James Watt

James Watt FRS FRSE (/wɒt/; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August
James Watt
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 1776, 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
Portrait of James Watt (1736–1819)
firm of Boulton and Watt was eventually highly successful and Watt became a
by Carl Frederik von Breda
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. Born 19 January 1736
Greenock,
He developed the concept of horsepower,[2] and the SI unit of power, the watt, was Renfrewshire,
named after him. Scotland, United
Kingdom
Died 25 August 1819
Contents (aged 83)[1]
Handsworth,
Biography
Birmingham, England,
Watt and the kettle
Early experiments with steam United Kingdom
First engines Residence Glasgow, Scotland,
Patent trials then Handsworth,
Copying machine England
Chemical experiments
Personality
Nationality Scottish
Soho Foundry Citizenship British
Later years
Known for Watt steam engine
Murdoch's contributions Separate condenser
Legacy Parallel motion
Honours Sun and planet gear
Memorials (with William Murdoch)
Patents Centrifugal governor
Notes
Indicator diagram (with
John Southern)
References
External links Scientific career
Fields Mechanical engineer
 Institutions University of Glasgow
Biography
Boulton and Watt
James Watt was born on 19 January 1736 in Greenock, Renfrewshire, a seaport on
Influences Thomas Newcomen
the Firth of Clyde.[5] His father was a shipwright, ship owner and contractor, and
Joseph Black
served as the town's chief baillie,[6] while his mother, Agnes Muirhead, came from a
Adam Smith
distinguished family and was well educated. Both were Presbyterians and strong
John Robison
Covenanters.[7] Watt's grandfather, Thomas Watt, was a mathematics teacher and
(physicist)
baillie to the Baron of Cartsburn.[8] Despite being raised by religious parents, he
John Roebuck
later became a deist.[9][10]
James Keir
Watt did not attend school regularly; initially he was mostly schooled at home by his Signature
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.[12]

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.[14]

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 Statue of James Watt by Francis
professors, the physicist and chemist Joseph Black as well as the famed Adam Chantrey, Hunterian Museum,
Smith, became Watt's friends.[16] Glasgow

At first he worked on maintaining and repairing scientific instruments used in the

university, helping with demonstrations, and expanding the production of quadrants. In 1759 he formed a partnership with John
Craig, an architect and businessman, to manufacture and sell a line of products including musical instruments and toys. This
partnership lasted for the next six years, and employed up to sixteen workers. Craig died in 1765. One employee, Alex Gardner,
.[17]
eventually took over the business, which lasted into the twentieth century

In 1764, Watt married his cousin Margaret (Peggy) Miller, with whom he had five children, two of whom lived to adulthood: James
Jr. (1769–1848) and Margaret (1767–1796). His wife died in childbirth in 1772. In 1777 he was married again, to Ann MacGregor,
daughter of a Glasgow dye-maker, with whom he had two children: Gregory (1777–1804), who became a geologist and
mineralogist,[18] and Janet (1779–1794). Ann died in 1832. Between 1777 and 1790 he lived in Regent Place, Birmingham.

Watt and the kettle

There is a popular story that Watt was inspired to invent the steam engine by seeing a kettle boiling, the steam forcing the lid to rise
and thus showing Watt the power of steam. This story is told in many forms; in some Watt is a young lad, in others he is older,
sometimes it's his mother's kettle, sometimes his aunt's. James Watt of course did not actually invent the steam engine, as the story
implies, but dramatically improved the efficiency of the existing Newcomen engine
by adding a separate condenser. This is difficult to explain to someone not familiar
with concepts of heat and thermal efficiency. It appears that the story of Watt and the
kettle was created, possibly by Watt's son James Watt Jr., and persists because it is
easy for children to understand and remember.[19] In this light it can be seen as akin
to the story of Isaac Newton, the falling apple and his discovery of gravity
.

Although it is often dismissed as a myth, like most good stories the story of James
Watt and the kettle has a basis in fact. In trying to understand the thermodynamics of
heat and steam James Watt carried out many laboratory experiments and his diaries
[20]
record that in conducting these he used a kettle as a boiler to generate steam.

