|
21 Dec 1766 |
Cookworthy, working only with his brother (Philip),
had been able to fire some pieces in a miniature Essaying kiln.
The kiln would only take up to 14 small pieces. This kiln
may have been in Cookworthy's house or garden. |
|
3 Jan 1767 |
Cookworthy intended to call at Bovey and speak to a
potter who was good at turning vessels and understood the application
of the glaze. It was planned to employ this person. |
|
30 Jan 1767 |
It was intended to build a larger kiln, about one foot
square (25.4 cm),
which would burn either Newcastle coal or wood. |
|
27 Feb 1767 |
It was proposed to pay Thomas Pitt 10 shillings (0.50
pounds) for every ton of washed china clay
and 2/6d (0.125 pounds)
for every ton of china stone. Experiments had been conducted
with saggars. Cookworthy intended to employ an experienced
potter from Bovey Tracy. |
|
30 Mar 1767 |
The Bovey potter had been engaged, but had still not
arrived on 12th May. |
|
Undated |
It was suggested that total capital of 420 pounds
should be raised, consisting of 14 shares of 30 pounds each, plus one
free share for William Cookworthy and on for Thomas Pitt. This
was not followed. They had 14 shares of 15 or 20 pounds each,
three to William Cookworthy, one to Philip Cookworthy and the
remainder to relatives and Bristol businessmen (including Richard
Champion). There were also some, possibly four,
to Thomas Pitt. It appeared that Pitt did not intend to keep his shares. |
|
21 Mar 1767 |
One eighth of the profits to be taken out for the land
owner's and discover's share. Of the remainder one half to go
to Thomas Pitt, and one half to William and Philip Cookworthy. What
about the other investors? The mill,
on Pitts land was finished, the pit and shed were almost ready. |
|
3 May 1767 |
Preparations were complete at St Stephens for washing
the clay, although a mill was to be set-up. The
mill was required to grind the china stone.
The kiln was not yet ready. Part of the Coxside stores were to
be leased, from Thomas Veal, for the experiment, at 6 guineas (6.30
pounds) per annum. |
|
27 Sep 1767 |
The new kiln was obviously built (fired by coal), but
its arch had collapsed and there were problems with the saggars and
the blue color. Some pieces had been fired at Bovey Tracy. |
|
6 Oct 1767 |
One of the hands at Bovey had worked in all the China
factories, except Worcester. Materials had been sent to Bovey
for experiments. The Bovey workmen had fired a figure about a
foot high and had made moulds for the seasons, which were 20 inches high. |
|
23 Oct 1767 |
The potter was a poor kiln fireman and had ruined two
burnings. He has used a composite fuel of coal and wood, which
would not do. Nicholas Crisp was preparing for another firing
at Bovey Tracy. |
|
31 Oct 1767 |
Bovey had fired some pieces, which were quite clean. |
|
29 Nov 1767 |
Cookworthy had witnessed a firing at Bovey.
Plymouth fired with coal or coke, Bovey with wood. Neither
appeared to have any advantage. It was planned that Crisp, who
had a wife and three daughters, would superintend Plymouth.
Cookworthy had taken half a ton of zaffire (cobalt) from crisp for 20
pounds. The five Plymouth workmen are listed. Crisp
would never work at Plymouth. |
|
20 Dec 1767 |
Cookworthy urged Pitt to expedite the patent. He
had a view to taking a mill near the town. Cookworthy had taken
three workmen from Bovey Tracy. They were a modeler, a very
good painter, plus a burner and good hand. |
|
19 Jan 1768 |
Cookworthy thanked Pitt for attending to the patent,
and urged him to sell a share, if he had any left, to John
Mudge. He still considered taking the mill. Cookworthy
was now satisfied with the composition of the body and the glaze, but
he could not make suitable large saggars (one foot wide). He
still required a mill and planned to build a kiln with five mouths. |
|
28 Jan 1768 |
The kiln was now fired by coal. Bovey Tracy used
wood and Cookworthy had no preference for either. Color,
transparency and glaze were now excellent, but the grain was coarse,
due to the china stone not being properly ground. |
|
6 Mar 1768 |
Good results from the little kiln with no smoking of
the pieces. However, the blue was unsatisfactory and some of
the pieces were warped. The wheelwright was at work on the mill. |
|
8 Mar 1768 |
John Mudge informed Pitt that he had seen some very
good figures of lions, which were about 10 inches long, and a
couple of spynx's that would make very good moulds. |
|
13 Mar 1768 |
Crisp had been arrested. A ton of stone had been
sent to the Bovey mill for grinding. |
|
30 Mar 1768 |
Pitt had been able to obtain plaster of Paris figures
for the above. |
|
