James Watt

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For other persons named James Watt, see James Watt (disambiguation).

James Watt
Inventor and Engineer
Born	January 19 1736(1736-01-19) Greenock, Firth of Clyde, Scotland
Died	August 19 1819 Handsworth, Staffordshire, United Kingdom

Image:SteamEngine Boulton&Watt 1784.jpg

Steam engine designed by Boulton & Watt. Drawing from 1784.

James Watt (19 January 1736 – 19 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor and engineer whose improvements to the steam engine were fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution.

1 Method and personality
2 Later years
3 Controversy
4 Legacy
5 Honors
6 Remembrance
7 About Watt
8 References
9 Further reading
10 External links

Method and personality

Watt was an enthusiastic inventor, with a fertile imagination that sometimes got in the way of finishing his works, because he could always see "just one more improvement." He was skilled with his hands, and was also able to perform systematic scientific measurements that could quantify the improvements he made and produce a greater understanding of the phenomenon he was working with.

Watt was a gentleman, greatly respected by other prominent men of the Industrial Revolution. He was an important member of the Lunar Society, and was a much sought after conversationalist and companion, always interested in expanding his horizons. He was a rather poor businessman, and especially hated bargaining and negotiating terms with those who sought to utilize the steam engine. Until he retired, he was always much concerned about his financial affairs, and was something of a worrier. His personal relationships with his friends and partners were always congenial and long-lasting.

Later years

Watt retired in 1800, the same year that his fundamental patent and partnership with Boulton expired. The famous partnership was transferred to the men's sons, Matthew Boulton and James Watt Jr. Longtime firm engineer William Murdoch was made a partner and the firm prospered.

Watt continued to invent other things before and during his semi-retirement. He invented a new method of measuring distances by telescope, a device for copying letters, improvements in the oil lamp, a steam mangle and a machine for copying sculptures.

He and his second wife travelled to France and Germany, and he purchased an estate in Wales, which he much improved.

He died in his home "Heathfield" in Handsworth, Staffordshire on the 19th of August, 1819 at the age of 83.

Controversy

As with many major inventions, there is some dispute as to whether Watt was the original sole inventor of some of the numerous inventions he patented. There is no dispute, however, that he was the sole inventor of his most important invention, the separate condenser. It was his practice (from around the 1780s) to pre-empt others' ideas which were known to him by filing patents with the intention of securing credit for the invention for himself, and ensuring that no one else was able to practice it. As he states in a letter to Boulton of 17 August 1784:

"I have given such descriptions of engines for wheel carriages as I could do in the time and space I could allow myself; but it is very defective and can only serve to keep other people from similar patents".

Some argue that his prohibitions on his employee William Murdoch from working with high pressure steam on his steam road locomotive experiments delayed its development. Watt, with his partner Matthew Boulton, battled against rival engineers such as Jonathan Hornblower who tried to develop engines which did not fall foul of his patents.

Watt patented the application of the sun and planet gear to steam in 1781 and a steam locomotive in 1784, both of which have strong claims to have been invented by his employee, William Murdoch. Watt himself described the provenance of the invention of the sun and planet gear in a letter to Boulton from Watt dated January 5 1782:

"I have tried a model of one of my old plans of rotative engines revived and executed by W. M[urdock] and which merits being included in the specification as a fifth method..."

The patent was never contested by Murdoch, who remained an employee of Boulton and Watt for most of his life, and Boulton and Watt's firm continued to use the sun and planet gear in their rotative engines, even long after the patent for the crank expired in 1794.

Legacy

James Watt's improvements to the steam engine transformed the Newcomen engine, which had hardly changed for fifty years, and initiated a series of improvements in generating and applying power, which transformed the world of work, and was a key innovation of the Industrial Revolution. The importance of the invention can hardly be overstated--it gave us the modern world. A key feature of it was that it brought the engine out of the remote coal fields into factories where many mechanics, engineers, and even tinkerers were exposed to its virtues and limitations. It was a platform for generations of inventors to improve. It was clear to many that higher pressures produced in improved boilers would produce engines having even higher efficiency, and would lead to the revolution in transportation that was soon embodied in the locomotive and steamboat. It made possible the construction of new factories that, since they were not dependent on water power, could work the year round, and could be placed almost anywhere. Work was moved out of the cottages, resulting in economies of scale. Capital could work more efficiently, and manufacturing productivity greatly improved. It made possible the cascade of new sorts of machine tools that could be used to produce better machines, including that most remarkable of all of them, the Watt steam engine.

Image:Katrina kaif - Statue - Birmingham - 2005-10-13.jpg

Watt celebrated as a statue in Chamberlain Square, outside Birmingham Central Library

Of Watt, the English Novelist Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) wrote; "To us, the moment 8:17 A.M. means something - something very important, if it happens to be the starting time of our daily train. To our ancestors, such an odd eccentric instant was without significance - did not even exist. In inventing the locomotive, Watt and Stevenson were part inventors of time."

Honors

See also: Watt

Watt was a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Royal Society of London. He was a member of the Batavian Society, and one of only eight Foreign Associates of the French Academy of Sciences.

The watt is named after James Watt for his contributions to the development of the steam engine, and was adopted by the Second Congress of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1889 and by the 11th General Conference on Weights and Measures in 1960 as the unit of power incorporated in the International System of Units (or "SI").