Early experiments with steam

In 1759 Watt's friend, John Robison, called his attention to the use of steam as a James Watt by John Partridge, after
source of motive power.[21] The design of the Newcomen engine, in use for almost Sir William Beechey (1806)[3][4]

50 years for pumping water from mines, had hardly changed from its first
implementation. Watt began to
experiment with steam, though he
had never seen an operating steam
engine. He tried constructing a
model; it failed to work
satisfactorily, but he continued his
experiments and began to read
James Eckford Lauder: James Watt everything he could about the
and the Steam Engine: the Dawn of subject. He came to realise the
the Nineteenth Century, 1855 importance of latent heat—the
thermal energy released or absorbed
during a constant-temperature
process—in understanding the engine, which, unknown to Watt, his friend Joseph
Black had previously discovered some years before. Understanding of the steam
engine was in a very primitive state, for the science ofthermodynamics would not be
formalised for nearly another 100 years.
Bust of Watt in the Scottish National
Portrait Gallery
In 1763, Watt was asked to repair a model Newcomen engine belonging to the
university.[21] Even after repair, the engine barely worked. After much
experimentation, Watt demonstrated that about three-quarters of the thermal energy of the steam was being consumed in heating the
engine cylinder on every cycle.[22] This energy was wasted because later in the cycle cold water was injected into the cylinder to
condense the steam to reduce its pressure. Thus by repeatedly heating and cooling the cylinder, the engine wasted most of its thermal
energy rather than converting it intomechanical energy.

Watt's critical insight, arrived at in May 1765,[23] was to cause the steam tocondense in a separate chamber apart from thepiston, and
to maintain the temperature of the cylinder at the same temperature as the injected steam by surrounding it with a "steam jacket."[22]
Thus very little energy was absorbed by the cylinder on each cycle, making more available to perform useful work. Watt had a
working model later that same year.

Despite a potentially workable design, there were still substantial difficulties in constructing a full-scale engine. This required more
capital, some of which came from Black. More substantial backing came from John Roebuck, the founder of the celebrated Carron
Iron Works near Falkirk, with whom he now formed a partnership. Roebuck lived at Kinneil House in Bo'ness, during which time
[25] The shell of the cottage, and a very lar
Watt worked at perfecting his steam engine in a cottage adjacent to the house. ge part of one
of his projects, still exist to the rear.[26]
 The principal difficulty was in
machining the piston and cylinder.
Iron workers of the day were more
like blacksmiths than modern
machinists, and were unable to
produce the components with
sufficient precision. Much capital
was spent in pursuing a patent on
The ruin of Watt's cottage workshop Watt's invention. Strapped for
at Kinneil House[24]
resources, Watt was forced to take
up employment—first as a
surveyor, then as a civil engineer—for eight years.[27]

Roebuck went bankrupt, and Matthew Boulton, who owned the Soho Manufactory
works near Birmingham, acquired his patent rights. An extension of the patent to
1800 was successfully obtained in 1775.[28]

Through Boulton, Watt finally had access to some of the best iron workers in the
world. The difficulty of the manufacture of a large cylinder with a tightly fitting
piston was solved by John Wilkinson, who had developed precision boring
techniques for cannon making at Bersham, near Wrexham, North Wales. Watt and Original condenser by Watt (Science
Boulton formed a hugely successful partnership, Boulton and Watt, which lasted for Museum)

the next twenty-five years.

First engines
In 1776, the first engines were
installed and working in
commercial enterprises. These first
engines were used to power pumps
and produced only reciprocating
motion to move the pump rods at
the bottom of the shaft. The design Cylinder fragment of Watt's first
was commercially successful, and operational engine at theCarron
for the next five years Watt was Works, Falkirk
very busy installing more engines,
mostly in Cornwall for pumping
water out of mines.

Engraving of a 1784 steam engine These early engines were not manufactured by Boulton and Watt, but were made by
designed by Boulton and Watt.
others according to drawings made by Watt, who served in the role of consulting
engineer. The erection of the engine and its shakedown was supervised by Watt, at
first, and then by men in the firm's employ.These were large machines. The first, for example, had a cylinder with a diameter of some
50 inches and an overall height of about 24 feet, and required the construction of a dedicated building to house it. Boulton and Watt
charged an annual payment, equal to one third of the value of the coal saved in comparison to a Newcomen engine performing the
same work.

