of the Paul and Wyatt cotton spinning machine in poem: A circular machine, of new design In conic shape: it draws and spins a thread Without the tedious toil of needless hands. A wheel, invisible, beneath the floor, To ev'ry member of th' harmonius frame, Gives necessary motion. One, intent, O'erlooks the work; the carded wool, he says, Is smoothly lapp'd around those cylinders, Which, gently turning, yield it to yon' cirque Of upright spindles, which with rapid whirl Spin out, in long extent, an even twine. 1757: Baskerville serif typeface is designed by John Baskerville (1706–1775) in Birmingham, England. Baskerville is classified as a transitional typeface, positioned between the old style typefaces of William Caslon, and the modern styles of Giambattista Bodoni and Firmin Didot. 1758: Paul and Wyatt improve their Roller Spinning machine and take out a second patent. Richard Arkwright later uses this as the model for his water frame. 1758: Benjamin Franklin first travels to Birmingham "to improve and increase Acquaintance among Persons of Influence", and later returns in 1760 to conduct experiments with Boulton on electricity and sound. Franklin remains a common link among many of the early Lunar Society members. 1759: A patent is granted to Thomas Blockley (locksmith), for rolling iron into different forms and making (metal) wheel tyres. 1762: Matthew Boulton opens the Soho Foundry engineering works, Handsworth; his partnership with Scottish engineer James Watt makes the steam engine into the power plant for the Industrial Revolution. The term "horsepower" is coined by Watt. 1765: The Lunar Society begins life as a dinner club and informal learned society of prominent figures in the Midlands Enlightenment, including industrialists, natural philosophers and intellectuals, who meet regularly until 1813 in Birmingham. A paper read at the Science Museum in London in 1963 claims that "of all the provincial philosophical societies it was the most important, perhaps because it was not merely provincial. All the world came to Soho to meet Boulton, Watt or Small, who were acquainted with the leading men of Science throughout Europe and America." The Midlands Enlightenment dominates the experience of the Enlightenment within England and its leading thinkers have international influence. In particular, it forms a pivotal link between the earlier Scientific Revolution and the later Industrial Revolution, facilitating the exchange of ideas between experimental science, polite culture and practical technology that enables the technological preconditions for rapid economic growth to