James Watt Essay, Research Paper
James Watt was born February 19, 1736 and died on
August 19, 1889. As a child he was often sick. This
kept James out of school. His mother had to teach
him how to read and write. James suffered from
severe headaches, so many people thought he was
retarded. Little did they know that this child that most
people didn?t consider normal would lead America to
one of the most important stages The Industrial
Revolution. It all started when he traveled to England
to become a mechanic. Then he decided to come back
to Scotland. This is where he met Joseph Black.
Black though him some thing that he found
interesting about steam. This got Watt started in
thinking about how to make Newcomms steam engine
better. So in 1764 he got his first real challenge. He
got one of Newcomms machines that could not be
repaired. He repaired that machine without any
problem. Watt had one problem, he had no idea why
someone would be satisfied with a machine like this.
James decided to make a practical steam engine, this
resulted in cheaper transportation. This was possible
because in 1869 Watt came up with the condenser (a
chamber for condensing the steam) witch he got
patented.
During all this commotion Watt decided to get
married to his cousin Margaret Miller, who died nine
years after there marriage. Although they still had six
children together. Watt then decide to marry his
second wife Ann MacGreagor, which they went on to
have two children.
James was able to keep wealthy by teaming up with
huge manufactures. They wanted James?s engine to
do thing like pump water out of coal mines and putting
them in locomotives to transport goods. The final part
of the steam engine was a invented in 1790. It was a
gauge that make the steam much safer. It read the
amount of steam pressure produced in side the tank.
This prevented it from blowing up. From here on in he
just sat back and sucked in all his money from his
world recognized invention. In 1800 he decide to go
into retirement.
After his death Watt was recognized as "Father of
the Steam Engine." The SI unit of Horse-power, the
Watt, was also named in memory of him. All these
thing that made the Industrial Revolution possible
reflected back on this man James Watt.