The field of application for the invention was greatly widened when Boulton urged Watt to convert the reciprocating motion of the
piston to produce rotational power for grinding, weaving and milling. Although a crank seemed the obvious solution to the
conversion Watt and Boulton were stymied by a patent for this, whose holder, James Pickard, and associates proposed to cross-
license the external condenser. Watt adamantly opposed this and they circumvented the patent by theirsun and planet gear in 1781.
Over the next six years, he made a number of other improvements and modifications to the steam engine. A double acting engine, in
which the steam acted alternately on the two sides of the piston was one. He described methods for working the steam "expansively"
(i.e., using steam at pressures well above atmospheric). A compound engine, which connected two or more engines was described.
Two more patents were granted for these in 1781 and 1782. Numerous other improvements that made for easier manufacture and
installation were continually implemented. One of these included the use of the steam indicator which produced an informative plot
of the pressure in the cylinder against its volume, which he kept as a trade secret. Another important invention, one which Watt was
most proud of, was the parallel motion which was essential in double-acting engines as it produced the straight line motion required
for the cylinder rod and pump, from the connected rocking beam, whose end moves in a circular arc. This was patented in 1784. A
throttle valve to control the power of the engine, and a centrifugal governor, patented in 1788,[29] to keep it from "running away"
were very important. These improvements taken together produced an engine which was up to five times as efficient in its use of fuel
as the Newcomen engine.

Because of the danger of exploding boilers, which were in a very primitive stage of development, and the ongoing issues with leaks,
Watt restricted his use of high pressure steam – all of his engines used steam at near atmospheric pressure.

Patent trials
Edward Bull started constructing engines for Boulton and Watt in Cornwall in 1781.
By 1792 he had started making engines of his own design, but which contained a
separate condenser, and so infringed Watt's patents. Two brothers, Jabez Carter
Hornblower and Jonathan Hornblower Jnr also started to build engines about the
same time. Others began to modify Newcomen engines by adding a condenser, and
the mine owners in Cornwall became convinced that Watt's patent could not be
enforced. They started to withhold payments due to Boulton and Watt, which by
1795 had fallen. Of the total £21,000 (equivalent to £1,990,000 as of 2016) owed,
only £2,500 had been received. Watt was forced to go to court to enforce his
claims.[30] A steam engine built to James Watt's
patent in 1848 at Freiberg in
He first sued Bull in 1793. The jury found for Watt, but the question of whether or Germany
not the original specification of the patent was valid was left to another trial. In the
meantime, injunctions were issued against the infringers, forcing their payments of
the royalties to be placed in escrow. The trial on determining the validity of the specifications which was held in the following year
was inconclusive, but the injunctions remained in force and the infringers, except for Jonathan Hornblower, all began to settle their
cases. Hornblower was soon brought to trial and the verdict of the four judges (in 1799) was decisively in favour ofatt.
W Their friend
John Wilkinson, who had solved the problem of boring an accurate cylinder, was a particularly grievous case. He had erected about
twenty engines without Boulton's and Watts' knowledge. They finally agreed to settle the infringement in 1796.[31] Boulton and Watt
never collected all that was owed them, but the disputes were all settled directly between the parties or through arbitration. These
trials were extremely costly in both money and time, but ultimately were successful for the firm.

Copying machine
Before 1780 there was no good method for making copies of letters or drawings. The only method sometimes used was a mechanical
one using linked multiple pens. Watt at first experimented with improving this method, but soon gave up on this approach because it
was so cumbersome. He instead decided to try to physically transfer some ink from the front of the original to the back of another
sheet, moistened with a solvent, and pressed to the original. The second sheet had to be thin, so that the ink could be seen through it
.[32][33]
when the copy was held up to the light, thus reproducing the original exactly

Watt started to develop the process in 1779, and made many experiments to formulate the ink, select the thin paper, to devise a
method for wetting the special thin paper, and to make a press suitable for applying the correct pressure to effect the transfer. All of
these required much experimentation, but he soon had enough success to patent the process a year later. Watt formed another
partnership with Boulton (who provided financing) and James Keir (to manage the business) in a firm called James Watt and Co. The
perfection of the invention required much more development work before it could be
routinely used by others, but this was carried out over the next few years. Boulton
and Watt gave up their shares to their sons in 1794.[34] It became a commercial
success and was widely used in offices even into the twentieth century.

