James Watt
Product ID: 61084895
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James Watt by Andrew Carnegie, is a classic science and technology biography about the great Scottish inventor. James Watt FRS FRSE (30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819)[1] was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1781, which was fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world. While working as an instrument maker at the University of Glasgow, Watt became interested in the technology of steam engines. He realised that contemporary engine designs wasted a great deal of energy by repeatedly cooling and reheating the cylinder. Watt introduced a design enhancement, the separate condenser, which avoided this waste of energy and radically improved the power, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of steam engines. Eventually he adapted his engine to produce rotary motion, greatly broadening its use beyond pumping water. Watt attempted to commercialise his invention, but experienced great financial difficulties until he entered a partnership with Matthew Boulton in 1775. The new firm of Boulton and Watt was eventually highly successful and Watt became a wealthy man. In his retirement, Watt continued to develop new inventions though none was as significant as his steam engine work. He died in 1819 aged 83. He developed the concept of horsepower, and the SI unit of power, the watt, was named after him. James Watt was born on 19 January 1736 in Greenock, Renfrewshire, a seaport on the Firth of Clyde.[5] His father was a shipwright, ship owner and contractor, and served as the town's chief baillie,[6] while his mother, Agnes Muirhead, came from a distinguished family and was well educated. Both were Presbyterians and strong Covenanters.[7] Watt's grandfather, Thomas Watt, was a mathematics teacher and baillie to the Baron of Cartsburn.[8] Despite being raised by religious parents, he later became a deist. Watt did not attend school regularly; initially he was mostly schooled at home by his mother but later he attended Greenock Grammar School.[11] He exhibited great manual dexterity, engineering skills and an aptitude for mathematics, while Latin and Greek failed to interest him. He is said to have suffered prolonged bouts of ill-health as a child. When he was eighteen, his mother died and his father's health began to fail. Watt travelled to London to study instrument-making for a year, then returned to Scotland, settling in the major commercial city of Glasgow intent on setting up his own instrument-making business. He made and repaired brass reflecting quadrants, parallel rulers, scales, parts for telescopes, and barometers, among other things. Because he had not served at least seven years as an apprentice, the Glasgow Guild of Hammermen (which had jurisdiction over any artisans using hammers) blocked his application,[13] despite there being no other mathematical instrument makers in Scotland. Watt was saved from this impasse by the arrival from Jamaica of astronomical instruments bequeathed by Alexander Macfarlane to the University of Glasgow, instruments that required expert attention.[15] Watt restored them to working order and was remunerated. These instruments were eventually installed in the Macfarlane Observatory. Subsequently three professors offered him the opportunity to set up a small workshop within the university. It was initiated in 1757 and two of the professors, the physicist and chemist Joseph Black as well as the famed Adam Smith, became Watt's friends.
| Dimensions | 15.24 x 0.81 x 22.86 cm |
| Edition | 1st |
| Isbn 10 | 1515134903 |
| Isbn 13 | 978-1515134909 |
| Item Weight | 195 g |
| Language | English |
| Print Length | 140 pages |
| Publication Date | 19 July 2015 |
| Publisher | CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |
User
Interesting snapshot of the past from the past.
I found this very interesting read, more so for its now rather quaint and sentimental writing style which seems quite usual for when it was written (1905). The most fascinating aspect of this book beyond the story of James Watt is the authors view on the current state of technology and comments on the future as American manufacturing might overtook that of Britain. I particularly found some of the author's views endearing in how at the beginning of the last century it was inconceivable that the pace of technology could move as fast as it had done in the previous century.
User
Interesting Read
Very interesting read. Was slightly hard work to get into to start with as it was written in 1905. Was interesting to see how much they thought technology had advanced even at such an early time.
User
An inventer of great depth
I was somewhat amazed when I read this book to discover the breadth and depth of this great man. Not sure if the author was over egging the greatness of Watt or telling the world that this man was somewhat greater than history leads us to believe.I enjoy biographies especially when they are about great men of science and engineering from the past. It never ceases to amaze me how these people were able to think about the world in such a logical way without the benefits of the technology available to us today. I wonder who future generations will celebrate fro our age.The book is obviously written at a time when the industrial revolution was at its height so it is fascinating to read it with 20x20 hindsight having more knowledge of the way the world works than the author did when he wrote it.
User
A very good review of the life of James Watt which included ...
A very good review of the life of James Watt which included details of his steam engine with it's construction, the book also brings out the relationships which he had with family, friends and associates throughout his life which I thought was good, an excellent read, which I will read again.
User
A legacy
a free book yes free and it should be one of the more costly items found on the Kinddle have a good read of this it is a very good book
User
Whats Watt of Steam
You do not have to be Railway minded to enjoy this but it helps. Everybody thinks they know about Watt but i was surprised and very interested just how Watt developed the use of steam and the many trials and tribulations experienced in achieving what we know today as the steam engine. An extraordinary dedicated and talented man, i was surprised just how many other people helped / developed the steam engine with all its complexeties into what it is today. It is as good as i expected it because it is a subject most people know about, a name that most people know, yet few have read the real story behind this great man.
User
This is a subject that I have been particularly interested ...
This is a subject that I have been particularly interested in, and the book provides all the information that I would require
User
Four Stars
A good account of the life of James Watt and the early history of the steam engine
User
Essential
This book is a very interesting and enthusiastic account of the life of James Watt. The mind that unlocked this era
User
Good Book
Good
User
grande uomo di scienza
La biografia di un grande uomo di scienza, la sua straordinaria avventura come studioso e come inventore; è affascinante e sorprendente conoscere quanto sia stato complesso il suo percorso, e costellato di difficoltà: i tentativi falliti, le delusioni. Ma nonostante una vita non facilissima, anche per le condizioni economiche e di salute, fu un uomo di buon carattere e per questo ebbe l'appoggio di diverse persone, come i suoi professori quando era solo uno studente.
User
sehr interessante Biographie
absolut empfehlenswerte Lektüre über einen Pionier und ein hervorragendes Zeitzeugnis
User
Good Biography
How much do we really know about James Watt? About 100 years ago, Andrew Carnegie wrote this biography about his fellow Scot, who was instrumental in industrializing the world. James Watt invented the steam engine, which enabled us to have steam locomotives, steamboats, and made steel production infinitely easier, thus really creating the world we have today. This was a book I downloaded for one of my sons, who needed to read a biography for a school book review. While there were parts of the book which my son said were dry, overall it was an interesting and informative book about someone who was quite important to the world in which we live today.
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