James Watt - James Watt This article is about the Scottish engineer and inventor. For Ronald Reagan's Secretary of the Interior, see James G. Watt. James Watt (January 19, 1736 - August 19, 1819) was a Scottish mathematician and engineer. He was born in Greenock, Scotland, and lived and worked in Birmingham. He was a key member of the Lunar Society. Many of his papers are in Birmingham Central Library. Timeline 1754: Learnt the trade of mathematical-instrument making in Glasgow, where he set up a business. 1757-1763: Mathematical-instrument maker to Hammermen's guild, Glasgow. 1763-1764: Repaired a Newcomen steam engine, which started him thinking about ways to improve the engine. 1767: Surveyor of Forth and Clyde canal. 1774: Started a business in Soho, near Birmingham, with Matthew Boulton to manufacture.
James G. Watt - James G. Watt James G. Watt, born in 1938, served as Secretary of the Interior under U.S president Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1983. He is remembered chiefly for his hostility to environmentalism and his favouring of the development and use of Federal lands by foresting, ranching, and other commercial interests. He was made to resign as a result of a controversy that arose because he told an ethnic joke. Quotes "I don't know how many future generations we can count on until the Lord returns." -- James Watt, to a Congressional committee in 1981, quoted from "A Brief History of the Apocalypse" "I have a black, a woman, two Jews and a cripple. And we have talent." -- James Watt, describing his staff to the.
James Keir - James Keir James Keir (1735-1820), chemist, geologist, industrialist and inventor, was born in Stirlingshire, Scotland. He was a member of the Lunar Society. He studied medicine at Edinburgh University where he met Erasmus Darwin. He joined the army and served as a Captain in the West Indies, resigning his commission in 1768. He settled at Hill Top, West Bromwich where he made amateur chemical experiments and studied rocks. In 1775 he set up a factory at Stourbridge to manufacture glass, but in 1778 became manager at Boulton and Watt's Soho Engineering Works. In 1779 he patented a metal alloy made of copper, zinc and iron which could be forged hot or cold. Window frames made from this metal may still be found at Boulton's home, Soho.
Watt - Watt The watt (symbol: W) is the SI derived unit for power. It is equivalent to 1 joule per second (1 J/s), or in electrical units, 1 volt-ampere (1 V · A). The watt was named after James Watt for his contributions in the development of the steam engine. See also : kWh.
Watt steam engine - Watt steam engine The Watt steam engine was the next great step in the development of the steam engine after the Newcomen engine. A Scottish instrument maker, James Watt arranged a separate vessel for condensing the steam. This condenser, C, was connected with the cylinder through a valve V'. When the piston had reached the top of the cylinder, the valve V was closed and V' was opened. Then the steam rushed from the cylinder into the condenser, which was kept cold and under less than atmospheric pressure. At first these valves V and V' had to be operated by hand, but later, it is said, a boy named Potter, whose job it was to turn these valves, connected the valve handles by cords to the.
Robert Watson-Watt - Robert Watson-Watt Robert Watson-Watt (1892-December 5 1973) is generally considered the inventor of radar. Born in Brechin in the county of Angus, Scotland, he was a descendant of James Watt, the famous engineer and inventor of the practical steam engine. After attending public school in Brechin, he was accepted to University of Dundee (which was then part of the University of St Andrews). He graduated with a BSc in engineering in 1912, and was offered an assistantship by Professor William Peddie. It Peddie who encouraged him to study radio, or "wireless telegraphy" as it was then known. In 1915 Watson-Watt wanted a job with the War Office, but nothing obvious was available in communications. Instead he joined the Meteorological Office, who were interested in his ideas on the.
January 19 - Revival of No, No, Nanette premieres (46th Street Theatre, New York City). 1977 - President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (aka "Tokyo Rose"). 1981 - United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity. 1983 - Klaus Barbie, Nazi war criminal, is arrested in Bolivia. 1983 - The Apple Lisa personal computer is announced. 1993 - IBM announces a $4.97 billion loss for 1992 which is the largest single-year corporate loss in United States history. 1997 - Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli controlled West Bank city. Births 399 - Pulcheria, Byzantine empress (†453) 1736 - James Watt, builder of steam engines (†1819) 1807 -.
