James Watt :: essays research papers

JAMES WATT mob wolfram, the son of a merchant, was born in Greenock, Scotland, in 1717. At the hop on of nineteen, Watt was sent to Glasgow to learn the trade of a mathematical-instrument maker. After victimization up a year in London, Watt returned to Glasgow in 1757 where he schematic his own instrument-making business. Watt soon developed a reputation as a high quality engineer and was employed on the aside & Clyde Canal and the Caledonian Canal. He was also engaged in the improvement of harbours and in the deepening of the Forth, Clyde and other rivers in Scotland. In 1763 Watt was sent a Newcomen steam engine to repair. While putting it back into working order, Watt discovered how he could make the engine more(prenominal) efficient. Watt worked on the idea for several months and eventually produced a steam engine that cooled the utilize steam in a condenser separate from the main cylinder. crowd Watt was not a wealthy man so he decided to seek a partner with money. John Roebuck, the owner of a Scottish ironworks, agreed to provide financial backing for Watts project. When Roebuck went bankrupt in 1773, Watt took his ideas to Matthew Boulton, a successful businessman from Birmingham. For the following(a) eleven days Boultons factory producing and selling Watts steam-engines. These machines were mainly sold to colliery owners who used them to meat water from their mines. Watts machine was very popular because it was four times more powerful than those that had been based on the Thomas Newcomen design. Watt continued to essay and in 1781 he produced a rotary-motion steam engine. Whereas his earlier machine, with its up-and-down pumping action, was ideal for exhausting mines, this new steam engine could be used to drive legion(predicate) different types of machinery. Richard Arkwright was quick to importance of this new invention, and in 1783 he began using Watts steam-engine in his textile factories. Others followed his lead and by 1800 there w ere over vitamin D of Watts machines in Britains mines and factories. In 1755 Watt had been granted a patent by Parliament that prevented anybody else from making a steam-engine like the one he had developed. For the next twenty-five years, the Boulton & Watt company had a virtual monopoly over the work of steam-engines. Watt charged his customers a premium for using his steam engines.