory of light propagation which he used for his work on the telephone. Soon after he arrived in Boston, he also joined the Social Science Association, visited a number of public exhibitions and attended lectures on experimental mechanics at the M.I.T. His neighbour, Percival Richards had, like many people in America, an interest in electricity. When Alexander Bell started to work on a multiple telegraph by replicating Helmholtz experimental equipments, Richards encouraged him and sometimes helped him with practical tasks as Bell was too clumsy for the programme of work he had assigned to himself. 131 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 132: By pioneering the use of visible speech with deaf children, Alexander Bell gained a professorship in Boston. He commented that this ‘has at once placed me in a new position in Boston. It has brought me into contact with the scientific minds of the city’ (Bruce, 1973). This was also his entry ticket to experiment with Helmholtz equipment. As part of the M.I.T. equipment, he discovered the ‘Phonautograph’ of a Frenchman called Scott, an apparatus with a large wooden cone in which one could speak and transform a sound into a drawing using a membrane diaphragm. He also discovered the ‘Manometric flame’ of Koenig, another Frenchman, in which a membrane fluctuated depending on the sound emitted. Bell saw this as a potential help to teach visible speech and experimenting with this idea brought him very close to the working principle of the phonograph that was later invented by Edison. At the public library of Boylston Street, the largest in America, Bell discovered the book of Baile: ‘The wonders of Electricity’. This is where he got the idea to replace the pitchfork he used in his experiments with some steel reed which gave him the possibility to adjust and tune the pitch. The book also foresaw something that certainly encouraged Bell to pursue his ideas, Baile had concluded that: ‘(h)ence it should be possible to transmit as many musical tones simultaneously through a wire as through the air’(Grosvernor & Wesson, 1997). Bell also started some joint investigation of the human ear together with Blake, a specialist of the subject. They used the temporal bones of bodies from the medical school. Later, Blake re-assured Bell that his ideas were valid from an acoustic point of view, it helped him concentrate on his mechanical work. Blake was also the one who saved the sketches of the harp apparatus, an early concept of the telephone which proved important in later legal matters. All those encounters, books and equipment gave him some hints that proved useful in conceiving the telephone and, more specifically, a key milestone in his thinking process, the harp apparatus. In 1874, as Bell felt threatened by the progress of Gray, his rival, he asked his former neighbour Percival Richards to write down his recollection of his work a year before to keep a testimony of his ideas and achievements at that time. He consulted Professor 132 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 133: Lovering from Harvard and Moses Farmer, a Boston inventor 64. They saw nothing wrong with the ideas and theories of Alexander Bell. However, Farmer thought that turning those into practice would take years and that it would be better to publish his results in a scientific magazine. It led Bell to put aside his work on the telephone in order to concentrate on the multiple telegraphs. However, Henry, a scientist from Washington who had bad recollection of the time he let Samuel Morse developed his idea on the telegraph, convinced him not to publish but to pursue his work until he had a workable device 65. When Bell said he did not have the electrical knowledge, Henry replied to him ‘Get it’. Bell subsequently wrote to his parents: ‘I cannot tell you how much these two words have encouraged me’ (Bruce, 1973). Shortly after this event, Professor Monroe gave him a year’s advance for his lectures. The Boston’s and the Washington’s networks of scientists and inventors were not only a source of valuable information, it was also a place where Bell could get advice as well as moral and financial support. Bell also met in Boston his two financial backers, Hubbard and Sanders, who enabled him to concentrate on his experiments. B. Experimentation: debugging analogies, cross-fertilisation and systematic 1. From the multiple telegraph to the telephone We saw previously how Bell’s family was instrumental in initiating his curiosity for acoustic phenomena. His first experiment was conducted together with his brother Melly, following the challenge given by their father to create a speaking machine. In England, Bell, surrounded by his family and friends, made his early attempts to use an experimental approach which proved to be a first step towards Bell’s future inventive activities. It brought him some of the skills and knowledge he needed, it strengthened his determination and his knack for playful Experimentation. 64. Farmer also recommended Thomas Watson to Bell. He was a young man working for Charles Williams, who made, with his 25 employees, electrical devices in his machine shop. He started to work on the basis of a paid assignment for Bell before joining him on a full time basis. 