All About Engines

CHAPTER III James Watt: The Man and his Work IT has been said of James Watt that his merit lay in the fact that he was not merely an engineer. He had read widely, was interested in many things, and possessed a vivid imagination. He was familiar with books written in French, German, and Italian, and could talk freely upon poetry, sculpture, and philosophy. He was as much at home in the fields and hedgerows as he was in the workshop ; and yet, until he was nearly forty, he had to struggle hard both for life and for a living. Born at Greenock in 1736, he was the son of a carpenter who made furniture and ships’ fittings, and repaired nautical instruments as opportunity occurred. Fragile and delicate in body, shy and reserved in manner, young Watt mixed but little with other boys, and spent most of his spare time reading at home, taking long walks into the country —often with a book in his pocket—and watching the men in his father’s workshop. At school he made very little progress, but at home he acquired a great reputation as a teller of stories. At eighteen it was decided that he should become a scientific instrument maker—and in those days the only scientific instruments were those used by 36