Steam engines were the first engines to provide power largely
independent of location, weather, season or animal endurance. The first
steam engine was invented close to300 years ago, but even 200 years ago
there were very few steam engines outside Great Britain.
James Watt was born in Greenock, January 19, 1736 the fourth of the five
children of James Watt (1698-1782) and Agnes Muirhead (1701-1753).
At fifteen, James had twice read Wilhelm van St. Gravesandes (1688-1742)
book The Mathematical Elements of Philosophy (Gravesande, 1720) and had
made numerous chemical experiments. He showed early signs of inventive
ability and learned the trade of scientific instruments maker. In
1757, he took employment in this capacity at the University of
Glasgow. At the university, he gained important practical
knowledge from Joseph Black (1728–99), a professor of medicine
whose discoveries laid the foundation for thermodynamics.
Of all the friends he made at this time the two who most deeply
influenced his future were Black and John Robison (1739-1805), who first
directed his attention to the steam engine.
Using Black’s concept of latent heat (that heat does not increase
the temperature of boiling water but simply produces more
steam), Watt dramatically improved the efficiency of Thomas
Newcomen’s (1663–1729)steam engine.
Watt’s interest in the possibilities of generating power from steam
appears to have been aroused before 1760, without being influenced by
the engines available at that time. Together with Robison he carried out
experiments with a Papin digester, in 1761 or 1762. He used a syringe
with a plunger as a makeshift cylinder and piston and found that the
pressure of steam from a digester was enough to cause the plunger to
raise about fifteen pounds, a considerable weight.
This system, in which the steam pushes from both sides of the piston
rather than from just one, enhanced efficiency and increased power.
Watt’s invention helped to advance manufacturing and transportation and
influenced later inventions.
The new engine was first patented in 1769.In 1775, the savvy
entrepreneur Matthew Boulton (1728–1809) became his business
partner. 1781, Watt and Boulton patented a “sun and planet” gear in
order to create rotary motion from vertical motion, thus adapting the
steam engine to power industrial machines grinding, milling, weaving.
James Watt invented of steam engine
