TRANSACTIONS
OF THE
GLASGOW
ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NO. 1.
REMINISCENCES
OF JAMES WATT:
BY
ROBERT HART, ESQ.
[Read at a Meeting of the Society
held at Glasgow, on 2nd November, 1857.]
As
some of the members of the Society expressed a desire at our last meeting, that
I would give some recollections of the interviews that my late brother (Mr.
John Hart) and myself had with the celebrated Dr. James Watt, the inventor of
our improved steam-engine, I have accordingly thrown together the following
brief narrative:-- As these meetings took place forty-three years since, many
observations that were made at the time may have escaped me at present; yet
when the same subjects are touched on, I have as distinct recollection of his
treatment of them as if it were of yesterday. My brother and I had heard and
read much of the inventions of Mr. Watt. They were so numerous, so various, and
of so valuable a character, and were so likely to change for the better the
character of the mechanical and mercantile world, we had formed a very high opinion
of Mr. Watt, and looked upon him as the greatest and most useful man that ever
lived. To have the pleasure of conversing with him was a thing we had little
hope of. However, one forenoon while we were at work, one of our employers, a
Miss M'Gregor, and tall elderly gentleman came into the shop. She, without
saying who he was, asked if we would show this gentleman our small engine.
It was not going at the time, and was
covered up; my brother un- covered it. The gentleman examined it very minutely,
and put a few pointed questions about her (the engine), and asked our reason for
making it in that form? My brother, seeing he understood the subject, said that
we made her to try what we thought was an improvement, and for this experiment
we required another cistern and air-pump; and he was beginning to show what was
properly Mr. Watt's engine, and what was not, when, at this observation, Miss M'Gregor
stopped him by saying, "Oh, he understands it; this is Mr. Watt." I
never at any time saw my brother so much excited as he was at that moment. He
called on me to join them, saying that "this was Mr. Watt." Up till
this time I had continued to work at what I was doing when they came, and
although I heard all that was said I had not joined the party till I learned
who he was. Our supposed improvement was to save condensing water, and was on
the principle introduced by Sir John Leslie, to produce cold by evaporation in
a vacuum. Mr. Watt took much interest in this experiment, and said he had tried
the same thing on a large scale, but without the vacuum, as that invention of
Professor Leslie's was not known at that time; he tried it exposed to the air,
and also kept wet; and at one of the large porter breweries in London he had
fitted up an apparatus of the same nature. The pipes forming his condenser were
laid in the water of the river Thames, but he could not keep them tight, from
the expansion and contraction of the metal, as these were exposed to various
temperatures. In speaking of his early experiments with Newcomen's engine, he
said he tried canes for steam pipes, but found they would not do a second time,
as they were always split; this he found was caused by the absorption of water
by the soft woody part inside, which expanded it and split the outside shell.
He asked if ever we had tried any experiments with a Newcomen's? We informed
him that we had, and also on Savery's-- we having made one of each, and these
we had given to the Andersonian University. This turned the conversation on
these first experiments in the small way, and he entered into all the details,
of making joints, &c. He was much pleased with the simple way in which we
made our temporary steam joints, which was to mix a little flour and water, dip
a rag into it, and apply two or three turns round the joint; as soon as it got
the steam it became quite tight. He said this conversation put him in mind of
his younger days.
We
waited upon him that night in Miss M'Gregor's, by invitation, and found him alone with the ladies. In
the course of conversation, which embraced all that was new at the time, the
expansion and the slow contraction of metals were touched on. This led to a
discussion on iron in engine-making. On that, he said--"We keep the
various qualities of iron for the parts they are best fitted for." As an
instance, he said--"We take the iron nearest to the quality of steel for
our cylinders, although more difficult to bore and finish; yet, after these cylinders
are used, they become smooth as a watch spring." These were his words.
Then all the other parts that are to be fixed on this cylinder were made of
iron of same expansibility, or as near as possible to that of the cylinder. By
these means the joints never gave any trouble; but without this precaution they
were often faulty, &c. I give the above to show how minutely clear he made the
subject.
In
speaking of the difficulties Watt and Bolton had to contend with at first, He
said:--"We used to send out a cylinder of double the size wanted, and cut
off the steam at half-stroke. This was a great saving of steam as long as the
valves were left as first set; but when our men had left her to the charge of
the person who was to keep her, he began to make improvement; often by giving
more steam, the engine did more work while the steam lasted, but the boiler
could not keep up the demand. Then complaints of want of steam came and we had
to send a man down to see what was wrong. This was so expensive, that we
resolved to give up the expansion of the steam until we could get men that
could work it, as a few tons of coal per year was less expensive than having
the work stopped. In some of the mines a few hours stoppage was a serious
matter, as it cost the proprietor £70 per hour." He also said--"When
Mr. Murdoch introduced the slide valve I was very much against it, as I did not
think it so good as the pupet valve; but I gave in from its simplicity."
