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James Watt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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James
Watt (January 19, 1736 - August 19, 1819) was a Scottish mathematician
and engineer. He was born in Greenock, Scotland, and lived and worked
in Birmingham. He was a key member of the Lunar Society. Many of his
papers are in Birmingham Central Library.
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Timeline
1754: Learnt the trade of mathematical-instrument making in Glasgow, where he set up a business.
1757-1763: Mathematical-instrument maker to Hammermen's guild, Glasgow.
1763-1764: Repaired a Newcomen steam engine, which started him thinking about ways to improve the engine.
1767: Surveyor of Forth and Clyde canal.
1774: Started a business in Soho, near Birmingham, with Matthew Boulton to manufacture his improved Watt steam engine.
1784: Patented a steam locomotive.
1800: Retired to Heathfield Hall near Birmingham.
Engineering Achievements
Watt invented the centrifugal governor to regulate the speed of a steam
engine. The parallel motion to convert circular motion to an
approximate straight line motion (of which he was most proud) and the
steam indicator to measure steam presure in the cylinder throughout the
working cycle of the engine.
Watt greatly helped
the development of the embryonic steam engine into a viable and
economic means of power generation. He realised that the Newcomen steam
engine was wasting nearly three quarters of the steam energy in heating
the piston and chamber. Watt developed a separate condenser chamber
which significantly increased the efficiency. Further refinements made
the steam engine his life's work.
He introduced a unit
called the horsepower to compare the power output of steam engines, his
version of the unit being equivalent to 550 foot-pounds per second
(about 745.7 watts).
The SI unit of power, the watt, is named after him. So is, at least in part, Edinburgh's Heriot-Watt University.
He is also
remembered by the Moonstones, two individual statues, and a statue of
him, Boulton,and Murdoch, by William Bloye, all in Birmingham.
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