James Watt

James Watt was born on January 19th 1736 in Greenock Scotland. His father was a ship owner and contractor while his mother was well educated coming from a popular family. Around the age of 18 James’ mother died and his father was not in good health either. James ended up travelling to London to study instrument making, then returned to Scotland to start his own business, but was denied because he had no previous working background. Eventually James was granted the ability to open his own shop and had it going for about four years until he was opened up to the idea of using steam for energy. After many attempts of constructing a working steam engine James got one that was manageable but did not work the way he wanted it to. James knew the university he attended in London had a model of the steam engine and with that it gave him the information he needed to construct a more efficient one. James needed a lot of extra money to invent this new steam engine and was funded by a friend, Joseph Black, and another man, John Roebuck. James discovered the heat from the steam was causing the engine to use most of its energy to keep cooling the cylinder. Supplies were expensive and money was tight so James needed to get a job for himself, he was a surveyor and a civil engineer. Roebuck eventually went bankrupt and wasn’t of help to James anymore. Matthew Boulton received the patent rights of Roebuck and made a very successful partnership with James which lasted for 25 years. In 1776 the first engines were working in different places mainly to get water out of mines. James made multiple improvements to his steam engine for six years. Eventually in