James Watt (January 19, 1736—August 25, 1819) was an English inventor and an important figure in the first industrial revolution.

in 1776, the first practical steam engine was manufactured. After a series of major improvements, it became a "universal prime Mover" and was widely used in industry. He opened up a new era of energy utilization for mankind, and made mankind enter the "age of steam". In memory of this great inventor, later generations set the unit of power as "Watt" (abbreviated as "Watt", symbol W). Basic Introduction Chinese Name: James Watt mbth: James Watt Nationality: British Nationality: Scottish Birthplace: Greenock Town, Glasgow, Scotland Date of birth: January 19, 1736 Date of death: August 25, 1819 Occupation: inventor, Scholar's belief: the main achievements of Catholicism: representative works of improved steam engine during the first industrial revolution: the place of death of improved steam engine: the life, family background, early experience, school experience, improved steam engine, entering old age, personal life, main influence, character controversy, character anecdotes, honor awards, character evaluation, commemoration of future generations, James watt was born on January 19th, 1736 in Greenock, a port town on the Firth of Clyde near Glasgow, Scotland. James watt's studio in the London Science Museum, Watt's father is a skilled shipbuilding worker and owns his own boat and shipbuilding workshop, and he is also a town official. Watt's mother Agnes Muirhead was born in a noble family and received a good education. They all belong to the Presbyterian Church and are staunch vows. Although Watt came from a religious family, he later became a deist. When Watt was a child, he didn't have much time to go to school because of his weak health. The main education was carried out by his mother at home. From an early age, Watt showed exquisite practical ability and mathematical talent, and accepted many Scottish folklore and stories. Early Experience When Watt was 17 years old, his mother died and his father's business began to decline. Watt worked as an apprentice in an instrument repair shop in London for a year, and then returned to Glasgow, Scotland to open his own repair shop. Although there was no similar repair shop in Scotland at that time, his application for opening a shop was rejected by the Hammer Guild of Glasgow (which manages all craftsmen who use hammers) because he did not do the required seven-year apprenticeship. Watt left Scotland in 1755 and went to London to seek training as an instrument maker. He was accepted by john morgan of Conseil. Study experience In 1757, the professor of Glasgow University offered Watt an opportunity to open a small repair shop in the university, which helped Watt out of the predicament. One of the professors, physicist and chemist Joseph Black, became Watt's friend and mentor. In 1757, the University of Glasgow appointed Watt as its official "Mathematical Instrument Manufacturer" and arranged a workshop on campus. Five years after the opening of Watt's shop to improve the steam engine, under the guidance of his friend Professor Robinson, Watt began to experiment with the steam engine. Up to this time, Watt had never seen a working steam engine with his own eyes, but he began to build his own steam engine model. The initial experiment failed, but he insisted on continuing the experiment and read all the materials he could find about the steam engine, and independently discovered the importance of latent heat (although it was discovered by Professor Black several years ago, Watt didn't know it at that time). Steam Engine Invented by Watt (Model) In 1763, Watt learned that there was a Newcomen steam engine in Glasgow University, but it was being repaired in London. He asked the school to take back the steam engine and repaired it himself. After the repair, the steam engine can barely work, but its efficiency is very low. After a lot of experiments, Watt found that the reason of low efficiency is that every time the piston pushes, the steam in the cylinder should be condensed first, and then heated for the next push, so that 8% of the heat of the steam is spent on maintaining the temperature of the cylinder. From 1763 to 1765, when Watt was repairing Newcomen pump, he designed a condenser to solve the problem of low efficiency. roebuck used Watt's invention in business. In 1765, Watt made a key progress. He thought of separating the condenser from the cylinder, so that the temperature of the cylinder could be kept at the temperature of the injected steam, and on this basis, he quickly built a model that could run continuously. But there is still a long way to go to build an actual steam engine. First of all, money. Professor Black provided some help, but more support came from John Roebuck. Roebuck is a successful entrepreneur and the owner of the famous Kalun Steel Plant. Under the sponsorship of roebuck, Watt started the trial production of a new steam engine and became a partner of the new company. The main difficulty in trial production lies in the processing and manufacturing technology of piston and cylinder. At that time, steel workers were