On July 16th, 1788, Wolfgang von Kempelen sent a letter of request to the Emporer Joseph II. In it he informed the monarch of his development of a fire, or to be more precise, a steam engine, and a second machine which functioned according to the reaction principle. He had reached the point where he was able to demonstrate the machines before a state commission who could examine them in order to grant preferential rights to the Austrian monarchy and its crown lands for the use of these technical developments. However due to an error in the calculation of the dimension of the water tank he had failed to receive the preferential rights and the proposed renumeration of 50,000 guilders. He further added that he did not allow these set backs to discourage him but rather continued to work intensively on the development of these machines.
In January 1783 Kempelen had begun a two year journey which took him through many European countries including England. On this journey through half of Europe the so-called “ Schachtürke – the automaton chess-player” and the speaking machine were demonstated in many cities. But the journey also had another purpose. Kempelen wanted to gain some experience in England with the building of steam engines in order to improve his own developments. In London Wolfgang von Kempelen successfully filed his inventions at the patent office. He received his patent and came into contact with Dr. Joseph Priestly and Matthew Boulton. They both visited Wolfgang von Kempelen in his London quarters and examined his model of the steam reaction engine. After his meeting Boulton wrote to Watt that von Kempelen was “a very ingenious automaton maker......and a good sort of man” and that he “wants both knowledge and practise in steam engines”. He reassured Watt that he had not given away the secrets of the Watt Steam Engine however he did not want to break off contact with von Kempelen since he saw in him the opportunity of a business partnership in the future for the sales and distribution of the English steam engine in the Austrian Empire.
At the end of August 1788 Wolfgang von Kempelen finally received his long awaited preferential rights for his two engines for the Austrian Emperial dominions including the Kingdom of Hungary. He remained in contact with England.