James Watt

James Watt was a Scottish inventor who made great improvements to the design of the steam engine in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Before James Watt’s time, industry was based on horsepower, wind-power and water-power. His work made it possible to use steam engines in factories, and helped to drive Britain's Industrial Revolution.

JAMES’S EARLY LIFE

James Watt was born on January 19, 1736, at Greenock, in south-western Scotland, where his father James was a merchant and shipowner. He was not a good student as a child, but at the age of 13 he began to show great ability in mathematics and was interested in scientific instruments for surveying and navigation. In 1755 he went to London and became an apprentice to an instrument-maker called John Morgan.

In 1756, Watt returned to Scotland. A year later he established a business in Glasgow making precision machine equipment such as quadrants, scales, telescopes, compasses and some scientific apparatus for the university. He later branched out into making musical instruments such as flutes, organs, violins and guitars.

Between 1766 and 1774 Watt practised as a civil engineer. He undertook surveys of several canals in Scotland, including the Forth and Clyde Canal, linking the River Forth to the River Clyde via Loch Lomond, and the Caledonian Canal, through the GreatGlen from Inverness to Fort William. He designed bridges and advised on improvements to harbours and waterwheels . He also visited many factories, which would later help him when he began selling his steam engines to mills.

WATT’S FIRST STEAM ENGINE

In 1763, Watt was asked to repair a Newcomen steam engine that belonged to the University of Glasgow. The Newcomen engine was designed between 1705 and 1725 by the English engineer and inventor Thomas Newcomen. It was a simple steam engine for pumping water, mainly from coal mines to prevent flooding. Watt realized that the engine wasted energy. By 1765 he had introduced a variety of modifications to it. These included a separate cooling chamber for the steam, which allowed the working cylinder to be kept permanently hot, thus making the engine much more efficient. This single, great new idea, which he patented in 1769, meant that the steam engine could now be made practical for large-scale industrial use.

Watt continued his experiments on steam, but it took a few years before he could afford to make and sell his new engine. In 1774 he moved to Birmingham and began a famous partnership with Matthew Boulton, a manufacturer who had become interested in Watt’s work. In the years to 1800, 164 pumping and 24 blowing engines were constructed by Watt and Boulton.

FURTHER ACHIEVEMENTS

Between 1781 and 1784, Watt developed the rotative steam engine, which proved to be even more important than his original steam engine. While his earlier engine, with its up-and-down pumping action, was suited to draining mines, the rotative engine could be used to power several types of machinery. The rotative engine had three major innovations. By 1800, 308 rotative engines had been built.

CHANGING THE WORLD

The rotative engine was the first reliable source of power for the manufacturing industry in Britain, and was used to drive corn mills, iron forge hammers and textile mills. Later it would be used in the development of the coal industry, and in iron and steel manufacturing in particular. It meant that the Industrial Revolution could expand more quickly than it had done so far, making Britain the most powerful industrial nation on Earth.

In 1795 both Watt and Boulton handed over most of their business to their sons, who established the Soho Foundry at Birmingham. James died at his home at Heathfield, Birmingham, on August 25, 1819. He was one of the most important and influential people in the history of Britain and his work changed the world forever.