Vance Bass wrote: > Today (Thurs, Jan 19) is the birthday of James Watt. You may have > heard of him. He quantified the watt as an electrical measurement, the > horsepower as a mechanical measurement, and discovered that water is > not an element. He also tinkered with steam engines. > > The Scotsman has a nice profile of his life and work here: > <http://heritage.scotsman.com/profiles.cfm?cid=1&id=2361182005>
Watt was responsible for quantum leaps in the efficiency of the steam engine and is believed responsible for designing the first steam engines that were really suitable for driving machinery other than pumps (atmospheric engines had been used rotatively but their performance was not best suited for this purpose. The majority of rotative atmospheric engines were used as colliery winders). The pioneer of high pressure (and therefore portable) steam engines was Trevithick, who also built what is believed to be the first railway (plateway) locomotive. At the time Watt was somewhat dismissive of HP steam as he thought it dangerous given the state of boiler technology of the day (and to a degree he was correct). Sam E _______________________________________________ SSLiveSteam mailing list Send messages: [email protected] Cancel subscription: http://postfix.45mm.com/mailman/listinfo/sslivesteam Rules: http://www.45mm.com/sslivesteam_guide.html
