James
Watt
1736-1819
James
Watt was born in Greenock in 1736, the son of a ship's chandler
(trader in canvas, etc). Watt had little formal education
due to poor health in his youth, but pottering about in his
father's shop he developed an interest in trying to make things
"work like clockwork".
In
his late teens he went to London to learn to be a "mathematical
and philosophical instrument maker", and when he returned
to Glasgow he got a job making instruments with Glasgow University,
who gave him accomodation and a workshop.
In
1763 John Anderson asked him to repair an early steam engine
he had acquired. This early model, known as a Newcomen engine,
was very inefficient. The cylinder (where the piston was)
had to be heated when steam was admitted, and then gradually
cooled again to condense the steam. This wasted a lot of time
and fuel. Two years later, while wandering aimlessly through
Glasgow Green, Watt hit upon the idea of condensing the steam
in a separate vessel. This removed the need for heating and
cooling, making the engine faster, safer, and more fuel-efficient.
A stone in Glasgow Green marks this spot, where the industrial
revolution really began. (Later, in 1778 Watt presented Anderson
with a micrometer he had designed and made, as a gesture of
thanks.)
Watt
went into business with Matthew Boulton, a Birmingham engineer,
producing engines based on this new approach. Engineers from
all the industrialised countries flocked to see their factories.
Watt's
engines were initially used for pumping water from cornish
tin and copper mines. Later, the new cotton mills, which had
been built near fast-flowing rivers to take advantage of water
power, almost all switched to steam. Gradually, mills began
to move toward the centres of population. At first, steam
power was used mainly for spinning, but eventually weaving
was also powered by steam engine. By 1819, the year of Watt's
death, there were 18 steam weaving factories in Glasgow, with
2800 looms. (This was excellent news for factory owners, but
hundreds of unemployed handloom weavers were not so enthused.)
The increased power-to-weight ratio of the new engines also
permitted their use for marine propulsion - in 1788 a steam-powered
catamaran was taken across Dalswinton loch by William Symington.
Despite
his success, Watt was a rather insecure and jealous man, who
did not like others having their own ideas. When one employee
of the company, a man named William Murdoch, experimented
with high pressure steam engines, Watt discouraged him from
patenting and continuing his work, even though his engines
were potentially much better and smaller than the ones Watt
himself had invented. Murdoch never patented his design, and
returned to fixing Watt's own engines. (However, Murdoch did
make another important contribution, to gas lighting.)
Apart
from his steam research, which he originally carried out in
the grounds of Kinneil House near Linlithgow, Watt was involved
in many other projects. He solved the problem of how to convert
the up-and-down piston movement to rotary movement (so that
engines could power looms, bellows, and other mechanical devices),
he created the term "horsepower", and he also invented
the rev. counter, a machine for copying sculpture, and a letter
copying press (a very early photocopier!). When
Watt retired in 1800, he had become a very rich man.
In
1882, 63 years after Watt's death, the British Association
gave his name to the unit of electrical power - and today
James Watt's name is to be found written on almost every lightbulb
in the world.
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