BOULTON, MATTHEW (1728-1809), English manufac turer and engineer, was born on Sept. 3, 1728, at Birmingham. At Soho, 2 miles north of Birmingham, he undertook the manufac ture of artistic objects in metal, and also the reproduction of oil paintings by a mechanical process in which he was associated with Francis Eginton (1737-1805), who subsequently achieved a repu tation as a worker in stained or enamelled glass. About 1767, Boulton made the acquaintance of James Watt. In 1772 Watt's partner, Dr. John Roebuck, got into financial difficulties, and Boulton, to whom he owed £1,200, accepted the two-thirds share in Watt's patent held by him in satisfaction of the debt. Three years later Boulton and Watt formally entered into partnership, and Boulton devoted all the capital he possessed or could borrow to making the steam-engine a commercial success. It was also owing to Boulton that in 1775 an act of parliament was obtained extending the term of Watt's 1769 patent to 1799. In 1800 the two partners retired from the business, which they handed over to their sons, Matthew Robinson Boulton and James Watt, junior. In 1788 Boulton turned his attention to coining machinery, and erected at Soho a complete plant with which he struck coins for the Sierra Leone and East India companies and for Russia, and in 1797 produced a new copper coinage for Great Britain. In the same year he took out a patent in connection with raising water on the principle of the hydraulic ram. He died at Birmingham on Aug. 18, 1809.