Watt (disambiguation).

James Watt

FRS FRSE

Watt James von Breda.jpg

Portrait of Watt (1736–1819)

by Carl Frederik von Breda

Born 19 January 1736

Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland, Great Britain

Died 25 August 1819 (aged 83)[1]

Handsworth, Birmingham, England, United Kingdom

Resting place St. Mary's Church, Handsworth

Nationality Scottish

Citizenship British

Known for Watt steam engine

Separate condenser

Parallel motion

Sun and planet gear (with William Murdoch)

Centrifugal governor

Indicator diagram (with John Southern)

Spouse(s) Margaret Miller (m. 1764–1773 her death)

Anne McGrigor (m. 1776–1819 his death)

Children Margaret (1767–1796)

James (1769–1848)

Gregory (1777–1804)

Janet (Jessy; 1779–1794)

Fields mechanical engineering

Institutions University of Glasgow

Boulton and Watt

Influences Thomas Newcomen

Joseph Black

Adam Smith

John Robison (physicist)

John Roebuck

James Keir

Signature

James Watt Signature.svg

Statue of Watt.

(Hunterian Museum, Glasgow, by Francis Chantrey.)

James Watt FRS FRSE (/wɒt/; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819)[1] was a Scottish
inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen
steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fundamental to the changes brought by the
Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world.

While working as an instrument maker at the University of Glasgow, Watt became interested in the
technology of steam engines. He realised that contemporary engine designs wasted a great deal of
energy by repeatedly cooling and reheating the cylinder. Watt introduced a design enhancement, the
separate condenser, which avoided this waste of energy and radically improved the power, efficiency,
and cost-effectiveness of steam engines. Eventually he adapted his engine to produce rotary motion,
greatly broadening its use beyond pumping water.

Watt attempted to commercialise his invention, but experienced great financial difficulties until he
entered a partnership with Matthew Boulton in 1775. The new firm of Boulton and Watt was eventually
highly successful and Watt became a wealthy man. In his retirement, Watt continued to develop new
inventions though none was as significant as his steam engine work.

He developed the concept of horsepower,[2] and the SI unit of power, the watt, was named after him.

Contents

1 Early life and education

2 Biography

2.1 Watt and the kettle

2.2 Early experiments with steam

2.3 First engines

2.4 Patent trials

2.5 Copying machine

2.6 Chemical experiments

2.7 Personality

2.8 Soho Foundry

2.9 Later years

3 Family

4 Freemasonry

5 Murdoch's contributions

6 Legacy

7 Honours

8 Memorials

9 Patents
10 References

10.1 Sources

11 External links

Early life and education

James Watt was born on 19 January 1736 in Greenock, Renfrewshire, the eldest of the five surviving
children of Agnes Muirhead (1703–1755) and James Watt (1698–1782).[3] His mother came from a
distinguished family, was well educated and said to be of forceful character, while his father was a
shipwright, ship owner and contractor, and served as the Greenock's chief baillie in 1751.[3][4] Watts
parents were Presbyterians and strong Covenanters,[5] however despite a religious upbringing he later
became a deist.[6][7] Watt's grandfather, Thomas Watt (1642–1734), was a teacher of mathematics,
surveying and navigation[3] and baillie to the Baron of Cartsburn.[8]

Initially Watt was educated at home by his mother, later going on to attend Greenock Grammar School.
There he exhibited an aptitude for mathematics, while Latin and Greek failed to interest him.

He is said to have suffered prolonged bouts of ill-health as a child and from frequent headaches all his
life.[3][9]

After leaving school Watt worked in the workshops of his father's businesses, demonstrating
considerable dexterity and skill in creating engineering models. After his father suffered some
unsuccessful business ventures Watt left Greenock to seek employment in Glasgow as a mathematical
instrument maker.[3]

Biography

James Watt by John Partridge, after Sir William Beechey (1806)[10][11]

Bust of Watt in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery

When he was 18 his mother died and his father's health began to fail. Watt travelled to London and was
able to obtain a period of training as an instrument maker for a year (1755/56), then returned to
Scotland, settling in the major commercial city of Glasgow intent on setting up his own instrument-
making business. He was still very young and having not had a full apprenticeship did not have the usual
connections via a former master to establish himself as a journeyman instrument maker.

Watt was saved from this impasse by the arrival from Jamaica of astronomical instruments bequeathed
by Alexander Macfarlane to the University of Glasgow, instruments that required expert attention.[12]
Watt restored them to working order and was remunerated. These instruments were eventually installed
in the Macfarlane Observatory. Subsequently, three professors offered him the opportunity to set up a
small workshop within the university. It was initiated in 1757 and two of the professors, the physicist and
chemist Joseph Black as well as the famed Adam Smith, became Watt's friends.[13]

At first he worked on maintaining and repairing scientific instruments used in the university, helping with
demonstrations, and expanding the production of quadrants. He made and repaired brass reflecting
quadrants, parallel rulers, scales, parts for telescopes, and barometers, among other things.

It is sometimes falsely stated that he struggled to establish himself in Glasgow due to opposition from
the Trades House, but this myth has been thoroughly debunked by the historian Harry Lumsden. The
records from this period are lost but it is known that he was able to work and trade completely normally
as a skilled metal worker so the Incorporation of Hammermen must have been satisfied that he met their
requirements for membership.[14] It is also known that other people in the metal trades were pursued
for working without being members of the Incorporation well into the 19th century, so the rules were
definitely being enforced when Watt was trading freely throughout the city.

In 1759 he formed a partnership with John Craig, an architect and businessman, to manufacture and sell
a line of products including musical instruments and toys. This partnership lasted for the next six years,
and employed up to sixteen workers. Craig died in 1765. One employee, Alex Gardner, eventually took
over the business, which lasted into the twentieth century.[15]

In 1764, Watt married his cousin Margaret (Peggy) Miller, with whom he had five children, two of whom
lived to adulthood: James Jr. (1769–1848) and Margaret (1767–1796). His wife died in childbirth in 1772.
In 1777 he was married again, to Ann MacGregor, daughter of a Glasgow dye-maker, with whom he had
two children: Gregory (1777–1804), who became a geologist and mineralogist,[16] and Janet (1779–
1794). Ann died in 1832.[17] Between 1777 and 1790 he lived in Regent Place, Birmingham.