On
my brother mentioning, as one of his early recollections, a shop in the High
Street, opposite the College, that used to take his particular attention, from
the optical and mathematical apparatus in the window, and asking him if that
was his shop, he gave a smile and said--"Na, na, lad; it was not mine. I
was not so rich as to have a shop of that kind."
To
the question, if it was in the College that he experimented on the
engine, and invented the condenser? (as we had been told it was there by
persons connected with the College) he said-- "No, it was not
there. I believe the Faculty would very willingly connect the invention
with the College, now that it had been of some use to the world."
This
was followed up by my brother saying, I should like much to know where the idea
first struck you, and what led you to it? He said--"It was in the
Green of Glasgow. I had gone to take a walk on a fine Sabbath afternoon. I
had entered the Green by the gate at the foot of Charlotte Street--had passed
the old washing-house. I was thinking upon the engine at the time, and had gone
as far as the Herd's-house, when the idea came into my mind, that as steam
was an elastic body it would rush into a vacuum, and if a communication was
made between the cylinder and an exhausted vessel, it would rush into
it, and might be there condensed without cooling the cylinder. I
then saw that I must get quit of the condensed steam and injection water, if I
used a jet as in Newcomon's engine. Two ways of doing this occurred to me.
First, the water might be run off by a descending pipe, if an offlet could be
got at the depth of 35 or 36 feet, and any air might be extracted by a small
pump; the second was to make the pump large enough to extract both water and
air." He continued, "I had not walked farther than the Golf-house
[about the site of the Humane Society-house, or a little to the N.W. of
that] when the whole thing was arranged in my mind."
In
putting the invention to the trial, he said he used a small cylinder with the
mouth down, and hung a weight to the piston rod, which was a tube with a valve
opening outwards. This was to allow the air to be blown out, as with the
sniff-pipe of Newcomon's; and hanging the mouth down was to save a beam and
framework. The condenser was formed of pipes laid horizontal, and had a small air-pump
at one end, all under water, that it might be kept cool, and condense the steam
by external cold, as he did not use a jet. He placed a cover on the mouth of
the cylinder, with a stuffing round the piston rod, as he wished to keep the
air out of the cylinder, and to act on it only by steam. To effect this he
connected both ends of his cylinder with the boiler by pipes, and the bottom by
a pipe to the condenser; each of these pipes had a stopcock. He produced the vacuum
in the condenser by working the pump by hand, having freed his cylinder of air
by allowing the steam to blow through it freely, by the valve on the piston
rod. He then shut off the steam from above the piston, and opened the
communication with the condenser, when instantly the piston was raised by the
steam under it, and lifted the weight that was hung to the piston rod, thus
showing him he was right in the idea of a separate condenser, and that his invention
was complete.
This
experiment, and those that preceded it, were done in a work- shop off King
Street, Glasgow. In answer to my question about the site of this shop, Mr. Watt
said, "It was in a little court, north end of the Beef Market, the
house projects into the court; I think a carrier occupies it at present."
I think this was in the year 1813 or '14. My brother and I went next morning
and saw the house; a large door had been made in the end of it, to make it into
a cart-house, and a carrier was loading his cart in it at the time. I think it
stood where Millar's Place is, just in front of what was the Inn door, as it
was but a few yards from the north-east corner of the market, in a north-east
direction.
The
nature of much of our conversation was not of an antiquarian cast, and may be
passed over. But I will take the liberty to lay before you the following:--
When
speaking of his being at Bo'ness, he said, "When there, I took charge of
the Schoolyard engine, that I might get a practical knowledge of a working
engine." My late brother had learned from an old man, who had been a
workman at Dr. Roebuck's coalworks when Mr. Watt was there, that Mr. Watt
erected a small engine on a pit they called Taylor's Pit. "He," the
workman, "could not say what kind of an engine it was, but it was the
fastest going one ever he saw." From its small size, and from being placed
in a small timber house, the colliers called it "the box-bed." We
thought this was likely to be the first of his patent ones made by himself, and
took this opportunity of mentioning this to him. He said he erected that
engine, but he did not wish to venture on a patent one till he had a little
more experience. He made her on Newcomon's plan, but he had got all the parts
of one, with his own improvements, nearly finished when his connection with
Doctor Roebuck was brought to a close. We found he had done a little in
telescope making, and understood the subject well. He mentioned a curious
experiment that a son-in-law of Mr. Harrison's was going on with,
viz., to produce a speculum by turning with a machine that cut so fine
that it left a polish. He had little hope that it could be done. In the year 1815
he sent us, as a mark of his regard, a brace and bits, and some drills. I have
brought his letter to show you, an it shows the slow rate at which goods were
carried at that time
[Mr.
