ABSTRACT
This chapter considers question of intellectual property rights and the respective claims of owners and their ingenious employees in regard to the development of inventions. It addresses this question of intellectual property by returning to the most exciting period of innovation during the introduction of new mechanical technology. The chapter considers the struggles surrounding the battle for reward and reputation in the days when Matthew Boulton was at the height of his powers. It attempts to develop another perspective on both scientific rationality and industrial culture as they informed and shaped the management of labour in the world inhabited by Boulton and Watt. The purpose of the present chapter is to locate Murdock among a larger group of able mechanics who entered the service of Boulton and Watt at the end of eighteenth century. The control and utilisation of technology has long been recognised as a reference point for the success of management as well as entrepreneurship in industrial revolution.
