staff@slashgear.com (C. Gordon)
2024-04-08 18:15:07
www.slashgear.com
According to the Scottish Science Hall of Fame, his influence began while repairing a model Newcomen steam engine in 1764, at which point he couldn’t help but notice how much steam it wasted in the process, with the cylinder needing to regularly be reheated, ultimately using up plenty of coal. Watt figured a separate steam condenser could ensure the cylinder remained hot, and partnered with inventor John Roebuck, producing a prototype in 1768. The highly efficient patent was given the non-efficient name “A New Invented Method of Lessening the Consumption of Steam and Fuel in Fire Engines.”
As this redesign began to garner attention from copper, tin, coal, and iron mines around England, two further developments helped crystallize his impact on engine efficiency. First was the rotary engine, an innovation which used rotary movement to replace the reciprocating, up-and-down piston movement of the original. It helped modernize corn, malt, and cotton mills, among others, and was used to replace “animal and water power and mechanized industries like weaving and spinning.”