Joule - unit of energy and work, and is defined as 1 kg·m2·s-2 = 1 N·m = 1 W·s. It is named in honour of the physicist James Prescott Joule. One joule is the work required to exert a force of one newton for a distance of one metre, so the same quantity may be referred to as a newton metre. However, to avoid confusion the newton metre is usually used as a measure of torque, not energy. Another way of visualizing the joule is the work required to lift a mass of 102 g (e.g. a small apple) for one metre under the earth's gravity. One joule is also the work done to produce power of one watt for one second, such as when somebody takes one second to lift the small.
John Rennie - engineer Andrew Meikle (inventor of the threshing machine), then attended Edinburgh University (1780-1783) and began work as an engineer with James Watt in 1783. In 1791, he moved to London and set up his own engineering business, having by then begun to expand into civil engineering. His early projects included the Lancaster Canal (started 1792), the Crinan Canal (1794) and the Kennet and Avon Canal (also started 1794). Rennie died in London in 1821 and he was buried in St Paul's Cathedral. His final design project, London Bridge (1824-1831), was to be completed by his son, also known as John Rennie. He built many bridges, canals, docks: Kelso Bridge Leeds Bridge Musselburgh Newton Stewart Boston New Galloway Southwark Bridge (old) Waterloo Bridge (old) London Bridge (old) Vauxhall Bridge (two designs of.
John Roebuck - next became involved in the manufacture of iron, and in 1760 established the ironworks at Carron, Stirlingshire. There he introduced various improvements in methods of production, including the conversion (patented in 1762) of cast iron into malleable iron "by the action of a hollow pit-coal fire" urged by a powerful artificial blast. His next enterprise was less successful. He leased a colliery at Bowness to supply coal to the Carron works, but in sinking for new seams encountered such quantities of water that the Newcomen engine which he used was unable to keep the pit clear. Hearing of James Watt's engine, he contacted its inventor. This engine, then at an early stage of its development, also proved inadequate, but Roebuck became a strong believer in its future and in return for.
Industrial Revolution - a topic for debate with some historians seeing it as an outgrowth from the social changes of the Enlightenment and the colonial expansion of the 17th century. The Industrial Revolution began in the English Midlands and spread throughout England and into continental Europe and the northern United States in the 19th century. Before the improvements made to the pre-existing steam engine by James Watt and others, all manufacturing had to rely for power on wind or water mills or muscle power produced by animals or humans. But with the ability to translate the potential energy of steam into mechanical force, a factory could be built away from streams and rivers, and many tasks that had been done by hand in the past could be mechanized. If, for example, a lumber mill.
History of rail transport - wagons, spread across Europe. By the early 1700s, the wooden tracks and wheels were beginning to be replaced by iron, and these systems became known as tramways. Typically, the wheels ran in depressed grooves lined with metal plate. James Watt, a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer, was responsible for improvements to the steam engine that caused this device to see wider use and encouraged wider experimentation. The first steam locomotive was built by Richard Trevithick, an English engineer, in 1804. His locomotive had no name, and was used at the pennydarren ironworks in Wales. It was not fianancially successful, because it was too heavy for the track and kept breaking down. Despite his inventive talents, Richard Trevithick died in poverty, with his achievement being largely unrecognized. In 1812 Oliver Evans, a.
Horsepower - the horsepower is rarely used due to the various definitions and the existence of an SI unit for power, the watt (W). However, the idea of horsepower persists as a handy term in many languages, particularly in the automotive industry for listing the maximum power of internal-combustion engines. The various types of horsepower are: Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 hp 2 RAC horsepower 3 PS 4 pk 5 CV 6 ch 7 bhp 8 ihp hp According to the most common definition of horsepower, one horsepower is defined as exactly: 1 hp = 745.69987158227022 W The horsepower was first used by James Watt during a business venture where his steam engines substituted horses. It was defined that a horse can lift 33,000 pounds with a speed of 1 foot per minute:.
University of Glasgow - of the city. Consequently, in 1870, it moved to a (then greenfield) site on the Gilmorehill in the West End of the city (around three miles west of its prior location). The main building, an example of victorian neo gothic architecture, is a major landmark and icon of the city. Famous scholars associated with the university include Lord Kelvin, Adam Smith, James Watt, John Logie Baird, and Joseph Lister. In more recent times, the university boasts of having Europe's largest collection of life scientists. The Veterinary School is perhaps Glasgow's most famous Faculty, having wrought the personalities of James Herriot (aka Alf Wight), Eddie Straiton ("The TV Vet"), Sir William Weipers, among many others and has the distinction of having its degree recognised not only by the UK, but also the.
