The new bronze caused quite a stir in the trade. The locality of its origin and its mode of manufacture were kept a profound secret.
My life at this time was pretty much one of hard work and steady attention to business, from which I could only snatch short intervals.
Nevertheless, several of my friends have from time to time tried to induce me to write a concise account of my steel invention in my own quiet way.
At this period the enthusiasm of the amateur was fast giving way to a more steady commercial instinct, and I let no opportunity slip of improving my position, but I felt that I was still labouring under the disadvantage of not having acquired some technical profession.
The bronze powder business, however, no longer required my personal attention, and was well managed by those I had chosen as the guardians of a secret, which was long and honourably kept.
I fear this little episode does not speak very favourably for my business capacity in those early days, for I certainly ought to have made much more than I did by this really important invention.
I had an immense advantage over many others dealing with the problem inasmuch as I had no fixed ideas derived from long-established practice to control and bias my mind, and did not suffer from the general belief that whatever is, is right.
The ground for the factory having been chosen, and a long lease of the premises obtained, I had next to plan the necessary buildings.
I had been working pretty hard up to the time of the trials of the cane press, and felt that I was entitled to a little relaxation.
The ordinary bronze powder is, as before mentioned, made from an exceedingly thin leaf of beaten metal, resembling an ordinary leaf of gold.