This SI unit is named after James Watt. As with all SI units whose names are derived from the proper name of a person, the first letter of its symbol is uppercase (W). When an SI unit is spelled out in English, it should always begin with a lowercase letter (watt), except for at the beginning of a sentence or in capitalized material such as a title. Note that "degree Celsius" conforms to this rule because of the "d".

— Based on The International System of Units, section 5.2.

Remembrance

Watt was buried in the grounds of St. Mary's Church, Handsworth, in Birmingham. Later expansion of the church, over his grave, means that his tomb is now buried inside the church. A statue of him, Boulton and Murdoch is in Birmingham, as are two other statues of him alone, one in Chamberlain Square, the other outside the Law Courts. He is also remembered by the Moonstones and a school is named in his honour, both in Birmingham. An extensive archive of his papers is held at Birmingham Central Library. Matthew Boulton's home, Soho House, is now a museum, commemorating the work of both men. The University of Glasgow's Faculty of Engineering, the oldest in the United Kingdom, (where Watt was a professor) has its headquarters in the James Watt Building, which also houses the department of Mechanical Engineering and the department of Aerospace Engineering.

The location of James Watt's birth in Greenock is commemorated by a statue, close to his birthplace. Several locations and street names in Greenock recall him, most notably the Watt Memorial Library, which was begun in 1816 with Watt's donation of scientific books, and developed as part of the Watt Institution by his son (which ultimately became the James Watt College). Taken over by the local authority in 1974, the library now also houses the local history collection and archives of Inverclyde, and is dominated by a large seated statue in the vestibule. Watt is additionally commemorated by statuary in George Square, Glasgow and Princes Street, Edinburgh.

The James Watt College has expanded from its original location to include campuses in Kilwinning (North Ayrshire), Finnart Street and The Waterfront in Greenock, and the Sports campus in Largs. The Heriot-Watt University near Edinburgh was at one time the "Watt Institution and School of Arts" named in his memory, then merged with George Heriot's Hospital for needy orphans and the name was changed to Heriot-Watt College. Dozens of university and college buildings (chiefly of science and technology) are named after him.

The huge painting James Watt contemplating the steam engine by James Eckford Lauder is now owned by the National Gallery of Scotland.

Watt was ranked first, tying with Edison, among 229 significant figures in the history of technology by Charles Murray's survey of historiometry presented in his book Human Accomplishments. Watt was ranked 22nd in Michael H. Hart's list of the most influential figures in history.

The SI unit of power, the watt, is named after him, as are over 50 roads or streets in the UK.

A colossal statue of him by Chantrey was placed in Westminster Abbey, and on this cenotaph the inscription reads:

NOT TO PERPETUATE A NAME,

WHICH MUST ENDURE WHILE THE PEACEFUL ARTS FLOURISH,

BUT TO SHOW

THAT MANKIND HAVE LEARNED TO HONOUR THOSE

WHO BEST DESERVE THEIR GRATITUDE,

THE KING,

HIS MINISTERS, AND MANY OF THE NOBLES

AND COMMONERS OF THE REALM

RAISED THIS MONUMENT TO

JAMES WATT

WHO DIRECTING THE FORCE OF AN ORIGINAL GENIUS

EARLY EXERCISED IN PHILOSOPHIC RESEARCH

TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF

THE STEAM-ENGINE

ENLARGED THE RESOURCES OF HIS COUNTRY

INCREASED THE POWER OF MAN

AND ROSE TO AN EMINENT PLACE

AMONG THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS FOLLOWERS OF SCIENCE

AND THE REAL BENEFACTORS OF THE WORLD

BORN AT GREENOCK MDCCXXXVI

DIED AT HEATHFIELD IN STAFFORDSHIRE MDCCCXIX

A lecture theatre in the Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering building at the University of Birmingham is named 'G31 - The James Watt Lecture Theatre'

About Watt

Dickenson, H. W., James Watt: Craftsman and Engineer Cambridge University Press (1935).
H.W. Dickinson and Hugh Pembroke Vowles James Watt and the Industrial Revolution (published in 1943, new edition 1948 and reprinted in 1949. Also published in Spanish and Portuguese (1944) by the British Council)
J. P. Muirhead, Origin and Progress of the Mechanical Inventions of James Watt (London, 1854).
J. P. Muirhead, Life of Watt (London, 1858).
Samuel Smiles, Lives of the Engineers, (London, 1861-62, new edition, five volumes, 1905).
"Some Unpublished Letters of James Watt" in Journal of Institution of Mechanical Engineers (London, 1915).
Carnegie, Andrew, James Watt University Press of the Pacific (2001) (Reprinted from the 1913 ed.), ISBN 0-89875-578-6.
Hills, Rev. Dr. Richard L., James Watt, Vol 1, His time in Scotland, 1736-1774 (2002); Vol 2, The years of toil, 1775-1785; Vol 3 Triumph through adversity 1785-1819. Landmark Publishing Ltd, ISBN 1-84306-045-0.
Marsden, Ben. Watt's Perfect Engine Columbia University Press (New York, 2002) ISBN 0-231-13172-0.

References

External links

Persondata
NAME	Watt, James
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Industrial Revolution engineer of the steam engine
DATE OF BIRTH	19 January 1736(1736-01-19)
PLACE OF BIRTH	Greenock, Scotland
DATE OF DEATH	19 August 1819
PLACE OF DEATH	Handsworth, Staffordshire, England