William Wollaston, John Johnson and Colombian alluvial platina: A study in restricted industrial enterprise

Summary

In 1800 William Hyde Wollaston and Smithson Tennant entered into financial partnership primarily for the production of malleable platina. Each man had the capital, training and determination requisite for the successful execution of such an enterprise, and both profited substantially as a result. The growth of the enterprise was limited initially by process problems, then by market limitations and finally by supplies of crude platina. The agent who supplied the entrepreneurs with most of their platina is identified as John Johnson, a London assayer who occasionally worked closely with Wollaston on the fabrication of platinum objects. The restrictions on the size of the enterprise allowed Wollaston to maintain full control of the production process, and the resulting business gave him exactly what he wished of it, a vehicle for scientific and technological expression, the respect and approbation of his peers, and an environment of financial security in which to pursue his many scientific interests.