James WattDoubleday, Page, 1905 - 241 pages |
From inside the book
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... matters . This settled the question , as I supposed , but in this I was mistaken . Why shouldn't I write the Life of the maker of the steam - engine , out of which I had made fortune ? Besides , I knew little of the history of the Steam ...
... matters . This settled the question , as I supposed , but in this I was mistaken . Why shouldn't I write the Life of the maker of the steam - engine , out of which I had made fortune ? Besides , I knew little of the history of the Steam ...
Page 13
... matters little . They should have occurred , for they are too good to lose . We could part with many of the actual characters of the flesh in history without much loss ; banish the imaginary host of the spirit and we were poor indeed ...
... matters little . They should have occurred , for they are too good to lose . We could part with many of the actual characters of the flesh in history without much loss ; banish the imaginary host of the spirit and we were poor indeed ...
Page 16
... matter with most young men . There was never room for any question of choice with young Watt . The occupation had chosen him , as is the case with genius . " Talent does " what it can , genius what it must . " When the goddess lays her ...
... matter with most young men . There was never room for any question of choice with young Watt . The occupation had chosen him , as is the case with genius . " Talent does " what it can , genius what it must . " When the goddess lays her ...
Page 46
... matter those days was in French and Italian , of which there were no translations . Watt promptly began to ac- quire these languages , that he might know all that was to be known . He could not await the coming of the model , which did ...
... matter those days was in French and Italian , of which there were no translations . Watt promptly began to ac- quire these languages , that he might know all that was to be known . He could not await the coming of the model , which did ...
Page 51
... matter at what pressure . This is James Watt's discovery , and it led him to the use of high- pressure steam , used expansively . Even coal may yet be superseded before it is ex- hausted , for as eminent an authority as Professor ...
... matter at what pressure . This is James Watt's discovery , and it led him to the use of high- pressure steam , used expansively . Even coal may yet be superseded before it is ex- hausted , for as eminent an authority as Professor ...
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Common terms and phrases
admirable altho Argand burner became Birmingham Boulton and Watt Britain canal Captain coal condenser Cornwall cylinder discovery doubt erected expansively experiments famous father fortune genius give Glasgow Greenock hand heart honor horse-power idea improved instrument invention inventor James Watt kind knew labor latent heat less letter London Lord Lord Brougham Lord Kelvin Lunar Society machine machinery manufacture mathematical matter mechanical ment mind mother motion Muirhead Murdoch nature needed never Newcomen engine partner partnership passed patent perfect philosopher phlogiston piston pound Priestley principle probably Professor Black proved pump record rendered Richard Lovell Edgeworth Robison Roebuck says Scot Scotch Scotland seems ship skilled Soho soon steam engine stroke success things tion to-day trial trouble Watt and Boulton Watt engine Watt wrote Watt's day wonder workmen writes young youth
Popular passages
Page 237 - ... which wait for no man, and of sailing without that wind which defied the commands and threats of Xerxes himself. This potent commander of the elements...
Page 239 - Turn him to any cause of policy, The Gordian knot of it he will unloose, Familiar as his garter ; that, when he speaks, The air, a charter'd libertine, is still, And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears, To steal his sweet and honey'd sentences...
Page 235 - ... instructive in no ordinary degree ; but it was, if possible, still more pleasing than wise, and had all the charms of familiarity, with all the substantial treasures of knowledge. No man could be more social in his spirit, less assuming or fastidious in his manners, or more kind and indulgent towards all who approached him. He rather liked to talk, at least in his latter years ; but though he took a considerable share of the conversation, he rarely suggested the topics on which it was to turn,...
Page 220 - Watt, who directing the force of an original genius early exercised in philosophic research to the improvement of the steam-engine, 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.
Page 236 - ... observations, and set off to the greatest advantage the pleasant anecdotes which he delivered with the same grave brow and the same calm smile playing soberly on his lips.
Page 115 - An' now the main eccentrics start their quarrel on the sheaves : Her time, her own appointed time, the rocking linkhead bides, Till — hear that note? — the rod's return whings glimmerin' through the guides. They're all awa' ! True beat, full power, the clangin' chorus goes Clear to the tunnel where they sit, my purrin
Page 237 - ... his happiest days. His friends in this part of the country never saw him more full of intellectual vigour and colloquial animation, never more delightful or more instructive, than in his last visit to Scotland in autumn, 1817. Indeed, it was after that time that he applied himself, with all the ardour of early life, to the invention of a machine for mechanically copying all sorts of sculpture and statuary, and distributed among his friends some of its earliest performances, as the productions...
Page 227 - It can engrave a seal, and crush masses of obdurate metal before it — draw out, without breaking, a thread as fine as gossamer, and lift a ship of war like a bauble in. the air. It can embroider muslin and forge anchors — cut steel into ribands, and impel loaded vessels against the fury of the winds and waves.
Page 238 - ... the world the effects of which, extraordinary as they are, are perhaps only now beginning to be felt, was not only the most profound man of science, the most successful combiner of powers and calculator of numbers, as adapted to practical purposes, was not only one of the most generally well-informed, but one of the best and kindest of human beings.
Page 56 - I must get rid of the condensed steam and injection-water if I used a jet as in Newcomen's engine. Two ways of doing this occurred to me. First, the water might be run off by a descending pipe, if an offlet could be got at the depth of thirtyfive or thirty-six feet, and any air might be extracted by a small pump.