Chemical experiments
From an early age Watt was very interested in chemistry. In late 1786, while in Paris,
he witnessed an experiment byBerthollet in which he reacted hydrochloric acid with
manganese dioxide to produce chlorine. He had already found that an aqueous Portable Copying Machine by James
solution of chlorine could bleach textiles, and had published his findings, which Watt & Co. Circa 1795
aroused great interest among many potential rivals. When Watt returned to Britain,
he began experiments along these lines with hopes of finding a commercially viable
process. He discovered that a mixture of salt, manganese dioxide and sulphuric acid could produce chlorine, which Watt believed
might be a cheaper method. He passed the chlorine into a weak solution of alkali, and obtained a turbid solution that appeared to have
good bleaching properties. He soon communicated these results to James McGrigor, his father-in-law, who was a bleacher in
Glasgow. Otherwise he tried to keep his method a secret.[35]

With McGrigor and his wife Annie, he started to scale up the process, and in March 1788, McGrig
or was able to bleach 1500 yards of
cloth to his satisfaction. About this time Berthollet discovered the salt and sulphuric acid process, and published it so it became
public knowledge. Many others began to experiment with improving the process, which still had many shortcomings, not the least of
which was the problem of transporting the liquid product. Watt's rivals soon overtook him in developing the process, and he dropped
out of the race. It was not until 1799, when Charles Tennant patented a process for producing solid bleaching powder (calcium
hypochlorite) that it became a commercial success.

By 1794 Watt had been chosen by Thomas Beddoes to manufacture apparatus to produce, clean and store gases for use in the new
Pneumatic Institution at Hotwells in Bristol. Watt continued to experiment with various gases for several years, but by 1797 the
[36]
medical uses for the "factitious airs" had come to a dead end.

Personality
Watt combined theoretical knowledge of science with the ability to apply it
practically. Humphry Davy said of him "Those who consider James Watt only as a
great practical mechanic form a very erroneous idea of his character; he was equally
distinguished as a natural philosopher and a chemist, and his inventions demonstrate
his profound knowledge of those sciences, and that peculiar characteristic of genius,
the union of them for practical application".[37] Scientific apparatus designed by
Boulton and Watt in preparation of
He was greatly respected by other prominent men of the Industrial Revolution.[38]
the Pneumatic Institution in Bristol
He was an important member of the Lunar Society, and was a much sought-after
conversationalist and companion, always interested in expanding his horizons.[39]
His personal relationships with his friends and partners were always congenial and long-lasting.

Watt was a prolific correspondent. During his years in Cornwall, he wrote long letters to Boulton several times per week. He was
averse to publishing his results in, for example, thePhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Societyhowever, and instead preferred to
communicate his ideas inpatents.[40] He was an excellent draughtsman.

He was a rather poor businessman, and especially hated bargaining and negotiating terms with those who sought to use the steam
engine. In a letter to William Small in 1772, Watt confessed that "he would rather face a loaded cannon than settle an account or
make a bargain."[41] Until he retired, he was always much concerned about his financial affairs, and was something of a worrier. His
health was often poor. He was subject to frequentnervous headaches and depression.
Soho Foundry
At first the partnership made the drawing and specifications for the engines, and
supervised the work to erect it on the customers property. They produced almost
none of the parts themselves. Watt did most of his work at his home in Harper's Hill
in Birmingham, while Boulton worked at the Soho Manufactory. Gradually the
partners began to actually manufacture more and more of the parts, and by 1795 they
purchased a property about a mile away from the Soho manufactory, on the banks of
the Birmingham Canal, to establish a new foundry for the manufacture of the
engines. The Soho Foundry formally opened in 1796 at a time when Watt's sons,
James Watt's letters from the
Gregory and James Jr. were heavily involved in the management of the enterprise. In Science Museum Library & Archives
[42]
1800, the year of Watt's retirement, the firm made a total of forty-one engines. in Wroughton

Later years
Watt retired in 1800, the same year that his fundamental patent and partnership with
Boulton expired. The famous partnership was transferred to the men's sons,Matthew
Robinson Boulton and James Watt Jr. . Longtime firm engineer William Murdoch
was soon made a partner and the firm prospered.

Watt continued to invent other things before and during his semi-retirement. Within
his home in Handsworth, Staffordshire, Watt made use of a garret room as a
workshop, and it was here that he worked on many of his inventions.[43] Among
An 1835 painting of "Heathfield",
other things, he invented and constructed several machines for copying sculptures
Watt's house in Handsworth, by Allen
and medallions which worked very well, but which he never patented.[44] One of the
Edward Everitt
first sculptures he produced with the machine was a small head of his old professor
friend Adam Smith. He maintained his interest in civil engineering and was a
consultant on several significant projects. He proposed, for example, a method for
constructing a flexible pipe to be used for pumping water under theClyde at Glasgow.[45]

He and his second wife travelled to France and Germany, and he purchased an estate in mid-
Wales at Doldowlod House, one mile south ofLlanwrthwl, which he much improved.