more like blacksmiths than mechanics, so the manufacturing results were very unsatisfactory. In addition, because the relevant patent applications at that time needed the approval of Congress, most of the funds were spent on related programs. Due to the shortage of funds, Watt had to find another job as a canal surveyor for eight years. Watt's signature After that, roebuck went bankrupt, and all related patents were taken over by matthew boulton, the owner of a foundry in Birmingham. Watt and Bolton began their successful cooperation for 25 years. With the cooperation with Bolton, Watt got better equipment funds and technical support, especially in processing and manufacturing technology. One of the main difficulties in the manufacture of the new steam engine is the close fit between the piston and the large cylinder, which was finally solved by John Wilkinson. When he improved the manufacture of the cannon, he proposed a new precision boring technology, which can be used in the manufacture of the steam engine. In 1774, Watt put his own steam engine into production. In 1776, the Bolden-Watt steam engine first showed its working state to the public in Boromfield Coal Mine. In 1776, the first batch of new steam engines were successfully manufactured and put into practical production. These steam engines are mainly used for pumping pumps because they can only provide reciprocating linear motion. In the next five years, Watt won a large number of orders and was busy rushing between mines to install pumps driven by this new steam engine. At Bolton's request, Watt began to study how to convert the linear reciprocating motion of the steam engine into circular motion, so that the steam engine can provide power for most machines. An obvious solution is crank drive, but the patent owner, John Steed, asked to share Watt's previous patent of separation condenser at the same time, which Watt resolutely refused. In 1781, William Murdoch, an employee of Watt Company, invented a crank gear transmission system called "Sun and Planet" and successfully applied for a patent in the name of Watt. This invention bypasses the limitation of crank patent and greatly expands the application of steam engine. In the following six years, Watt made a series of improvements to the steam engine and obtained a series of patents: he invented a two-way cylinder, which enabled steam to enter and exit from both ends, thus pushing the piston to move in two directions, instead of pushing it in one direction as before; Using throttle valve and centrifugal throttle to control the air pressure and the operation of steam engine; An air pressure indicator was invented to indicate the steam condition; A three-bar linkage was invented to ensure the linear motion of the cylinder push rod and the air pump. Worried about the danger of explosion and leakage, Watt's early steam engines used low-pressure steam, and later introduced high-pressure steam. All these innovations combine to make Watt's new steam engine (United steam engine) five times more efficient than the newcomen steam engine in the past. In 1782, Watt patented a two-way steam engine, and in the same year he invented a standard unit: horsepower. In 1782, Wedgwood used the combined steam engine produced by Bolton-Watt Foundry and the power tool machine produced by Birmingham Factory to produce mechanized ceramics on a large scale in Etruria Ceramics Factory. In 1784, Watt improved the combined steam engine by adding a device to automatically adjust the speed of the steam engine, so that it can be applied to various mechanical movements. Since then, the textile industry, mining industry, metallurgy industry, paper industry and other industrial sectors have adopted steam engines as power. After 1785, Watt's improved steam engine was first put into use in the textile sector and was widely welcomed. In 1794, Watt partnered with Bolton to form a company specializing in the manufacture of steam engines. Under the successful management of Bolton, 1165 steam engines were produced by 1824. Watt and Bolton both made a lot of money. In his later years, Watt also made many other inventions before semi-retirement. For example, he invented a new method of distance measurement by telescope, a new printing method, an improved oil lamp, a steam roller and a mechanical drawing coloring method that continues to this day. Watt's cooperation with Bolton expired in 18, and he retired in the same year. However, their cooperation continued to the next generation. matthew boulton and George W. james watt continued to cooperate, and at the same time, William Murdoch was recruited as a partner, which ensured the company's continued success. After his retirement, Watt traveled to France and Germany with his second wife and bought a house in Wales. On August 25th, 1819, 83-year-old Watt died at his home in Handsworth, Staffordshire, England. Personal life Watt has a delicate mind, is slow in doing things and is very anxious. He often gets discouraged. He will put his work aside and feel as if he is about to give up completely, but his imagination is so rich that he can always think of new improvement methods that he often has