James Watt

Front Cover
Cosimo, Inc., 2005 M11 1 - 260 pages
[H]e created a new type of workmen capable of executing his plans, working with, and educating them often with his own hands. Only thus did he triumph, laboring mentally and physically. Watt therefore must always stand among the benefactors of men, in the triple capacity of discoverer, inventor, and constructor.-from "Captured by Steam"The steam engine, steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie notes here, was one of the bases upon which his own fortune was built-so why shouldn't he write a biography of its inventor, James Watt? As Carnegie explores the life and work of "one of the finest characters that ever graced the earth," we learn as much about Carnegie's philosophies of business and personal success as we do about Watt. First published in 1905, this is an unexpected example of Carnegie's spirit of generosity and boundless enthusiasm for science, technology, and the self-made man.Also available from Cosimo Classics: Carnegie's Triumphant Democracy, An American Four-in-Hand in Britain, Round the World, and Autobiography.Entrepreneur and philanthropist ANDREW CARNEGIE (1835-1919) was born in Scotland and emigrated to America as a teenager. His Carnegie Steel Company launched the steel industry in Pittsburgh, and after its sale to J.P. Morgan, he devoted his life to philanthropic causes. His charitable organizations built more than 2,500 public libraries around the world, and gave away more than $350 million during his lifetime.

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Contents

Glasgow to LondonReturn to Glasgow
21
Captured by Steam
43
Partnership with Roebuck
65
Boulton Partnership
85
Removal to Birmingham
117
Second Patent
153
The Record of the Steam Engine
191
Watt in Old Age
209
Watt the Inventor and Discoverer
219
Watt the Man
229
Index
239
Copyright

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Page 211 - For I have learned To look on nature, not as in the hour Of thoughtless youth, but hearing oftentimes The still sad music of humanity ; Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power To chasten and subdue. And I have felt A presence that disturbs me with the joy Of elevated thoughts : a sense sublime Of something far more deeply interfused, Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, And the round ocean and the living air, And the blue sky, and in the mind of man...
Page 234 - In his temper and dispositions he was not only kind and affectionate, but generous, and considerate of the feelings of all around him, and gave the most liberal assistance and encouragement to all young persons who showed any indications of talent, or applied to him for patronage or advice.
Page 234 - ... 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 211 - Therefore am I still A lover of the meadows and the woods And mountains; and of all that we behold From this green earth...
Page 217 - THE KING HIS MINISTERS AND MANY OF THE NOBLES AND COMMONERS OF THE REALM RAISED THIS MONUMENT TO JAMES 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 BORN At GREENOCK MDCCXXXVI DIED AT HEATHFIELD IN STAFFORDSHIRE MDCCCXIX.
Page 234 - ... 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 224 - 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 54 - 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. The second was to make the pump large enough to extract both water and air. ... I had not walked farther than the golf-house when the whole thing was arranged in my mind.
Page 113 - Now, a' together, hear them lift their lesson - theirs an' mine: 'Law, Orrder, Duty an' Restraint, Obedience, Discipline!

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