In 1816 he took a trip on the paddle-steamer Comet, a product of his inventions, to revisit his
home town of Greenock.[46] James Watt's workshop

He died on 25 August 1819 at his home "Heathfield" in Handsworth, Staffordshire (now part
of Birmingham) at the age of 83. He was buried on 2 September in the graveyard of St Mary's Church, Handsworth. The church has
since been extended and his grave is now inside the church.

Murdoch's contributions
William Murdoch joined Boulton and Watt in 1777. At first he worked in the pattern shop in Soho, but soon he was erecting engines
in Cornwall. He became an important part of the firm and made many contributions to its success. A very able man, he made several
important inventions on his own.

John Griffiths, who wrote a biography[47] of him in 1992, has argued that Watt's discouraging Murdoch from working with high
pressure steam (Watt rightly believed that boilers of the time would be unsafe) on his steam road locomotive experiments delayed its
development.[48]
Watt patented the application of the sun and planet gear to steam in 1781 and a steam locomotive in 1784, both of which have strong
claims to have been invented by Murdoch.[49] The patent was never contested by Murdoch, however, and Boulton and Watt's firm
continued to use the sun and planet gear in their rotative engines, even long after the patent for the crank expired in 1794. Murdoch
was made a partner of the firm in 1810, where he remained until his retirement 20 years later at the age of 76.

Legacy
James Watt's improvements to the steam engine "converted it from a prime mover of
marginal efficiency into the mechanical workhorse of the Industrial Revolution".[50]
The availability of efficient, reliable motive power made whole new classes of
industry economically viable, and altered the economies of continents.[51] In doing
so it brought about immense social change,attracting millions of rural families to the
towns and cities.

Of Watt, the English novelist Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) wrote; "To us, the
moment 8:17 A.M. means something – something very important, if it happens to be A preserved Watt beam engine at
the starting time of our daily train. To our ancestors, such an odd eccentric instant Loughborough University
was without significance – did not even exist. In inventing the locomotive, Watt and
Stephenson were part inventors of time."[52]

Honours
Watt was much honoured in his own time. In 1784 he was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and was elected as a
member of the Batavian Society for Experimental Philosophy, of Rotterdam in 1787. In 1789 he was elected to the elite group, the
Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers.[53] In 1806 he was conferred the honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Glasgow.
[54]
The French Academy elected him a Corresponding Member and he was made a Foreign Associate in 1814.

The watt is named after James Watt for his contributions to the development of the steam engine, and was adopted by the Second
Congress of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1889 and by the 11th General Conference on Weights and
Measures in 1960 as the unit ofpower incorporated in the International System of Units(or "SI").

On 29 May 2009 the Bank of England announced that Boulton and Watt would appear on a new £50 note. The design is the first to
feature a dual portrait on a Bank of England note, and presents the two industrialists side by side with images of Watt's steam engine
and Boulton's Soho Manufactory. Quotes attributed to each of the men are inscribed on the note: "I sell here, sir, what all the world
desires to have—POWER" (Boulton) and "I can think of nothing else but this machine" (Watt). The inclusion of Watt is the second
time that a Scot has featured on a Bank of England note (the first was Adam Smith on the 2007 issue £20 note).[55] In September
2011 it was announced that the notes would entercirculation on 2 November.[56]

In 2011 he was one of seven inaugural inductees ot the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame.[57]

Memorials
Watt was buried in the grounds of St. Mary's Church, Handsworth, in Birmingham. Later expansion of the church, over his grave,
means that his tomb is now buriedinside the church.[58]

