James Watt invented the steam engine. This is a fact that I learned in grade school. Such was my comprehension that I often mixed up James Watt and Robert Fulton, the inventor of the first commercially viable steamboat.
James Watt invented the steam engine. This brings up an imagine of a man having a flash of inspiration, sitting down at his drafting table, sketchy a design in 30 minutes, and passing it on to mechanics to build. The nature of such things is not so. Like Edison and his light bulb, Watt ran a long, arduous race to bring his steam engine into fruition. He built upon the work Thomas Newcomen and the atmospheric steam engine.
Watt was home schooled and self-educated. He inherited a natural genesis for things mechanic from his father. Being somewhat impatient to begin his career he did not want to go through a 7 year apprenticeship in the mechanical arts. He managed to learn what he needed to about the trade in about a year. Unfortunately, the union/guild laws of the time Continue reading “James Watt by Andrew Carnegie”