Note 204 — Chapter XV · Watt again visits Cornwall—Invention of the Rotary Motion—The Patent Right again assailed.
Reading edition
The invention was patented by James Pickard, a Birmingham button-maker, on the 23rd August, 1780 (No. 1263). Matthew Washborough of Bristol arranged with Pickard for employing it in the engine invented by him for securing circular motion. Washborough’s own patent has no reference to the crank, though he is usually named as the inventor of it.