The garret room workshop that Watt used in his retirement was left, locked and untouched, until 1853, when it was first viewed by
his biographer J. P. Muirhead. Thereafter, it was occasionally visited, but left untouched, as a kind of shrine. A proposal to have it
transferred to the Patent Office came to nothing. When the house was due to be demolished in 1924, the room and all its contents
were presented to the Science Museum, where it was recreated in its entirety.[59] It remained on display for visitors for many years,
but was walled-off when the gallery it was housed in closed. The workshop remained intact, and preserved, and in March 2011 was
tt and our world".[60]
put on public display as part of a new permanent Science Museum exhibition, "James aW
 The approximate location of James Watt's birth in Greenock is commemorated by a statue.
Several locations and street names in Greenock recall him, most notably the Watt Memorial
Library, which was begun in 1816 with Watt's donation of scientific books, and developed as
part of the Watt Institution by his son (which ultimately became the James Watt College).
Taken over by the local authority in 1974, the library now also houses the local history
collection and archives of Inverclyde, and is dominated by a large seated statue in the
vestibule. Watt is additionally commemorated by statuary in George Square, Glasgow and
Princes Street, Edinburgh, as well as several others in Birmingham, where he is also
remembered by the Moonstones and a school is named in his honour.

The James Watt College has expanded from its original location to include campuses in
Kilwinning (North Ayrshire), Finnart Street and The Waterfront in Greenock, and the Sports
The James Watt Memorial
campus in Largs. Heriot-Watt University near Edinburgh was at one time the School of Arts of
College in Greenock.
Edinburgh, founded in 1821 as the world's first Mechanics Institute, but to commemorate
George Heriot, the 16th-century financier to King James, and James Watt, after Royal Charter
the name was changed to Heriot-Watt University. Dozens of university and college buildings (chiefly of science and technology) are
named after him. Matthew Boulton's home,Soho House, is now a museum, commemorating the work of both men. The University of
Glasgow's Faculty of Engineering has its headquarters in the James Watt Building, which also houses the department of Mechanical
Engineering and the department of Aerospace Engineering. The huge painting James Watt contemplating the steam engine by James
Eckford Lauder is now owned by the National Gallery of Scotland.

There is a statue of James Watt in Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester and City Square,
Leeds.

A colossal statue of Watt by Chantrey was placed in Westminster Abbey, and later
was moved to St. Paul's Cathedral. On the cenotaph the inscription reads, in part,
"JAMES WATT ... ENLARGED THE RESOURCES OF HIS COUNTRY,
INCREASED THE POWER OF MAN, AND ROSE TO AN EMINENT PLACE
AMONG THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS FOLLOWERS OF SCIENCE AND THE
REAL BENEFACTORS OF THE WORLD." Chantrey's statue of James Watt

A bust of Watt is in the Hall of Heroes of the National Wallace Monument in

Stirling.

Patents
Watt was the sole inventor listed on his six patents:[61]

Patent 913 A method of lessening the consumption of steam in steam engines-the separate condenser . The
specification was accepted on 5 January 1769;enrolled on 29 April 1769, and extended to June 1800 by an act of
Parliament in 1775.
Patent 1,244 A new method of copying letters;The specification was accepted on 14 February 1780 and enrolled on
31 May 1780.
Patent 1,306 New methods to produce a continued rotation motion – sun and planet.The specification was accepted
on 25 October 1781 and enrolled on 23 February 1782.
Patent 1,321 New improvements upon steam engines – expansive and double acting. The specification was
accepted on 14 March 1782 and enrolled on 4 July 1782.
Patent 1,432 New improvements upon steam engines – three bar motion and steam carriage. The specification was
accepted on 28 April 1782 and enrolled on 25 August 1782.
Patent 1,485 Newly improved methods of constructing furnaces.The specification was accepted on 14 June 1785
and enrolled on 9 July 1785.

