James Watt

James Watt was a Scottish engineer, famous for his improvements to the steam engine.

The steam or Atmospheric Engine was used to pump water from coal mines. This steam engine had been invented in 1712 by Thomas Newcomen, but it is Watt who is remembered as one of the great engineers of the industrial revolution.

Watt was born to a wealthy shipwright from Greenock on the 19th January in 1736. At the start of his engineering career he began making mathematical instruments, but was soon branching out into the world of mechanics.
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At the age of twenty-eight, Watt was given one of Newcomen's engines to repair, but he soon came to the conclusion that it was far from efficient and Watt's changes doubled fuel efficiency.

 Thomas Newcomen's engine could be found in hundred of coal mines, but it was soon replaced with Watt's new design, and as stated previously, it was Watt, not Newcomen who is credited with the advances in the mining industry. Of course mine owners welcomed the change, for there was a greater demand for coal, they felt the benefits in their pockets. However, improved efficiency has its draw backs, and as a result coal mines got deeper and deeper and coal mining became more and more dangerous, for instance, in one year in an unnamed coal mine, 58 deaths out of a total of 349, involved children thirteen years or younger.

James Watt died on the 25th August 1819 and is buried at Handsworth near Birmingham. 

You can read about life in the coal mines by clicking on the link below.

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