Other major contributions developed by Watt include the steam throttling valve and the mechanism to connect the throttle to the engine governor. This evened out the stroking of the piston, performing equal work on each movement.ĭid you know Flotech’s Southern Valve division sells and repairs control valves ? Since the piston moved slowly, this was huge.Īn engine patented in 1782 by Boulton and Watt had another major improvement - the steam cylinder used valves above and below the piston to connect independently to the boiler or the condenser the piston performed work on both the upward and downward stroke. The sun and planet gear system permitted the rotative wheel to turn more than once per stroke of the piston. The invention was the sun and planet gear system, better than a crankshaft (already patented). The Sun and Planet Gear System Sun and Planet Gears (Thanks Wikipedia)Īt age 45, Watt developed his next great invention - a method to convert reciprocating motion of the piston to rotating motion. Watts hated selling, and he was up to his eyeballs in debt, so began an outstanding symbiotic partnership and eventually more inventions. The sweat shop was invented years later.īoulton was certain that he could sell the engine and he supplied much needed capital. Before the factory craftsmen all maintained their own shops. Boulton recognized the potential applications for steam engines were far beyond pumping water.īoulton, an industrialist and visionary, saw the value to have all craftsmen work in a common building - a “manufactory” (later shortened to “factory”). Eventually he partnered with Mathew Boulton. He borrowed heavily, enlisted investors and worked surveying to pay the bills. Watt was 29 in 1765 when he discovered his idea would work and he spent the next 11 years bringing it to market.
A light bulb would have gone on above his head, although it wasn’t invented until the next century. Watt soon saw that in order to reduce the losses in the working of the steam in the steam cylinder, it would be necessary to find a way to keep the cylinder always as hot as the steam that entered it. Watt needed a way to condense the steam without cooling the cylinder and eventually developed the separate condenser. Watt discovered the main reason engines consumed such vast quantities of steam since they were cooled during every stroke, then reheated.
James Watt went to work on improving the steam engine with an understanding of its existing defects. Thomas Savey and Thomas Newcomen had invented mechanical pumps a half century earlier. We have Watts to thank for the steam condenser, horsepower, early control valves and the SI unit of power the watt.Īfter building navigational instruments as a teenager James devoted his time and energy to improving the efficiency of steam engines. He was a mechanical engineer and inventor who’s improvements to the steam engine were a catalyst to the industrial revolution. James Watt was born, January 19th, in 1736 at Greenock, Scotland.
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