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One reason for this somewhat strange solution can be that James Pickard actually in 1780 patented using a crank to power a flywheel by a steam engine. It could very well be that they used a pump to drive a water wheel because they thought that would be cheaper than paying Pickard. Watt also in 1781 patented the Sun and planet gear. It might have been to new an invention for this factory at the opening, or the same excessive price was involved there too.
Pure speculation from my side, of course, but worth investigating, perhaps. --OpenFuture (talk) 16:02, 9 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]