133 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 134: When he left England for America, Bell had the multiple telegraphs and the electric piano in mind, which served as powerful analogies that guided Bell in the right direction. Bell’s experiments led to the invention of the telephone picture inventive activities as a series of paths that are explored, abandoned, re-explored and, sometimes, end up being conclusive. They also show how different streams of inventive work, such as the multiple telegraphs and the telephone, can cross-fertilize each other. The telephone and the multiple telegraphs were some kind of twin brothers sharing some basic features but with different applications. They were conceived by Bell simultaneously. One could see here Bell’s difficulty to take decisions and to focus on a single invention but the two streams of inventive activities nourished each other with ideas, insights and experimental plots. Moreover, Bell could jump from one to another as he felt he had bumped into a dead end. He could temporarily take away his mind from one problem and explore the other one in the meantime. At the end of 1873, Bell focused his effort on steel reed rheotomes, current-interrupters based on Helmholtz idea. By connecting two rheotomes and two receivers using a wire, Bell assembled his first prototype of a multiple telegraph. The first transmitter worked well but not the second one. As he was trying to find the origin of the failure, he pressed his ear against the transmitter. He noticed a noise that was the first telephonic one (Bruce, 1973). However, he was looking for something else. He noted it in his notebook and pursued his investigation. After some efforts, he concluded that the fundamental principle of the multiple telegraphs had been experimentally validated. The next step was to develop a similar equipment but with multiple stations. To make it possible, he had the idea to use an induction current between the stations and the main lines. After some further reflection, he felt he had reached a dead end and stepped back. He had to develop a new transmitter. He foresaw the possibility of using a receiver as a transmitter but, eventually, discarded this idea which would have brought him very close to the telephone. He went back to the idea of developing a battery powered current which appeared to him as the most promising working solution for the multiple telegraphs. However, shortly after this, his mind was dragged again into acoustic issues, as he had just discovered the Phonautograph and the Manometric flame. He also started his collaboration 134 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 135: on the human ear with Blake. He created a Phonautograph using for a membrane an ear taken from a dead body 66. Having worked on his multiple telegraphs and having furthered his understanding of the human ear, the practical scheme of a telephone came to his mind. He looked back at the idea of induced current and conceived the harp apparatus which was never realised in practice for lack of skills and equipment. Mid-1874, he came back to the multiple telegraphs which he considered a much simpler scheme that he could pursue. Early 1875, Thomas Watson started to help Bell by making several reel-spring rheotome of a new design. A problem of oxidation delayed the final prototype. Experimenting provides many long and strenuous periods of problem fighting and tinkering 67. This prototype was presented to William Orton, President of the Western Unions. Following this, it was decided that it was time to file three patents. As Bell was supposed to refine his multiple telegraphs, he could not prevent his mind from going back to what he called ‘electric speech’. In May 1875 Bell came up with the idea of using a variable resistance. The day after, together with Watson, they were experimenting with this idea without success. The next step they took was to make a diaphragm instrument. However, they continued to improve the multiple telegraphs in parallel. They focused their efforts on the practical enhancement of parts that could benefit both devices. On July 2, 1875,, they succeeded in transmitting unintelligible sound across a house. That night, Bell wrote to his father: ‘(T)his afternoon on singing in front of a stretched membrane attached to the armature of an electromagnet – the varying pitch of the voice was plainly discernible at the other end of the line (300ft) no battery, nor permanent magnet being employed(…). When the sounds are received upon another stretched membrane – instead of a steel spring which can only vibrate to certain pitches – 66 He observed that ‘the sound waves acting on a tiny membrane of the eardrum could move relatively heavy bones. This led him to speculate that sound waves themselves might be strong enough to generate an appreciable current’ (Mackay, 1997). 67 He wrote to his parents ‘I trust you may never know the agony I endured all night and yesterday’ (Mackay, 1997). 135 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 136: it is highly probable that the ‘timbre’ of the voice may be perceived. I feel that I am on the threshold of a great discovery’ (Grosvenor & Wesson, 1997). This letter is considered to be the birth certificate of the telephone. 2. The last mile can be the hardest one Validating a technical concept is very different from having a marketable product. Bell still had many hours of work in front of him before reaching that stage. First, he wanted to eliminate the sparking of intermittent current contacts without using a condenser. He did not remain happy for long with his achievements, as a patent challenge from Gray brought his moral down. He also started to believe that Western Union spies could be after his work. It was time for experiments to be resumed. He pursued some debugging and fine tuning work on his multiple telegraphs, testing various combinations of armature, cells and circuits. He turned the manometric flame into an instrument to measure the electromagnetic effect of undulatory current (Bruce, 1973). In March 1876, he started to use a dish of water as proposed in his spark arrester specification. He noticed a faint sound. As he was adding acid to the water, the sound became louder. He also substituted the tuning fork by a hand bell, it was the only applicable device he had at hand. He discovered that resistance should be varied by varying the area of contact. He sketched some drawings with a needle dipping in the liquid. After refining the experimental apparatus, he tried it with Watson. He reported in his notebook: ‘I then shouted into M [the mouthpiece] the following sentence ‘Mr Watson – Come here – I want to see you.’ To my delight he came and declared that he had heard and understood what I said’ (Bruce, 1973). This was the first audible discussion using a telephone. Unfortunately, not all sound was easily recognisable yet. Stronger current led to gas bubbles in the acid and black deposit on the needle called for regular cleaning. More trials allowed him limited progress. He then stopped this trial and error approach and started to theorize about the problem. He used graph and calculations. The solution that was used a few years later across the nascent industry was in front of him but he was not confident in his theorizing ability (Bruce, 1973). He explored alternative solutions, came up with a practical 136 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 137: application after going through days of fruitless experiments. He finally achieved some success in May after many more trials, observation and some surprises. His telephone was now based on what was called a ‘double pole magneto transmitter’ and a simple reed receiver. At this stage, both vowel and consonants could be heard distinctly. He left his experimental work to demonstrate his work at the Philadelphia International exhibition which ended up being the start of fame for the telephone. It was now time to test the telephone over distance which he did in Canada over five and, then, eight miles. Watson joined Bell on a full time basis and was offered, on top of his salary, a 10% share in Bell’s patent. Bell reviewed his notebook and found an idea that had been left aside untried. It suggested applying a large metal disk on the transmitter membrane. The trial was a success. In October, Bell and Watson had the first phone conversation in history. Bell wrote: ‘the utterance was perfectly distinct (…). If we can only keep it always so our fortunes are made. The success (peculiarly) of telegraphy (that is, telephony) is no longer an uncertainty. I know that my fortune is in my own hands. I know that complete and perfect success is close at hand’ (Bruce, 1973). A stern contrast with the letter he had a few months before. Now, it was a matter of fine tuning the telephone. They embarked on a highly systematic approach to Experimentation, varying each part while keeping the others constant. They debugged the phone step by step, eliminating defects as they were discovered. As part of this effort, Bell re-considered the variable resistance method that was going to be the standard a few years after but he abandoned it again. Bell’s approach to Experimentation was very much guided by trial and error logic. These trials and errors were sometimes close to a pure random exploration, pursuing a promising idea. Other times, they were more systematic in order to eliminate problems and defects. The latter approach became more and more important as the development of the telephone progressed, as uncertainty vanished leaving a strong belief that success was at hand. In April 1877, the first regular telephone line was established between the shop and the house of Charles Williams, who was now manufacturing the telephone for Bell. The first 137 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 138: ‘real’ customer was recorded in May 1877 and income started to arrive the same month. In July, the first telephone company was established and financial success lay ahead. This was also the result of Bell’s abilities to persuade others and to surround himself with people who could help him to do so. C. Persuasion: prominent occupations and partners 1. Visible speech, visible Bell Some inventors persuade others of the value of their work by associating themselves with prominent partners. The case of Bell offers an interesting derivative, as he was himself a prominent figure thanks to his work on visible speech. It provided him access to the scientific institutions of Boston and led him to find viable and interested financial bankers. Visible speech had made Bell a visible man. Using the system developed by his father: ‘visible speech’, Bell started to teach the deaf how to speak. At first, his intention was to promote visible speech but quickly helping deaf people became his main goal. His energy, his enthusiasm and his achievement in the field rapidly enhanced his reputation in Boston. However, it was in May 1868 in England that Alexander Bell started to use visible speech to teach deaf mutes. It was Susanna Hull, who was running a school for deaf children in South Kensington, who gave him the opportunity. He started with two young girls: Lotty, 6 years old, and Minna, 8 years old, soon joined by Kate and Nelly, both 8 years old. Using a picture of the face and of the different body parts playing a role in speech, Bell helped them to master a few sounds after the first lesson. After their fifth lesson, they all knew all consonants and some of the vowels. At the age of 21, Alexander Bell’s reputation for teaching deaf children