Everything about James Watt totally explained
James Watt (
19 January 1736 –
25 August 1819 Boulton proved to be an excellent businessman, and both men eventually made fortunes.
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 at Doldowlod House, one mile south of
Llanwrthwl, which he much improved.
He died on 25 August 1819 at his home "Heathfield" in
Handsworth,
Staffordshire,
England at the age of 83. He was buried on 2 September.
Controversy
As with many major inventions, there's 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's 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 didn't 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.
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 - didn't even exist. In inventing the locomotive, Watt and Stephenson were part inventors of time."
Honours
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").
Memorials
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 Watt by
Chantrey was placed in
Westminster Abbey, and later was moved to
St. Paul's Cathedral. On the
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'
Further Information
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