James Watt’s steam engine had an enormous influence on the Industrial Revolution and the development of the modern world.
James Watt’s steam engine had an enormous influence on the Industrial Revolution and the development of the modern world.
The popular misconception is that the Scottish engineer, born in 1736, invented the engine.
In fact Englishman Thomas Newcomen did.
Newcomen’s simple engine is still complex for the layman. Here’s a basic explanation: It was powered by steam, created in a cylinder by boiling water in a chamber under it.
The pressure from the steam forced a piston inside the cylinder to move to the top.
The piston was attached to a beam above it, so that moved too.
Next a jet of cold water was automatically sprayed into the cylinder, cooling it down, condensing the steam and thus lowering the pressure.
With the pressure lower, the piston returned to its starting position, as did the beam above it.
The beam was attached to a rod, the up-and-down motion of which was used to work a pump.
Newcomen’s engine was used to pump water out of mines, which allowed miners to dig much deeper for coal to fuel factories.
In 1764 Watt, an instrument maker at Glasgow University, was asked to repair a working model of Newcomen’s engine.
As he did so he saw it wasted steam because its cylinder had to be alternately heated and cooled.
So in 1765 he built an engine in which the main cylinder stayed hot but was attached to a second one which was kept cold.
This advance cut fuel consumption by 75 per cent.
Watt refined the engine until it was efficient enough to run all sorts of machinery.
Thanks to Watt, steam powered the first railway engine in 1804. He died in 1819 and the electrical unit, the watt, was named after him.
The Earl of Sandwich
The fourth Earl of Sandwich had an illustrious career in the Navy — but will always be known for inventing the snack which was named after him.
The Earl, real name John Montagu, was born in 1718 and educated at Eton.
By the time he was 30 he was running the Navy as First Lord of the Admiralty.
Sandwich was notoriously corrupt and addicted to gambling.
It is said that one summer around 1765 he spent 24 hours non-stop at a card table in a London pub.
He refused to get up for meals and when hunger finally overwhelmed him he ordered his servant to bring him cheese and meat between two slices of bread — a ploy to prevent his hands, and the cards, from getting greasy.
The snack was an instant hit — and quickly the sandwich spread.