James Watt's Biography

2 Pages 525 Words

James Watt
(1736-1819)

James Watt was born in Greenock in 1736. Watt had little formal education because he had health problems during his childhood, but helping his father and seeing his father work at his shop made Watt develop an interest to make things work better.

Later 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 a workshop.

In 1763 John Anderson asked him to repair a steam engine he had bought. This early model was called: the Newcomen engine and it was very inefficient. The cylinder (where the piston was) had to be heated when steam was admitted, and then it had to be cooled again to condense the steam. This wasted a lot of time and fuel. Two years later, Watt had the idea of condensing the steam in a separate vessel. This removed the necessity for heating and cooling, making the engine faster, safer, and more fuel-efficient. The Watt’s engine was 75% more efficient than Newcome engine.

Then Watt met Matthew Boulton, a Birmingham engineer, and started to make business with his new improved steam engine. At first Watt’s engines were used for pumping water from cornish tin and copper mines, steam power was used mainly for spinning, but eventually weaving was also powered by steam engine.

By 1819, there were 18 steam weaving factories in Glasgow.This influenced into the Industrial Revolution, because people started to lose their jobs and the machines will replace them because now the industries preferred the machines.

Besides of being an intelligent and creative person, Watt was also an insecure and a jealous person. When one employee of the company, a man named William Murdoch, started to experiment with high pressure of the steam engine, Watt discourage him from continuing his work. Murdoch’s engine was better and smaller than Watt’s engine. However, Murdoch...