James WattDoubleday, Page, 1905 - 241 pages |
From inside the book
Page 14
... machinery or devices which they have improved . When new pro- cesses have been invented , these also have usually suggested themselves to the able workmen as they experienced the crudeness of existing methods . In- deed , few important ...
... machinery or devices which they have improved . When new pro- cesses have been invented , these also have usually suggested themselves to the able workmen as they experienced the crudeness of existing methods . In- deed , few important ...
Page 53
... machinery is a little more than one pound from every hundred con- sumed . When Watt gave to the steam - engine five times its efficiency by utilising the latent heat , he only touched the fringe of the mysterious realm which envelops ...
... machinery is a little more than one pound from every hundred con- sumed . When Watt gave to the steam - engine five times its efficiency by utilising the latent heat , he only touched the fringe of the mysterious realm which envelops ...
Page 61
... machinery . Skilled workmen do not have to fashion the parts . They only stand looking on at machinery - itself made by automatic tools - performing work of unerring accuracy . Had Watt had at his call only a small part of the ...
... machinery . Skilled workmen do not have to fashion the parts . They only stand looking on at machinery - itself made by automatic tools - performing work of unerring accuracy . Had Watt had at his call only a small part of the ...
Page 72
... machinery , furnaces and methods of mine - working in the upper Hartz . Alas ! the book was in German , and he could not understand it . He promptly resolved to master the language , sought out a Swiss - German dyer then settled in ...
... machinery , furnaces and methods of mine - working in the upper Hartz . Alas ! the book was in German , and he could not understand it . He promptly resolved to master the language , sought out a Swiss - German dyer then settled in ...
Page 81
... machinery could pump out . He had hoped that the new engine would prove successful and sufficiently powerful in time to avert the drowning of the pits , but this hope had failed . His embarrassments were so pressing that he was unable ...
... machinery could pump out . He had hoped that the new engine would prove successful and sufficiently powerful in time to avert the drowning of the pits , but this hope had failed . His embarrassments were so pressing that he was unable ...
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Common terms and phrases
altho Argand burner became Birmingham Boulton and Watt Britain canal Captain coal condenser Cornwall Covenanter 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 readers record 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 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 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 238 - His talents and fancy overflowed on every subject. One gentleman was a deep philologist — he talked with him on the origin of the alphabet as if he had been coeval with Cadmus ; another a celebrated critic — you would have said the old man had studied political economy and belleslettres all his life : of science it is unnecessary to speak ; it was his own distinguished walk.
Page 42 - Mr. Watt. I saw a workman, and expected no more ; but was surprised to find a philosopher, as young as myself, and always ready to instruct me. I had the vanity to think myself a pretty good proficient in my favourite study, and was rather mortified at finding Mr. Watt so much my superior.
Page 56 - I must get quit 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 35 or 36 feet, and any air might be extracted by a small pump; the second was to make the pump large enough to extract both water and air. ... I had not walked further than the Golf-house when the whole thing was arranged in my mind.
Page 234 - Independently of his great attainments in mechanics, Mr. Watt was an extraordinary, and in many respects a wonderful man. Perhaps no individual in his age possessed so much and such varied and exact information, had read so much, or remembered what he had read so accurately and so well. He had infinite quickness of apprehension, a prodigious memory, and a certain rectifying and methodising power of understanding, which extracted something precious out of all that was presented to it.
Page 76 - I intend, in many cases, to employ the expansive force of steam to press on the pistons, or whatever may be used instead of them, in the same manner as the pressure of the atmosphere is now employed in common fire engines. In cases where cold water cannot be had in plenty, the engines may be wrought by this force of steam only...
Page 188 - Description and Draught of a new-invented MACHINE for carrying vessels or ships out of or into any harbour, port or river, against wind and tide, or in a calm...
Page 216 - That is the worst part of life, when its earlier path is trod. If my limbs get stiff, my walks are made shorter and my rides slower — if my eyes fail me, I can use glasses and a large print — if I get a little deaf, I comfort myself that, except in a few instances, I shall be no great loser by missing one full half of what is spoken ; but I feel the loneliness of age when my companions and friends are taken from me. The...
Page 235 - ... topics on which it was to turn, but readily and quietly took up whatever was presented by those around him, and astonished the idle and barren propounders of an ordinary theme, by the treasures which he drew from the mine they had unconsciously opened.