Boult

See BOLT. Boul'tel, Boul'tin, n. ( Arch.) The name given to a moulding whose section is nearly the quadrant of a circle, whose diameter being horizontal, the centre is convex with respect to a vertical to such diameter. It is more usually called the ovolo, or the quarter - round. Boul'ton, MATTHEW, F. R. S., a celebrated English engineer, B. at Birmingham, in 1728. On the completion of his education, he engaged in busine as a manufacturer of hardware, and as early as 1745 he is said to have invented and brought to great perfection inlaid steel buckles, buttons, watch-chains, ., of which large quantities were exported to France, where they were re-purchased with avidity by the English of that day, as "the offspring of French ingenuity." In 1762, B. finding his manufactory at Birmingham too confined for his purposes, purchased a lease of the Soho, about 2 m. distant, in the co. of Stafford. This spot, then a barren heath, was gradually converted into an extensive manufactory and school of the mechanical arts, where ingenious men found ample employment for their talents from the liberal proprietor. The introduction of that important machine, the steam-engine, led to a connection between B. and James Watt, of Glasgow, who became trade-partners in 1769. Among the many great undertakings in which the new firm engaged, one of the most useful and important was the improvement of the coinage. In beanty and accuracy of execution, the coins struck at the Soho manufactory have rarely been surpa ed. About 1793, was invented by them, a method of copying, by a me chanical proce , oil-paintings, so as to produce facsimiles of the originals, sufficiently accurate to deceive a practised connoi eur. The various mechanical inventions and improvements which emanated more or le directly from the subject of this article, are too numerous to admit of specification. His long life was almost uninterruptedly devoted to the advancement of the useful arts, and the promotion of the commercial interests of his country. B. was a member of the principal learned societies of Europe, and D. in 1809. Bounce, ( bouns ',) v. 1. (imp. BOUNCED, bounst.) [Du. bonzen , from bons , a blow, a thump.] To leap or spring: to fly or rush out suddenly; as, she bounced out of the room in a rage. "Out bounc'd the mastiff of the triple head; Away the hare with double swiftne sped." - Swift .