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James Watt

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James Watt
On January 19th 1736, James Watt was born to James Watt Sr., a ship owner and contractor, and Agnes Muirhead. He was born in Greenock, Scotland and his mother was the one to educate him through most of his childhood. Towards the end of his teenage years, at the age of 18, his mother passed away and his father’s health was failing. After this tragic event, Watt attended the Greenock Grammar School where he specialized in manual dexterity, engineering skills, and Mathematics. After Watt’s time at the Greenock Grammar School, Watt moved to England to study instrument making. Watt spent a year in England before moving back to Scotland and starting his own business in instrument making. In this business Watt repaired brass reflecting quadrants, parallel rulers, scales, parts for telescopes, and barometers, and repaired other various metal materials. Because Watt had not served his required seven year apprenticeship, the Glasgow Guild of Hammermen denied his application, even though there were no other instrument makers in Scotland. Watt got around this obstacle when the University of Glasgow needed his expertise, and they gave his own workshop. In the new workshop, Watt met John Robison who gave him the idea to use steam as a source of power. While working to repair another steam engine Watt realized that he could cool the used steam in a condenser separate from the main cylinder to make it more effective. Watt went into a partnership with James Robuck because he was not a wealthy person and together they patented the idea on January 9th, 1769. Watt’s steam engine was four times as effective as the previous models and was used for decades before a better one was invented.
Works Cited
BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.

"James Watt." About.com Inventors. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.

Spartacus Educational." Spartacus Educational. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb.


Cited: BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2013. "James Watt." About.com Inventors. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2013. Spartacus Educational." Spartacus Educational. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.
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