5 Jun 1768 |
Bolton, who was involved with Crisp, had paid some of
Cookworthy's workmen to tell him the source of the raw
materials. They had directed him to an estate bordering Thomas
Pitt's. Cookworthy's patent gave him
exclusive use of the materials. Bolton provides an early example of
industrial espionage! |
|
17 Jun 1768 |
Bolton was no longer a problem. The new kiln had
burnt well, but the saggars were still cracking. It was planned
to add Stourbridge clay to their composition. The mill had been
in use for three weeks. |
|
2 Jul 1768 |
Thomas Pitt had been to Worcester to see how they
avoided warping. Cookworthy had been there previously, the
method had not changed, and it was not suitable. Cookworthy
stated that his ware was affected by Phlogiston, which did not affect
theirs. At that time people thought
that Phlogiston was a substance created by burning. It does not
exist. The real difference was that Worcester made soft-paste
porcelain that requires a lower temperature than hard-paste. |
|
19 Jul 1768 |
Saggars of a new composition (a temporary expedient
without Stourbridge clay) had performed well. Products from the
kiln, and earlier experiments, had sold for upwards of 22
pounds. It would appear that the mill was now working. |
|
23 Aug 1768 |
Coal firing was now abandoned in favour of wood,
although it would be difficult to get wood of suitable quality.
The Stourbridge clay had now arrived. Wood made firing more expensive
than coal. |
|
6 Sep 1768 |
Wood, obtained from a dockyard sale, still retained
too much moisture for satisfactory use. It was proposed to
return to coal. They had made some figures and apothecarys'
mortars. The potters had prepared work for 30 or 40 kilns.
Production was to be stopped, except for figures and mortars.
Two of the painters were to be discharged. It was hoped that
the turner and the thrower would make saggars, attend the kiln and
act as laborers, otherwise they would be discharged. Their
wages would be 12 shillings (0.60 pounds) per week. The total
wages had been cut by half, to 3 pounds 13 shillings per week (3.65
pounds). I assume that the turner's and thrower's wages had
been cut. Cookworthy's quaker principles did not extend to the
welfare of his workforce! Pieces had been sent to Truro to
be fired by a crucible maker (probably Jacob
Lieberich of Calenick). |
|
9 Sep 1768 |
Building the mill and rebuilding the kiln had cost
twice the expected amount. An additional subscription would be
required. No more wares had been sold, but there were more
imperfect wares in stock. There were upwards 30 kilns of raw
and biscuited ware awaiting firing. On the last, but one,
firing sample pieces taken out were perfect. But of the
remaining, several hundred, not one was free from smoke. Opening
the kiln had caused oxidation of the remaining pieces. |
|
21 Sep 1768 |
Pitt had visited William Littler, at West Pans, in
Scotland. Cookworthy was of the opinion that their coal fired
kilns were similar to those of Derby and Worcester. Cookworthy
stated that coal would not do for him, the last coal firing had
produced damage to the kiln, as the fire-bricks could not withstand
the great heat. (Littler was making
soft-paste porcelain, fired at a lower temperature).
The wood had been cut up small and had produced a suitable
firing. Some fine lions and lionesses had been made. The
remaining object was the production of a softer glaze. |
|
11 Oct 1768 |
The Bovey kiln was of a traditional English type, but
all except two pieces were smoked. |
|
25 Oct 1768 |
Further consideration to the design of the kiln.
A little kiln was built for experimentation. There was still
staining of the glaze. Cookworthy planned to enrich the blue
color by the addition of cobalt. |
|
10 Jan 1769 |
The kiln had been altered to nearly round. This
would give much better heat distribution than a square one. |
|
19 Jan 1769 |
The kiln was still causing concern, the body of the
ware was sound, but the glaze was defective. The top of the
kiln was to be altered. Saquent was going to arrive (I
assume that this was Soquoi). He would require a room,
which would not be available until they had taken over the whole
building. This required dealing with two landlords, one of whom
(Vail) was a very artful man. Were Veal and Vail the same
person? If so it would place the factory at the Coxside
storehouse. Note that there is no mention, in any of the above,
of the construction of an enamel (muffle)
kiln, although this would not have been required for under-glaze
blue decoration, but Saquet would require one. Crisp
had informed Cookworthy that precipitation of tin was not necessary
for gilding. |