(i) Factory owners and steam engine owners did not want to spend on technologies that would improve their machines. (ii) By the 1840s. a few towns such as Derby. Leeds and Manchester had laws to control smoke in the city. But smoke was not easy to monitor or measure, and owners go! away with small adjustments to their machinery’ that did nothing to stop the smoke. (iii) Moreover, the Smoke Abatement Acts of 1547 and 1853. as they were called, did nor always work to clear the air.