The Evolution of Cornish Duties and the Expansion of the Engineering Industry

The plethora of technological innovations which appeared in the first half of the nineteenth century was bound to have a positive impact on the efficiency of Cornish engines measured by the so-called duty. The publication of the Lean reports, beginning in 1811, provides a good source allowing us to quantify the performance of these engines, this task was undertaken in the first section of this chapter followed by another one which attempts to explain the trajectory of duty figures up to 1870. At the same time, the entire set of inventions would have failed to have a meaningful economic impact unless it was accompanied by a process of innovation, the commercial application of the new generation of steam engines. A major precondition was the expansion of the class of competent engineers capable of translating technological ingenuity to commercial applicability. The third section will examine the knowledge of transmission mechanism(s) by discussing the role of formal education and science, the multiplication of Mechanics’ Institutes and relevant publications, as well as the role of informal transmission channels and learning-by-doing effects. Finally, reference will be made to the changing market structure of the engineering industry which was characterized by the multiplication of firms and a growing dualism within the sector in terms of firm size.