spread rapidly and enquiries started to be addressed to the school. In 1871, teaching visible speech attracted Alexander Bell in Boston. He started with 30 children at the public school for deaf mutes where Sarah Fuller acted as Principal. The first attempts brought magnificent results that deeply impressed the governing committee of the 138 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 139: school 68. The Boston Journal reported on the event. More newspaper reports were published, Bell addressed the American Social Science Association and wrote an article in the American Annals of the deaf and dumb which continued to spread the word about visible speech and the achievements of Bell. In March 1872, accounts of his work had been reported in the national press. The Japanese commissioner for education visited Bell who convinced him of the value of the system for the Japanese language. Bell also established his own school in October that year. In 1873, Bell was offered the professorship of ‘Vocal physiology and elocution’ at the Boston university by Professor Monroe. It gave him access to the academic circles and the experimental equipments of the university. In January 1874, a convention of sixty visible speech teachers was organised. Bell gave the principal lecture. It was also decided to start a periodical, ‘the visible speech pioneer’. Finally, he was invited to lecture at the M.I.T., an entry ticket to mingle with the finest scientific elite of Boston. In October of that year, he was offered to teach Georgie Sanders in Salem in return for a free board and lodging. Bell shared his idea about multiple telegraphs with Thomas Sanders, the father of Georgie, who had a profitable leather business. Sanders offered to support Bell’s experimental work financially. During the same month, Bell met Mabel Hubbard, who had just come back from Europe, and who was to become Bell’s new pupil. Bell was invited to her parent’s house; he played the piano and asked if they knew that a piano could repeat a note sung into it. Within minutes, Bell and Gardiner Hubbard, the father of Mabel, were feverishly discussing the multiple telegraphs. Hubbard was one of the most anxious people in America looking for a workable multiple telegraphs. Bell was now a ‘visible man’ in Boston. This led him to interact with the elite of Boston and, therefore, to secure funding for his experimental work. Bell had gained a reputation in a different field than telegraphy and telephony, it helped him to further his cause and, in the end, to gain a partner that was to play an important role in the invention of the telephone: Gardiner Hubbard. 68 The superintendent of Boston schools found the results ‘more than satisfactory, they are wonderful’ and that ‘(T)he system must speedily revolutioni(z)e the teaching in all articulating deaf-mute school’ (Bruce, 1973). 139 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 140: 2. Family business: the prominent father-in-law Gardiner Hubbard was not just a financial backer. He became Alexander Bell’s father-in-law. He was the strongest advocate of Bell’s multiple telegraph and oversaw patent issues. He dealt with the establishment of the Bell Telephone company. He was the one who saw the benefit of associating Bell’s name to the company. He later had the great idea to recruit Theodore Vail who ran the company successfully for many years. All along the development of the multiple telegraphs and the telephone, he urged Bell to focus his efforts on the telegraph. But he backed up the telephone as soon as he understood its potential. As a lawyer, he used his talent and his acquaintance with patent and to protect Bell’s inventions. Because of potential litigation, he advised Bell to write down every experiment conducted and to send them to him the notes dated and signed. He also suggested withdrawing a caveat Bell had drafted. Gray had already submitted a draft patent and the caveat would only alert him of Bell’s progress without giving any protection to Bell. All legal battles were later handled by Hubbard’s patent attorneys. Hubbard, the thorough businessman, saw an inventor like Bell as someone who tended to procrastinate. He wanted him to abandon teaching visible speech but Bell resisted. Hubbard, without consulting Bell, decided to file a patent on undulatory-current and telephone application on 14 February 1876, a few hours before Gray filed a caveat for a speaking telephone on the liquid variable resistance principle. Hubbard also organised the demonstration of Bell’s telegraph to William Orton, President of the Western Union, the main telegraph company in America. The demonstration was a success. But when Bell met him again in New York, Orton did not show any interest. He had held promising exchanges with Gray and did not want an association with Hubbard, his rival. Hubbard had organized, using his acquaintances, other demonstrations including five Harvard Professors and Pickering from the M.I.T. and wanted Bell to demonstrate his 140 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 141: telephone at the Philadelphia International Exhibition. This exhibition was going to be the most astonishing exhibition that ever took place in America and nearly every American knew about it. Hubbard was part of the committee on Massachusetts’ education and science. Visible speech had its place on the stand and some space was reserved for Bell’s telephone and telegraph. Hubbard insisted that Bell join to meet the jury of the exhibition electrical entry. But Bell was busy with his visible speech teaching engagement. Hubbard insisted and even used his daughter to persuade Bell to join. Hubbard installed Bell in the hotel where the judges were staying. The highlight of the exhibition for Bell was his demonstration of the telephone to the Emperor of Brazil, Dom Pedro, and the judges. Bell explained his telegraph and they played with it. After, he explained the ondulatory theory and offered them to try the transmission of human voice. It was the start of Bell’s career as a demonstrator of the telephone. Bell had written what happened then to his parents: ‘I stated however that this was ‘an invention in embryo.’ I trusted that they would recognise firstly that the pitch of the voice was audible and secondly that there was an effect of articulation. I then went into a distant room and sang into the telephone. Willie Hubbard told me what happened. Sir William listened and heard my voice distinctly. I then articulated the sentence: ‘do you understand what I say.’ He listened again and said: ‘Yes. – Do you – understand – what I say.’ He then exclaimed quite excitedly ‘Where is Mr. Bell – I must see Mr. Bell.’ Willie pioneered the way – but Sir William ran along before him and came suddenly upon me shouting ‘Do you understand what I say.’ – He said ‘I heard the words’ ‘what I say’ – He then requested me to sing and then recite something. Willie told me afterward that he listened to my voice and then started up with the exclamation ‘To be or not to be.’ The emperor then listened and exclaimed in surprise in his broken English ‘I have heard – I have heard’ and then listened again’ (Grosvenor & Wesson, 1997). 3. Demonstrations, fame and buzz Demonstrating an invention helps to promote it. Bell’s theatrical skills had served him to such an extent that it became a business in itself. This brought fame to Bell. Quickly the magic of the telephone worked by itself and attracted the press and potential users like a magnet. The buzz was spreading. 141 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 142: During the Philadelphia exhibition, Hubbard and Bell had neglected the press and not many reports of the telephone were published at first, with the exception of the Boston Globe. In fact, many of the articles in the press about the exhibition had been written in advance. On 27 November, 1876, Bell and Watson demonstrated the telephone over 16 miles of distance, between Boston and Salem, using the Eastern Railroad telegraph wire. The Boston Post reported the imaginings of Bell: ‘Professor Bell doubts not that he will ultimately be able to chat pleasantly with friends in Europe while sitting comfortably at home in Boston.’ Other newspapers reported the news. They started to anticipate the excitement that the telephone would create. Nature, the English scientific newspaper reported an address from Sir William given at the British Association for the Advancement of Science. The lines mentioning Bell in the article published by Nature were quoted in many American newspapers. The Salem demonstration was repeated 69 but this time Bell made 149 dollars out of it, the first revenue from his inventive activities. In February 1877, Bell gave a demonstration of the telephone as part of a series sponsored by the Essex institute. All tickets had been sold in advance. The start of the presentation was delayed. People were tapping their canes on the floor waiting for the ‘show’ to start. Bell appeared on stage and started the demonstration after some explanation. The first sound was echoed by a great burst of applause. Bell wrote the next day: ‘(i)t seems as if an electric thrill went through the audience, and that they recogni(s)ed for the first time what was meant by the telephone’ (Bruce, 1973). At the end, the crowd went on stage, listening to the first account of News dictated by telephone and published the day after in the Boston Globe. Accounts of this demonstration were published in newspapers all over America as well as in London and Paris. He asked other associations 200 dollars to run the demonstration. In April-May, three were given in New York and Boston and in five other cities. Hubbard compared him to Barnum. Entertainment was added to the demonstration, such as opera singers or quartets, with more or less success. The press reported those events using many superlatives and colourful images. The New York Herald found the effect ‘weird and almost supernatural’. These demonstrations and 142 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 143: lectures had turned Bell into a celebrity while he was just trying to cash some money out of his invention. The success was not the one expected but it happily served Bell and his business partners. Later, in England and Scotland, Bell performed again a series of lectures and demonstrations that drew up to 2000 people. The highlight was his demonstration for Queen Victoria of England. She found the demonstration ‘as most extraordinary’. Those comments were largely publicised and contributed to the success of the telephone in England. They increased the fame of Bell 70. After this and throughout his life, Bell has been regularly interviewed and featured in the press. After the invention of the telephone, Bell was famous. Persuading others had become much easier for him. He used this asset to support other inventors who were themselves struggling to persuade people of the value of their work. It was, for example, the case for mechanical flights. Bell defended publicly Langley, a friend of his, who believed it was possible to fly a machine heavier than air. Bell made many enthusiastic and confident statements about such a possibility. A journalist from McClure’s wrote of Bell’s ability to persuade others: ‘Professor Bell has the happy faculty of expressing great ideas in simple words… He is as enthusiastic as a schoolboy thinking of the kite he will make as big as a barn-door. His black eyes flash, and they seem all the blacker contrasted with his white hair; the words tumble out quickly and those who have the good fortune to listen are carried away by the magnetism of the great inventor’ (Bruce, 1973). 