Watt and his steam engine were married to the University of Glasgow
In 1776, James Watt's improved steam engine was put into service, and mankind entered the "steam age". In 18th-century Britain, factories roaring with machines appeared along the river, from cotton weaving to various industries, began to use water power to drive machines to produce goods, and the rushing river brought a lot of money and cursed the factory not to leave the river.
A few years later, a man with his steam engine crushed the curse, and he was James Watt. Watt and his steam engine were married to the University of Glasgow. In 1761, Watt opened a repair shop at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, with a good reputation and a good relationship with the school, responsible for producing the teaching instruments of the repair school.
Portrait of James Watt
Watt made a model
He had heard at school that there was a magical steam engine that could run on the steam of boiling water, and a professor encouraged him: Do you want to try it? But the steam engine is very rare, Watt has not seen it, just with the experience of repairing the machine to try to tinker with it, and then look at various related materials.
It wasn't until two years later that a Newcormen steam engine came to the University of Glasgow, a broken machine that had been pulled in to repair, and even if it was broken, in Watt's eyes, it was a treasure with gold. The school agreed to let Watt fix it, and he really had access to the legendary machine.
Invented by Nucomen in the early 18th century, this steam engine is inefficient and consumes a lot of fuel, which is generally only used by mining industries such as coal mines. It took Watt two years to figure out how to improve efficiency, redesign two key parts, and make a model.
For models to become real machines, money is needed to buy materials and hire workers, and new designs need to be patented by Congress. Watt owes a bunch of debts, and unfortunately, the bosses who were working with him are bankrupt.
Bolton's help
Watt and the steam engine are saved, thanks to the new boss Bolton. Bolton is the owner of a large foundry in England, shrewd and social, and his factory has a large number of sophisticated instruments and excellent workers. He admired Watt very much, and patted Watt on the chest to assure him that Watt would just do experiments, and he would solve the problem of funding and the aristocratic lords of Congress.
Good things came in pairs, the economy with the help of Bolton, technology also borrowed from the new technology of artillery processing, in 1776, Watt's first new steam mechanism was formed and put on the market. However, this steam engine can only drive other machines up and down, which is most suitable for pumping water, and the mine buys the most to remove the water in the pit and mine channel.
After more than ten years of hard work, these new steam engines that inherited the Newcormen steam engine have returned to their hometown, and the steam engine is destined to belong to the mine? At this time, the new factory using water power had been around for five years and was under the curse of the river.
Watt, who had the hope of breaking the curse, was still on the mine. Because the machine parts at that time were still handmade, each was different, Watt had to take people to install it himself, and once it was broken, it had to go back and forth to various mines to repair it.
Bolton's brain is more flexible than Watt's mechanic, think about the factories that have developed rapidly in recent years, there are all kinds of machines in it, if they can use the steam engine, their orders can be multiplied many times.
Matthew Bolton was a famous entrepreneur of the Georgian era
The steam engine came out
Vant and the steam engine need new improvements to go beyond the world.
Over the next few years, Watt plunged headlong into the workshop, growing eight hands and three heads, and making a series of improvements:
Steam can only be pushed in one direction? Change two-way push!
Can't control the steam engine? Add a valve controller!
Low-pressure steam is not good enough? On high-pressure steam!
William, a company employee, was also infected by his boss and invented a geartrain that helped Watt a lot. These techniques were applied to the steam engine, and Watt finally improved the universal steam engine, which could be used in many industries, and was patented in 1784.
Arklett, who set up the first hydraulic plant, although his invention was flawed and talented, but his business acumen was really good, and he equipped his factory with a universal steam engine that year.
Since then, the factory has been able to break the curse of the river, leave the river, and as long as it is equipped with a steam engine, it can also drive the production of machines.
Watt's improved steam engine
conclusion
Watt's improved steam engine allowed factories to move freely into populous, convenient cities, and an unprecedented urbanization began in Britain.