Bao Huo Lao Biographies Library · Giants 100 Biographies Series -- Watt

Author: Sun Wenfang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1998-10-01
Features: We are delighted to recommend the "Giant Biographies Series" to young friends. At the turn of the century, having such a premium series accompany you is a joy in wisdom. We believe that from the footsteps of these giants and masters, you can learn how to properly handle success and failure, comfort and hardship, joy and pain, smoothness and trials, understand how to face life, how to be a person, how to pursue knowledge, how to shape oneself, and how to shape the future.
Principal of Peking University, Secretary Zhao Yulin
Principal of Tsinghua University, Secretary Zhao Qinggang
Giants are the elite of humanity. They have made outstanding contributions to the progress and civilization of human society. Their spirit of struggle and extraordinary achievements are deeply admired by people, becoming models for others to learn from. Giants are human, not gods; they come from ordinary people but surpass them. Lofty ideals and the belief of seeking happiness for the motherland and humanity are the driving force behind their relentless progress and fearlessness of difficulties.
Principal of Tianjin Nankai, Kang Xiuyan
To carefully read this series of books is like seeing their appearance, speech, and actions, feeling their ideals, beliefs, ambitions, and moral character. This will help you learn how to be a person, how to pursue knowledge, and how to build a career.
Principal of Fudan University, Cao Tianren
James Watt (1736–1819)
Watt, James, British inventor and mechanical engineer. One of the main inventors of the steam engine. Born on January 19, 1736, in Greenock, Scotland, and died on August 25, 1819, in Heathfield. From a young age, he was fond of crafts and geometry. In his youth, he became proficient in woodworking, metalworking, forging, and model making. In 1753, he went to Glasgow and London to study instrument manufacturing. In 1757, he returned to Glasgow. In 1764, he repaired the steam engine model of T. Newcomen at the University of Glasgow, beginning his research and improvement of the steam engine. In 1785, he was elected a member of the Royal Society of London, and in 1806, he was awarded a doctorate in law by the University of Glasgow. In 1814, he was elected an honorary foreign member of the French Academy of Sciences.
Watt improved Newcomen's steam engine and produced a practical single-acting steam engine in 1765. On October 10, 1781, he obtained a patent for the double-acting steam engine. In 1784, he improved the valve gear of the steam engine, adopting a condenser with a steam pump and a four-bar linkage mechanism to move the piston parallelly. In 1788, he invented a centrifugal governor that could control the opening degree of the intake valve, thereby controlling the speed of the steam engine. In 1790, he invented a pressure gauge, which brought the steam engine to perfection. He standardized the components of the steam engine and put it into mass production. In 1794, Watt changed the planetary gear mechanism to a crank-connecting rod mechanism, and finally completed the invention of the double-acting steam engine. Watt is the proposer of the unit of power "horsepower," and the unit of power "watt" in the International System of Units is named after his surname.
Today, we are at the turn of the century, and the era has put forward the task of "rejuvenating the country through science and education." All those who bravely climb the heights of science and technology, especially the vibrant young people, are doing their best to develop their wisdom and strive to make their due contributions to the rejuvenation of the motherland. By introducing Watt's deeds to readers, it is hoped that his pioneering and enterprising "Watt spirit" can serve as a driving force to inspire us to create the future.