A history of the growth of the steam-engine . almed inhistory, to be perpetuated in monuments, to be written in the hearts of thiaand succeeding generations!—^Kennedy. Section I.—James Watt and his Inventions. The succers of the Newcomen engine naturally attractedthe attention of mechanics, and of scientific men as well, tothe possibility of making other applications of steam-power. The best men of the time gave much attention to thesubject, but, until James Watt began the work that hasmade him famous, nothing more was done than to improvethe proportions and slightly alter the details of the N
A history of the growth of the steam-engine . almed inhistory, to be perpetuated in monuments, to be written in the hearts of thiaand succeeding generations!—^Kennedy. Section I.—James Watt and his Inventions. The succers of the Newcomen engine naturally attractedthe attention of mechanics, and of scientific men as well, tothe possibility of making other applications of steam-power. The best men of the time gave much attention to thesubject, but, until James Watt began the work that hasmade him famous, nothing more was done than to improvethe proportions and slightly alter the details of the Newco-men and Galley engine, even by such skillful engineers asBrindley and Smeaton. Of the personal history of theearlier inventors and improvers of the steam-engine, verylittle is ascertained; but that of Watt has become wellknown. 80 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MODERN STEAM-ENGINE. James Watt was of an humble lineage, and was bomat Greenock, then a little Scotch fishing village, but nowa considerable and a busy town, which annually launches. J/:2t James Watt. upon the waters of the Clyde a fleet of steamships whoseengines are probably, in the aggregate, far more powerfulthan were all the engines in the world at the date of Wattsbirth, January 19, 1736. His grandfather, Thomas Watt,of Crawfordsdyke, near Greenock, was a well-known math-ematician about the year 1700, and was for many years aschoolmaster at that place. His father was a prominentcitizen of Greenock, and was at various times chief magis-trate and treasurer of the town, James Watt was a brightboy, but exceedingly delicate in health, and quite unable toattend school regularly, or to apply himself closely to eitherstudy or play. His early education was given by his par-ents, who were respectable and intelligent people, and thetools borrowed from his fathers carpenter-bench served at JAMES WATT AND HIS INVENTIONS. 81 once to amuse him and to give him a dexterity and famil-iarity with their use that must undoubtedly hav
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