Notes
 1. Although a number of otherwise reputable sources give his date of death as 19 August 1819, all contemporary
accounts report him dying on 25 August and being buried on 2 September . The date 19 August originates from the
biography The Life of James Watt (1858, p. 521) by James Patrick Muirhead. It draws its (supposed) legitimacy from
the fact that Muirhead was a nephew of Watt and therefore should have been well-informed. In the Muirhead papers,
25 August date is mentioned elsewhere. The latter date is also given in contemporary newspaper reports (for
example, page 3 of The Times of 28 August) as well as by an abstract of and codicil to Watt's last will. (In the
pertinent burial register of St. Mary's Church (Birmingham-Handsworth) Watt's date of death is not mentioned.)
2. Lira, Carl (2001). "Biography of James Watt" (http://www.egr.msu.edu/~lira/supp/steam/wattbio.html). egr.msu.edu.
Retrieved 5 July 2010.
3. Annan, Thomas (1868).Illustrated catalogue of the exhibition of portraits on loan in the new galleries of art,
Corporation buildings, Sauchiehall Street(https://archive.org/stream/illustratedcatal00anna#page/90/mode/2up/searc
h/watt). Glasgow: Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum. p. 90 . Retrieved 4 December 2017.
4. "James Watt, 1736 – 1819. Engineer, inventor of the steam engine"(https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/
4074/james-watt-1736-1819-engineer-inventor-steam-engine) . Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved
5 December 2017.
5. Thurston, Robert Henry (1878).A history of the growth of the steam-engine(https://books.google.com/?id=HguRSvx
VtuAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q). The International Scientific Series. New Y ork: D. Appleton and
Company. p. 80.
6. Muirhead, James Patrick (1859).The life of James Watt: with selections from his correspondence (https://books.goo
gle.com/?id=aA5VAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q) (2 ed.). John Murray. p. 10.
7. Klooster, John W. (2009). Icons of invention: the makers of the modern world from Gutenberg to Gates (https://book
s.google.com/?id=WKuG-VIwID8C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q) . Icons of invention. 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 30.
ISBN 978-0-313-34743-6.
8. Muirhead, James Patrick (1859).The life of James Watt: with selections from his correspondence (https://books.goo
gle.com/?id=aA5VAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q) (2 ed.). John Murray. p. 4,7.
9. Dickinson, Henry Winram; Jenkins, Rhys; Committee of the W att Centenary Commemoration (1927).James Watt
and the steam engine: the memorial volume prepared for the Committee of the W att centenary commemoration at
Birmingham 1919. Clarendon press. p. 78."It is difficult to say anything as to Watt's religious belief, further than that
he was a Deist."
10. McCabe, Joseph (1945)."A Biographical Dictionary of Ancient, Medieval, and Modern Freethinkers" (http://www.infid
els.org/library/historical/joseph_mccabe/dictionary
.html). Haldeman-Julius Publications. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
"He made such improvement in the crude steam-engine that had been invented before his time that he is usually
described as the inventor. "His many and most valuable inventions must always place him among the leading
benefactors of mankind," says the account of him in theDictionary of National Biography. He was an accomplished
man. He knew Greek, Latin, French, German and Italian and was very friendly with the great freethinking French
scientists. Andrew Carnegie has written a life of him and describes him as a deist who never went to church. "
11. Tann, Jennifer (2013) [2004]. "Watt, James (1736–1819)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.).
Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/28880(https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fref%3Aodnb%2F28880) .
(Subscription or UK public library membership (http://www.oxforddnb.com/help/subscribe#public) required.)
12. Smiles, Samuel (1904).Lives of the Engineers (https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.173811/2015.173811.Liv
es-Of-The-Engineers#page/n21/mode/2up)(Popular ed.). London: John Murray. p. 12. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
13. Thomas, Henry; Thomas, Dana Lee (1954).Living adventures in science. Ayer Publishing. p. 25.
14. Carnegie, Andrew (1905).James Watt (https://archive.org/stream/jameswatt00carniala#page/18/mode/2up)
.
Edinburgh and London: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier. p. 18. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
15. Marshall (1925) Chapter 3
16. Robinson, Eric; McKie, Doublas.Partners in Science: Letters of James Watt and Joseph Black. Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
17. Hills, vol I, pp. 103–15
18. Torrens, H. S. (2006). "The geological work of Gregory Watt, his travels with William Maclure in Italy (1801–1802),
and Watt's "proto-geological" map of Italy (1804)". The Origins of Geology in Italy. Geological Society of America.
411. pp. 179–197. doi:10.1130/2006.2411(11)(https://doi.org/10.1130%2F2006.2411%2811%29) .