70 Bell’s wife wrote at that time: ‘(w)herever you go, on news-paper stands, at news stores, stationers, photographers, toy shops, fancy goods shops, you see the eternal little black box with red face and the word ‘telephone’ in large black letters. Advertisements say that 700,000 have been sold in a few weeks’ (Bruce, 1973). 143 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 144: Section II. Thomas Edison Edison, the American inventor was granted 1,093 patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a record number (see fig 3). Throughout his career, he initiated over 100 businesses and partnerships. Some see him as the creator of the modern method of invention 71. He was active in the telegraph, mining, electricity, music and motion picture industries, to name the most important ones. He played a crucial role in creating the last three. His fellow citizens saw him as one of the most talented representatives of the American genius. Figure 3: Edison, number of patents per year 72 Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, in February 1847. He settled with his family in Port Huron, Michigan, in 1854. He became hearing impaired during his childhood. Edison joined the vibrant crowd of telegrapher operators in 1862, at the age of 15. He tramped from city to city and went through a self-study programme like many of his peers. He started experimenting during this period. He exchanged jokes and developed friendships along the telegraph lines. Being part of this modern guild helped him to advance his career and find employment. In 1926, the Philosopher Whitehead wrote ‘(t)he greatest invention of the 19th century was the invention of the method of invention.’ That method, Whitehead added, ‘has broken up the foundations of the old civili(s)ation.’ 72 Source: http://edison.rutgers.edu/patents.htm, December 2007. 71 144 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 145: Edison started to improve and perfect telegraph equipment for the Western Union Company. He settled in Boston in 1968 and filed his first patent in 1869. He moved to Newark in the same year, where he established a machine shop devoted to telegraphy and printing. By 1871, the year he got married, he was considered ‘the best electro-mechanician in the country’ by the Western Union President, William Orton (Israel, 1998). He started working on duplex technology for telegraphy. After a six months visit in Great Britain in 1873, where he met experts in the field, he established a laboratory in order to understand some electric and chemical phenomena. He invented the quadruplex telegraph in 1874. This was a chief innovation that allowed to transmit in a wire two messages simultaneously in opposite directions. This invention brought significant revenue to Edison and enabled him to establish Menlo Park, a laboratory fully dedicated to experimenting and inventing. He improved the telephone of Bell in 1877 and invented the phonograph in 1878; it brought him public recognition. The following years of his life were dedicated for what is now seen as his main legacy: the commercial development of electricity. The invention of the selfexcited battery in the 1860’s had opened the door for the use of electric system for lighting. However, arc lights were much too bright for domestic use and inventors started their search for an incandescent lamp (Finn, 2004). In 1878, Edison formed the Edison Electric Light Company in New York City with J. P. Morgan and the members of the Vanderbilt family. Edison patented the incandescent light bulb using high resistance carbon filament, in 1879. He was not the first one to envision an electric light bulb but he was the first to turn it into a viable commercial product. However, Edison had to invent much more than the light bulb, he had to create a whole electric system going from the production to the consumption of electricity. In 1880, he founded the Edison Electric Illuminating Company. He opened the Pearl street power station and lit Lower Manhattan in 1882. He filed more than 100 patents during that period. Then, he decided to dedicate his effort solely to his electric business. By 1886, more than 50 stations had been established in the U.S. and a few in Europe. The Edison companies erected stations and manufactured lamps, generators, conductors, meters and other components of his electric lighting system. The business was prospering and the Edison Electric Company capitalisation had now reached 10 million dollars. 