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.