United States Attorney General - member of the President's Cabinet. United States Attorneys General Name Term of Office President(s) served under Edmund Randolph 1789-1794 George Washington William Bradford 1794-1795 George Washington Charles Lee 1795-1801 George Washington, John Adams Levi Lincoln 1801-1805 Thomas Jefferson John Breckenridge 1805-1806 Thomas Jefferson Caesar A. Rodney 1807-1811 Thomas Jefferson, James Madison William Pinkney 1811-1814 James Madison Richard Rush 1814-1817 James Madison William Wirt 1817-1829 James Monroe, John Quincy Adams John M. Berrien 1829-1831 Andrew Jackson Roger B. Taney 1831-1833 Andrew Jackson Benjamin F. Butler 1833-1838 Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren Felix Grundy 1838-1839 Martin Van Buren Henry D. Gilpin 1840-1841 Martin Van Buren John J. Crittenden 1841-1841 William Henry Harrison, John Tyler Hugh S. Legare 1841-1843 John Tyler John Nelson 1843-1845 John Tyler John Y. Mason 1845-1846 James Knox Polk Nathan.
United States Secretary of the Interior - 26, 1850 Millard Fillmore Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart September 14, 1850 - March 7, 1853 Millard Fillmore Robert McClelland March 8, 1853 - March 9, 1857 Franklin Pierce Jacob Thompson March 10, 1857 - January 8, 1861 James Buchanan Caleb Blood Smith March 5, 1861 - December 31, 1862 Abraham Lincoln John Palmer Usher January 1, 1863 - May 15, 1865 Abraham Lincoln James Harlan May 16, 1865 - August 31, 1866 Andrew Johnson Orville Hickman Browning September 1, 1866 - March 4, 1869 Andrew Johnson Jacob Dolson Cox March 5, 1869 - October 31, 1870 Ulysses S. Grant Columbus Delano November 1, 1870 - September 30, 1875 Ulysses S. Grant Zachariah Chandler October 19, 1875 - March 11, 1877 Ulysses S. Grant Carl Schurz March 12, 1877 - March 7,.
Greenock - recorded as being 45,467 in the 2001 Census. It lies on the south bank of the River Clyde. The engineer James Watt and poet Denis Devlin were born in the town. The history of the town's name is uncertain. The notion that it's named after a "Green Oak" is almost certainly unfounded. A dubious, yet at least plausible explanation is that the town's name is a distortion of the Gaelic "Grian Cnoc", or Sunny Hill..
Flywheel - power storage devices; see flywheel energy storage. The kinetic energy stored in a rotating flywheel is where I is the moment of inertia of the mass about the center of rotation and ω is the angular velocity in radian units. A flywheel is more effective when its inertia is larger, as when its mass is located farther from the center of rotation either due to a more massive rim or due to a larger diameter. The flywheel was developed by James Watt in his work on the steam engine. See also gyroscope, momentum wheel.
United Kingdom National Physical Laboratory - such as those of the IEE to support scientists and engineers concerned with areas of work in which it has expertise. Researchers who have worked at the NPL include Paul Baran and Donald Davies, who invented packet switching in the early 1960's, Louis Essen, who invented a more accurate atomic clock than those first built in America, Alan Turing, one of the fathers of modern digital computing, Robert Watson-Watt, generally considered the inventor of radar, and the numerical analyst James Wilkinson. A new privately-funded state-of-the-art laboratory for the NPL at Teddington is due to be completed during 2003. External Links NPL home page NMS home page.
François Arago - the meeting of the British Association at Edinburgh. From this time till 1848 he led a life of comparative quiet - although he continued to work within the Academy and the Observatory to produce a multitude of contributions to all departments of physical science - but on the fall of Louis-Philippe he left his laboratory to join the provisional government. He was entrusted with two important functions, that had never before been given to one person, viz. the ministry of war and of marine; and in the latter capacity he improved of rations in the navy and abolished flogging. He also abolished political oaths of all kinds, and, against an array of moneyed interests, succeeded in procuring the abolition of negro slavery in the French colonies. At the beginning of May.
