Watt, James

Watt, James (1736-1819), inventor, b. Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland.

There is a story that James Watt was sitting in front of the fire one day. There was a kettle on the fire and just then it began to boil and the rattling lid caught Watt's attention. It was being forced upwards by escaping steam and, according to the story, this gave James Watt the idea of inventing the steam engine.

In fact, James Watt did not invent the steam engine. It was invented by Thomas Newcomen, but Watt's work on steam engines caused them to be used more and more in the 18th century.

Watt was a maker of instruments at Glasgow University. In 1763, he was asked by one of the professors to mend a model of a Newcomen steam engine. He studied this machine carefully and decided that it could be improved. He added a new part to it and greatly cut down the amount of coal it used.

In 1781, he made another improvement. He invented a way of making the up-and-down movement of the engine turn a wheel. This allowed the steam engine to be used to drive turning machines and vehicles with wheels.

From 1768 onwards, Watt did his experiments at the engineering works of Matthew Boulton in Birmingham, and the two men became partners in the firm of Boulton and Watt. The firm was soon providing steam engines for factories in many parts of England.

Watt made many more inventions, mostly for use with the steam engine.

He retired in 1800 a rich man.

The watt, a unit for measuring power, is named after James Watt.

See Ben Marsden Watt's Perfect Engine