PUB SERIES - JAMES WATT

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: may 2009 :: RMTnews 28 JAMES WATT 80-92 CATHCART ROAD (OPPOSITE WATT PLACE), GREENOCK, SCOTLAND A s the inventor who greatly improved the efficiency of steam engines James Watt (1736-1819) is currently portrayed on a Royal Mail stamp as “a pioneer of the industrial revolution.” But at the time, as a young working class man, he was unable to afford to patent his ground breaking method. On leaving school he made workshop models for his father, who was a shipwright, carpenter and joiner. This skill served James well later, when testing his own theories about steam power on models he had made himself. First, however, he decided to earn a living out of making mathematical instruments. When he went to Glasgow to learn this skill he was prevented from opening his own workshop to the public because he had not served a proper apprenticeship. He was, though, allowed to make instruments for the local university. And it was the university which set in train his great contribution to the railways. In 1763 the university asked him to improve the poor performance of one of its steam engines. After experiments with a tea kettle, discovering the latent heat of steam, he came up with the idea of separate condensers (one hot and one cold). This proved a huge leap forward but he was unable to afford to patent it for another six years. In the meantime, while developing it in Birmingham, one of his workmen stole his plans and patented them before him. Watt put this setback behind him and in 1782 patented a new system which prevented steam escaping and being wasted, enabling it to drive pistons more effectively. The following year he discovered the chemical composition of water (until then it had been considered one of the elements) which was another great leap forward. He submitted his paper on this to the Royal Society in November 1783 but it was not publicly read to its members until April 1784. This was three months after the paper with the same findings by Henry Cavendish was publicly read. It is debatable which of the two first came up with the discovery. Watt’s other inventions included a method of curing patients through inhaling gases, and machines for copying letters and reproducing sculptures. He never forgot his working class roots in Greenock and provided the town with an improved harbour, a new waterworks, and its first library. There is a statue of him outside his birthplace at the bottom of William Street - about two minutes’ walk from this Wetherspoon’s pub. While studying in Paris in 1789 his son, also named James, took part in the French Revolution. James Watt statue outside his birthplace in William Street PEOPLE’S PUBS - Words by Mike Pentelow, Picture by Peter Arkell