Hart here read from the original, which is secured in a glazed frame.] It runs
thus:--
Heathfield, Dec. 19, 1815.
Messrs.
J. & R. Hart, Mitchell Street, Glasgow.
Gentlemen,--I,
on Saturday limit, took the liberty of sending, by the Manchester waggon for
Glasgow, a small box directed as this letter, containing a best Sheffield brace
and 38 bits, and two drill stocks with 12 drills each, of which I request your
acceptance as a mark of my regard. I hope they will be of use of your pursuits.
They
may be at Glasgow in about a fortnight, and you may enquire for the box at Mrs.
Walshes', Stirling Square. I shall be glad to hear that you receive them safe,
and how your telescope goes on, and remain with esteem,
Gentlemen,
Your
obd. humble Servt.
JAMES
WATT.
He
caused his son, Mr. James Watt, to call on us when he was in Glasgow. I think
he did so twice. At one of these visits, I see by a scroll of a letter that I
got my hands on only a few days since, that we had consulted him on an idea
that I had formed, that the Marquis of Worcester was the inventor
of Newcomen's engine. I see we have also mentioned it to Mr. Watt in 1816.
I am not sure if ever we saw the old gentleman after that, but I recollect of
one of them saying, that he was acquainted with the nobleman that fell heir to
all the papers of the Marquis, and he would take the first opportunity of
asking a sight of them, to see if he had left anything fuller on that subject,
as that was a thing he took much interest in. As we never heard anything
further from him on this head, we made it paper of it for one of the Journals
many years since. I have transcribed these three inventions, as they may not be
known by some of the Members of the Society, and it will enable them to form an
opinion on the subject.
The ninety-eighth of his hundred
inventions is the first that refers to this engine, and runs as
follows:--"An engine so contrived that the working the primum mobile,"
(or first mover,) "forward or backward; upward or downward; circulary or
cornerwise; to and fro; straight, upright, or downright; yet the pretended
operation continueth and advanceth none of the motions above-mentioned, hindering,
much less stopping the other; but unanimously, and with harmony agreeing, they
all augment and contribute strength unto the intended work and operation: and,
therefore, I call this A Semi- Omnipotent Engine, and do
intend that a model thereof be buried with me." The 99th is, "How to
make one pound weight to raise an hundred as high as one pound falleth, and yet
the hundred pounds descending,
doeth what nothing less than one hundred pounds can effect."
Before
going further, I will give my explanation of these two inventions--the 98th
means that he has discovered a way to use the pressure of the atmosphere, as a
first mover; in the 99th he applies it to act on a piston whose area is equal
to lift an hundred pounds by the pressure of the atmosphere. He would have a
model of the air buried with him. The 100th says, "Upon so potent a help
as these two last-mentioned inventions, a Water-works is by many years experience
and labour so advantageously by me contrived, that a child's force bringeth up
an hundred feet high an incredible quantity of water, even two feet diameter,
so naturally that the work will not be heard in the next room, and with great
ease and geometrical symmetry, that though it work day and night from one end
of the year to the other, it will not require forty shillings' reparation to the
whole engine, nor hinder one day's work, and I may boldly call it the most stupendous
work in the whole world, not only with little charge to drain all sorts of
mines, and furnish cities with water, though never so high seated, as well as
keep them sweet running through several streets, and so performing the work of
scavengers, an well as furnishing the inhabitants with water for their private
uses, and to furnish rivers with sufficient to maintain and make them portable from
town to town, and for the bettering of lands all the way it runs; with many
more advantageous, and yet greater effects of profit, admiration, and
consequence; so that, deservedly, I deem this invention to crown my
labours," &c.
You
will allow that this last, composed of the other two, is a complete description
of Newcomon's engine, and he anticipates all that was done with it until Mr.
Watt's time.
I
may mention that this engine (one of those alluded to by the Marquis) was seen
at work by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who visited this country in 1665, and
published a journal of what he saw. The engine is described by him in it. In a
translation of it, dated 28th May, 1699, he speaks of two engines. This one
draws the water, his other forced it. He says, this last is in the 68th invention--that
is the forcing one.
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