Strong Steam, Weak Patents, or the Myth of Watt’s Innovation-Blocking Monopoly, Exploded
质疑瓦特1769年专利阻碍高压蒸汽技术发展的流行观点，指出延迟源于其他因素（如高压引擎被认为风险过高），且瓦特的垄断可能反而激励了特雷维西克绕开专利、复兴旧技术，从而加速了高压蒸汽机的发展。
James Watt’s 1769 patent is widely supposed to have stood in the way of the development of high-pressure steam technology until it finally expired in 1800. We dispute this popular claim. We show that although it is true that high-pressure steam technology developed only after the expiration of Watt’s patent, the delay was due to factors other than that patent itself, including the widely held opinion that the use of high-pressure engines were excessively risky. Indeed, Watt’s monopoly rights may actually have hastened the development of the high-pressure steam engine by inspiring Richard Trevithick to revive a supposedly obsolete technology so as to invent around them.