145 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 146: In 1886 and 1887, he pursued his work on the phonograph and, in 1888, Edison established a new laboratory: the West Orange laboratory, where he dedicated again his effort to experimenting. Together with up to 100 collaborators, he continued to experiment on electricity and other inventions such as motion picture ones, the kinetograph and the kinetoscope. However, with the success of the alternative current over the direct current that was promoted by Edison, his company merged with the Thomson-Houston company to form General Electric in 1892. Edison started to turn his back on the electricity business. During the late 1880’s, he invested a large amount of his fortune in a mining project to extract iron from low grade ore using magnetic forces. He built a mill in New Jersey and kept on pouring money in this project although it was never successful. It nearly brought him to bankruptcy, especially as the commercial applications of the phonograph were not yet profitable. It swallowed the money he made from electric stations. This episode did not prevent him from pursuing his inventive work during the 1890’s. Benefiting from the public appetite for entertainment, Edison found the route to commercial success with the phonograph and motion picture equipments. He established units to support the different lines of business he was pursuing. However, it remained a centralised corporation with Edison heavily involved in decision making. In 1907, Edison was 60 years-old, he announced his intention to give up the commercial ends and to work in his laboratory as a scientist. His health was not good, however, his personal impact on the conduct of the business was still fundamental. In 1910, throughout his different companies, he was selling phonographs, movie projectors, electric fans, batteries, music, movies and cement. Facing some financial difficulties, he had to reorganise the business and established professional management to run more autonomously each business, as there were few synergies between them. 146 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 147: Now standing on the public scene, he became the Head of the Naval Consulting Board 73 in 1915 and continued to devote his time and some inventive activities to social problems. He continued to receive public and official recognition until he died in 1931. Edison was without doubt a career inventor but he was also a business man who created many ventures and a business ‘empire’. Edison the inventor and Edison the businessman cannot be fully separated. However, the focus will remain here on his inventive work during the 19th century, his period of intense inventive activities which offers an opportunity to investigate the role of Attentiveness, Experimentation and Persuasion in his inventive work by looking at his success, the setbacks he encountered and also some of his failures. What characterises Edison from an Attentiveness perspective is his systematic approach to harvest ideas, knowledge and resources available to him (A/ Attentiveness: going systematic). Every search for an invention led by Edison had to start with a systematic study of the literature, followed by systematic searches for the materials that would be best suited to his purposes (1). However, Edison also experienced a number of failures or drawbacks throughout his career due to a misevaluation of the situation. They have been qualified as ‘myopia’, ‘folly’ and ‘blind spots’ (2). Experimentation was at the heart of his method of invention 74. Overall, his interests were practical and, in a context of scarce knowledge on matters such as electricity and chemistry, experimenting was the only way to progress. Edison claimed: ‘(t)he only way to keep ahead of the procession is to experiment. If you don’t, the other fellows will. When there’s no experimenting, there is no progress. Stop experimenting and you go backward. If anything goes wrong, experiment until you get to the very bottom of the trouble’ (Israel, 1998). Edison relied on many people to experiment and invent, he brought the division of labour to experimental activities; he created laboratories which hosted dozens of experimenters and machinists (B/ Experimentation: Division of labour in the laboratory). It was initiated in his Ward street machine shop (1) which helped him to envision what a real modern laboratory could 73 About the Naval Consulting Board, see infra: section 3, Elmer Sperry. 74 Biographers of Edison Frank Dyer and T.C. Martin wrote that Edison did not trust theory. One of his assistants is quoted saying: ‘(h)e is never hindered by theory, but resorts to actual experiment for proof’ (Dyer & Martin, 2001). 147 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 148: look like. He turned this idea into reality, first, in Menlo Park and, then, with the West Orange laboratory (2). The popularity of Edison was immense; for his fellow citizens, he was a fascinating figure; the press called him the ‘Wizard of Menlo Park’. He was perceived as a prophet of his time capable of foreseeing the technical wonders that were to come (B/ Persuasion: Edison a prophet of his time). Before gaining such an aura he extensively used demonstration to further his cause (1). This led him to discover the power of establishing intimate relationships with the press, a self-fashioning exercise (2). A. Attentiveness: going systematic 1. Systematic search What characterizes Edison from an Attentiveness perspective is his willingness to go systematic in order to exploit the many sources of ideas and knowledge available to him. One event that triggered this attitude was his trip to England, in 1873, to promote his work on duplex and automatic telegraphy. Through his meetings and encounters there, he could realise how little he knew about the electric and chemical phenomenon at work in telegraphy. It led him to pursue some experiments to further his understanding. He purchased instruments, equipment, books and treatises from England and found them very much of value. Later when Gould, the finance baron, had offered him $30,000 for his rights in the quadruplex, the first thing Edison did was to buy several hundred dollars worth of books and technical equipments. Every search for an invention led by Edison had to start