The Life of James Watt

manner, or nearly so; and in cases where there were boilers "fixed for the common engine, which was superseded, they 66 were used without alteration.

"These engines, then, differed in nothing from the ancient "ones, except in the application of W.'s principles as set forth "in his specification.

It was found that the external cylinder, or steam-case, was very expensive. The method of covering the cylinder "itself with a lid or cover, (which had been used in some of "the models), and conveying the steam to the lower end of "the cylinder by a pipe, was adopted, and a less expensive " method of applying the envelope of steam was used. Other "kinds of regulators were invented, and the whole mechanism "of the engine was gradually improved, and these improve"ments have been progressive for the last twenty-one years. "Some of them W. has secured by other patents, but many "of the most essential he has left free, and by means of them "Newcomen's engines have been improved to his loss.

"It will now, it is hoped, appear to the candid that W. has "not wilfully concealed his invention by a false specification, "but has set forth the nature of the same, and the means of performing it. He has told what he had invented; and it "could not have been expected that he should have described “mechanism already known to all practitioners, or not then "invented.

"W.'s invention is merely a contrivance to prevent cooling "the cylinder, and to make the vacuum more perfect by condensing the steam in a vessel distinct from the cylinder itself; "this is the nature of the invention. The means of keeping "the cylinder warm,-the substitution of the powers of steam "for those of the atmosphere,―of grease, &c., in place of "water to keep the piston tight,—and the drawing out the air, &c., by means of pumps, are merely aids in performing "the principal object. This ought to be kept in view in judging of the specification; also that W. supposed it to be "addressed to mechanics and philosophers, and not to the ignorant."

CHAPTER VIII.

DUCTION TO DR. ROEBUCK

DR. BLACK'S AND PROFESSOR ROBISON'S ACCOUNT OF MR. WATT'S INTRO- ENTIRE ORIGINALITY OF MR. WATT'S INVENTION -CONFIRMED BY DR. ROEBUCK WILCKE'S AIR-PUMP ACTING BY THE CONDENSATION OF STEAM - SUBSEQUENT TO MR. WATT'S INVENTION OF THE SEPARATE CONDENSER-HUMPHRY GAINSBOROUGH.

WITH regard to the model of Newcomen's engine belonging to the College of Glasgow, and which has attained so great a celebrity by the results which it was instrumental in producing, we find two entries in the records of that University; the first is as follows:-" University meeting, 25th June, "1760. Mr. Anderson is allowed to lay out a sum, not exceeding two pounds sterling, to recover the steam-engine "from Mr. Sisson,* instrument-maker at London."

Mr. John Anderson in 1757 succeeded Dr. Dick as Professor of Natural Philosophy in the College; he filled that chair for the long period of thirty-nine years, and was the founder of the Andersonian Institution in Glasgow, which he designed "for Lectures in Natural Philosophy, and in every "branch of knowledge;" and which was endowed by him with valuable philosophical apparatus, a museum, and library. We have already seen from the account given by Dr. Robison, that Mr. Anderson, although " much more popular" than his predecessor, was considered to have "infinitely less know"ledge;" a circumstance which may perhaps account for the nearly total oblivion of his name in any of the records connected with the life of Watt.

But it appears that he was a

native of Greenock, and brother of one of Mr. Watt's schoolcompanions, and, having been Professor of Hebrew from 1754 to 1757, he doubtless aided in that act of kindly patronage by which Mr. Watt was, at a critical period of his life, protected and encouraged. His employment of the young artisan to repair the little machine which suggested a train of thought leading to the greatest inventions of modern days, certainly gives Mr. Anderson a further claim, even if it be but an accidental one, to have his name associated with the "natural philosophy" of the steam-engine and of Glasgow College.