no time to finish them one by one. Watt's hands-on ability is very strong, and he can complete systematic and scientific measurement to quantify his own innovation effect and help him understand. Watt was a gentleman who was respected by other famous people during the industrial revolution. He is an important member of the "Moon Society" organized by Birmingham industrialists and scientists. He always shows great interest in new fields and is regarded as a good social partner. But he knows nothing about business management, and especially hates bargaining or negotiating contracts with those who are interested in using his steam engine. Until he retired, he was uneasy about his financial situation. His collaborators and friends are congenial partners and can maintain long-term friendship. In 1767, Watt married his cousin Margaret Miller. Since then, they have raised five children, two of whom lived to adulthood. The structure of the new steam engine invented by Watt on the basis of the original steam engine has hardly changed in the next 5 years. The importance of Watt's steam engine invention is incalculable. It has been widely used in factories to become the power of almost all machines, which has changed people's working and production methods, greatly promoted technological progress and kicked off the industrial revolution. It makes the location of the factory can be built in a more economical and effective place without relying on coal mines, and it can run all the year round without relying on water energy, which further promotes the development of large-scale economy, greatly improves productivity and makes business investment more efficient. The steam engine makes it possible to innovate a series of precision machining, and higher technology ensures the performance improvement of various machines, including the steam engine itself. After continuous efforts, steam with higher pressure was introduced, and steam trains and steam ships soon came out one after another. Controversy of people Like many other major inventions, there has been a lot of controversy about whether Watt is the inventor of some patents related to steam engines. However, for the most important one, the separation condenser was first proposed by Watt and invented by himself. From around 178, Watt began to take measures to patent the ideas of others in advance, so as to ensure that the whole invention of the steam engine belongs to himself and prevent others from intervening. Watt said in a letter to Bolton on August 17, 1784: "My description of the roulette bracket is the best I can do under the allowed time and venue conditions;" However, it still has great defects in itself. The purpose of doing this is only to prevent others from obtaining similar patents. " Some people think that Watt did not allow his employee William Murdoch to participate in the development of its high-pressure steam engine, thus delaying the invention. Watt also worked with Bolton to suppress the work of other engineers. For example, Jonathan Hornblower invented another steam engine in 1781, but it failed because he was accused of infringing Watt's patent. Watt's patent for "sun and planet" crank gear linkage in 1781 and a patent for steam engine in 1784 all have strong evidence that it was invented by his engineer William Murdoch. Referring to the invention in a letter to Bolton on January 3, 1782, Watt said, "I have tested a model of an engine running in a circle, which was re-proposed and realized by William Murdoch on my original plan." However, William Murdoch himself has never raised any objection to the ownership of this patent. He has worked in the company of Bolton and Watt all his life and was accepted as one of the partners after Watt retired. Even after the original patent of crank that prevented Watt from inventing expired in 1794, Watt's steam engine continued to adopt this "sun and planet" transmission technology. It is said that Watt also blocked the invention and popularization of other non-patented steam engines, and thought that it was impossible to use steam engines to propel vehicles. Like other famous scientists and inventors, there are some interesting stories about Watt. Although they are mostly exaggerated, they are also well-known and worth remembering. The most famous is The Story of Watt and the Teapot. It is said that when Watt was a child, he once saw the boiling water on the stove boil, and the steam pushed the lid of the kettle open. Watt put the lid back but it was quickly pushed open. Watt kept putting the lid of the pot away to find out why. Later, Watt realized that it was the power of steam, which triggered his interest in steam and led to the invention of the steam engine. In 1785, Watt was accepted as a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1814, he became one of eight foreign members of the French Academy of Sciences. Watt is recognized as the inventor of steam engine in the world. His creative spirit, superhuman talent and unremitting research left valuable spiritual and material wealth for future generations. The steam engine improved and invented by Watt is a great influence on modern science and production.