with a systematic study of the literature and of what was conceived before. Early in his career, he also invested in private tutoring in order to further his understanding of specific fields of knowledge. For instance in the early 1870’s, he engaged a Brooklyn high school professor to teach him about chemistry and later acoustics. However reading was certainly not the unique source of insights for Edison. Dismantling existing machines available was also 148 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 149: a source of learning. As a very productive inventor, it is no surprise that Edison was also, on some occasions, ‘blessed by luck 75’ with his inventive endeavours. However, the success of Edison and his team in inventing the incandescent electric light bulb would not have been possible without a number of systematic searches. Upton, a newcomer in Edison’s team, surveyed all British and American patents related to electric lighting. He also reviewed the scientific and technical literature available. When the decision was taken to use a vacuum to protect the platinum from oxidation, Edison’s staff studied all the literature related to vacuum technology. They identified the best available vacuum pumps and used features from three of them. Edison paid a lot of attention to costs in his development of the electric system. Unfortunately, platinum was an expensive metal. Edison therefore conducted an exhaustive search of all source of supplies of platinum. He sent letters to mining districts in the U.S., to American ambassadors and other people in countries with platinum resources. He did this in his own name and engaged in extensive correspondences after answers started to arrive. The search for a suitable filament for the light bulb is also characteristic of such systematic investigation: the cardboard used for the early demonstrations was not suitable for commercial application. He addressed his staff as follow: ‘(n)ow I believe that somewhere in God Almighty’s workshop there is a vegetable growth with geometrically parallel fibres suitable to our use. Look for it’ (Israel, 1998). A literature survey helped to guide this search which focused on bast and bamboo fibres. When bamboo appeared to be the best solution, Edison sent men to Cuba, Brazil and Asia to search for the best source of supplies, as he did for platinum. The Madake Bamboo from Japan turned out to make the best filament. However, the exercise was performed again some years after with the hope of finding more uniform fibres. After spending $11,000, this quest was abandoned. Such an approach was re-used by The discovery by Edison of the phenomenon that enabled him to develop afterwards the phonograph owes very much to luck. It occurred when he was experimenting on an automatic telegraph where letters were formed by embossing strips of paper. He realised that when the strip was moved rapidly against the lever used to send the signal to the telegraph it produced a sound comparable to a human voice. He came back to this discovery and perfected the outcome. He turned it first into a sort of ‘scientific toy’ that he demonstrated first at the offices of Scientific American. A few years after, under severe competition from the Volta Laboratory, he participated in the race to commercial applications. The phonograph turned into an ongoing stream of revenue for Edison thanks to this initial providential discovery. 75 149 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008
Slide 150: Edison in different circumstances, for instance, he surveyed iron mining districts in search for low grade iron ore and cobalt mines for his batteries. 2. Myopia, folly and blind spots Edison experienced a number of failures or drawbacks throughout his career. Those are very much telling about the significance of Attentiveness in inventive and business practices. Some of them can be called ‘myopia’ where Edison wrongly denied a future to some technical developments, others can be called ‘folly’ and occurred when he overestimated the potential benefits of his work and others are simply ‘blind spots’ that arose more on the commercial side of the business where Edison did not recognise or accept that changes were occurring in society. The telephone was one of his blind spots. Edison reacted first with indifference to the invention of the telephone by Bell. As many in the telegraph industry, he saw it as a scientific toy that could one day be useful for their work but not as a promising new stream of technology. First, he did not enter this field of activity but, a few years later, as business opportunities materialised, he brought some improvement to Bell’s telephone. As the Thomson-Houston company was outperforming its rival, a merger between this company and Edison General was agreed and it launched General Electric. Edison used the sales of his stocks of the newly established company to fund his new project in the iron ore 76 industry. It is considered to be one of his major failures in his career and was described by an historian as ‘Edison’s Folly’ (Israel, 1998). After some early success, Insull, a close collaborator of Edison, commented that Edison was ‘practically intoxicated by the business’ (Israel, 1998). Throughout this project, Edison kept on being overoptimistic. He remained blind to the technical problems and never stopped to believe that this project could be successful. In the end, he nevertheless admitted that it was unwise to continue to pour money into it. 76 Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. 150 The abilities of inventors - Les facultés de l’Inventeur, Hervé Legenvre 2008