The model, (as will presently appear), never having worked well, the reason of it being sent to London had probably been a vain endeavour to have its faulty construction amended. Whether Mr. Watt had seen it, during his stay there, in the workshop of Sisson, or how far he may have advised it being brought back to Glasgow, as a subject for further consideration and study, we know not. But the next entry concerning it, in the same records, appears to be this:-"University meeting, 10th June, 1766. An account was given in by "Mr. James Watt for repairing and altering the steamengine, with copper pipes and cisterns, amounting to 57. 118. "The said machine being the property of the College, and having been in such a situation that it did not answer the "end for which it was made, the Principal is appointed to grant a precept for payment of the said account, which is "to be stated upon the fund for buying instruments to the College." *

This, it will be remembered, was after the idea of the separate condenser had "occurred," which was "early in 1765;" and by the repairs and alterations of the "copper pipes and "cisterns" of the machine, its fault of not answering the end for which it was made,-(one grievous enough, no doubt, but

appertaining to many other machines, both animate and inanimate, in common with it),--had in all probability been effectually corrected. That interesting little model, as altered by the hand of Watt, and preserved in all safety and honour within the precincts of its ancient birth-place, had been appropriately placed beside the noble statue of the Engineer, in the Hunterian Museum;-a sacred relic worthy of such a shrine, and there visited by many a worshipping pilgrim. Such had been, of late years, the felicitous arrangement. But on revisiting the College of Glasgow in January, 1854, "one morn "we miss'd" the model from its apposite home. On inquiry, we found that it had been placed among the apparatus attached to the Natural Philosophy Lecture-room, where, it was alleged, it had dwelt nearly a century ago. As the model, however, belongs to "the College," we hope that this seclusion, so disappointing to the public eye, may be only temporary; and that what might now be fairly said to be "meant for mankind," may not permanently be imprisoned where it can be open to the inspection of comparatively only a few.

None of the different accounts which thus remain to us of the date of this, Mr. Watt's greatest invention, fix the precise day on which, to use Dr. Black's happy expression, “this "capital improvement flashed on his mind at once, and filled "it with rapture." According to Robison's recollection, thirty-one years afterwards, it was somewhere about 1765. Dr. Black, writing after the same interval of time, states it as having been "in the beginning of the year 1765." Mr. Watt himself, in his notes on Robison, says "early in 1765;" and the nearest approximation that we can make, from other documentary evidence, to any more precise date, is, that it must have been previous to the 29th of April in that year, as on that day Mr. Watt writes to his friend Dr. Lind, “I have now almost a certainty of the facturum of the fire-engine,

having determined the following particulars: the quantity "of steam produced; the ultimatum of the lever engine; the quantity of steam destroyed by the cold of its cylinder; the "quantity destroyed in mine: and if there is not some devil

"in the hedge, mine ought to raise water to 44 feet with the same quantity of steam that theirs does to 32, (supposing my cylinder as thick as theirs), which I think I can demon"strate. I can now make a cylinder of 2 feet diameter and “3 feet high only a 40th of an inch thick, and strong enough "to resist the atmosphere; sed tace. In short, I can think of "nothing else but this machine. I hope to have the decisive "trial before I see you. Write me to-morrow what you are "about, and if any part of what you have to tell me concerns "the fire-engine."

"His mind," says Dr. Black, "became now very much employed in contriving the machinery by which this improvement might be reduced to practice; and he soon "planned it to such a degree, that he thought he was ready "to make an experiment on a large scale. But here he was stopped by the want of funds; and he found it necessary to "associate himself with some person who had money and

spirit for such an undertaking, and to participate with him "the advantages which might be derived from this invention. "He addressed himself to the late Dr. Roebuck, whose spirit "for enterprise and improvement in arts was very well "known, and the Doctor accordingly received with zeal the "opportunity offered to him. A small engine was soon built "in one of the offices of Kinneil House, near Borrowstoness, "where various trials were made, and some difficulties sur"mounted, so as to give satisfaction.

"I must add that I was as much upon a footing of inti"mate friendship with Dr. Roebuck as with Mr. Watt. The "Doctor, too, had no small degree of mechanical knowledge " and ingenuity; and was well qualified to perceive and "value the talents of Mr. Watt. He had also much experience of the use of common steam-engines, which he employed in working his colliery. He was withal ardent and "sanguine in the pursuit of his undertakings, and was there"fore a fortunate associate for Mr. Watt. Mr. Watt was a "valetudinarian, more or less, ever since I knew him; and "his mind was liable to be too much depressed by little cross "accidents, or by the necessity of a greater expense than he

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The Life of James Watt: With Selections from His Correspondence