19. Miller, D. P. "True Myths: James Watt's Kettle, His Condenser, and His Chemistry". History of Science. 42 (3): 333–
360 [p. 334]. doi:10.1177/007327530404200304(https://doi.org/10.1177%2F007327530404200304) .
20. Musson, A. E.; Robinson, Eric (1969).Science and Technology in the Industrial Revolution. Manchester University
Press. p. 80.
21. Muirhead, James Patrick (1858).The life of James Watt: with selections from his correspondence (https://books.goo
gle.com/books?id=_b8GAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA74). J. Murray. pp. 74–83. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
22. Frazer, Persifor (1859). Journal of the Franklin Institute(https://books.google.com/books?id=o3oqAQAAIAAJ&pg=P
A
296). pp. 296–297. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
23. Dickinson, p. 36
24. "OS 25-inch 1892–1949"(http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17&lat=56.0081&lon=-3.6337&layers=168&b=1)
.
National Library of Scotland. Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
25. Salmon, Thomas James (1913).Borrowstounness and district, being historical sketches of Kinneil, Carriden, and
Bo'ness, c. 1550–1850(https://archive.org/stream/borrowstounnessd00salmrich#page/270/mode/2up) . Edinburgh:
William Hodge and Co. pp. 372–376. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
26. "James Watt's Cottage", CANMORE. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.
Retrieved 13 May 2010.
27. Hills, vol I, pages 180–293
28. James Watt's Fire Engines Patent Act, 1775(15 Geo 3 c. 61). At the time, anAct of Parliament was required to
obtain a patent.
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. London: Routledge. p. 60.ISBN 978-0-
203-40252-8.
30. Hills, vol 3, ch 5 and 6
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33. W.B. Proudfoot, Origin of Stencil Duplicating,p. 21, as quoted at Quaritch.com 12 Oct 13
34. Hills vol. 3 p. 116.
35. Hills, vol 3, ch 4
36. Hills, vol 3, pp. 152–58
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r.edu/steam/carnegie/ch10.html). Doubleday, Page and Company. Archived from the original (http://www.history.roch
ester.edu/steam/carnegie/ch10.html)on 8 July 2009.
38. Carnegie, chap. XI: Watt, the Man
39. Hills, vol I, pages 42–43
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(https://archive.org/stream/livesofengineers04smiluoft#page/286/mode/2up) . London: John Murray: 286.
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43. Dickinson ch VII
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References
"Some Unpublished Letters of James Watt" in Journal of Institution of Mechanical Engineers(London, 1915).
Carnegie, Andrew, James Watt University Press of the Pacific (2001) (Reprinted from the 1913 ed.),ISBN 0-89875-
578-6.
Dickinson, H. W. (1935). James Watt: Craftsman and Engineer. Cambridge University Press.
Dickinson, H. W. and Hugh Pembroke Vowles James Watt and the Industrial Revolution(published in 1943, new
edition 1948 and reprinted in 1949. Also published in Spanish and Portuguese (1944) by the British Council)
Hills, Rev. Dr. Richard L., James Watt, Vol 1, His time in Scotland, 1736–1774(2002); Vol 2, The years of toil, 1775–
1785; Vol 3 Triumph through adversity 1785–1819.Landmark Publishing Ltd,ISBN 1-84306-045-0.
Hulse David K. (1999).The early development of the steam engine. Leamington Spa, UK: TEE Publishing. pp. 127–
152. ISBN 1-85761-107-1.
Hulse David K. (2001).The development of rotary motion by steam power . Leamington, UK: TEE Publishing Ltd.
ISBN 1-85761-119-5.
Marsden, Ben. Watt's Perfect Engine Columbia University Press (New York, 2002) ISBN 0-231-13172-0.
Marshall, Thomas H. (1925),James Watt, Chapter 3: Mathematical Instrument Maker, from Steam Engine Library of
University of RochesterDepartment of History.
Marshall, Thomas H. (1925)James Watt, University of RochesterDepartment of History.
Muirhead, James Patrick (1854).Origin and Progress of the Mechanical Inventions of James W att. London: John
Murray.
Muirhead, James Patrick (1858).The Life of James Watt. London: John Murray.
Roll, Erich (1930). An Early Experiment in Industrial Organisation : being a History of the Firm of Boulton & aWtt.
1775–1805. Longmans, Green and Co.
Smiles, Samuel, Lives of the Engineers, (London, 1861–62, new edition, five volumes, 1905).

Related topics

Schofield, Robert E. (1963).The Lunar Society, A Social History of Provincial Science and Industry in Eighteenth
Century England. Clarendon Press.
Uglow, Jenny (2002). The Lunar Men. London: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

External links
 James Watt by Andrew Carnegie (1905)
Librivox audiobook: James Watt by Andrew Carnegie (1905)
James Watt by Thomas H. Marshall (1925)
Archives of Soho at Birmingham Central Library.
BBC History: James Watt
Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame – James W att
Revolutionary Players website
Cornwall Record Office Boulton and Watt letters
Significant Scots – James Watt
"Chapter 8: The Record of the Steam Engine" . history.rochester.edu. Archived from the original on 8 July 2009.
Retrieved 6 July 2009.

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