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 cele-
brated 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 observa-
tions that were made at the time may have escaped me at present;
yet when the same subjects are touched on, I have as distinct recol-
lection 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.
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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 Newcomon'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
Newcomon'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 Ander-
sonian 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,
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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 par-
ticular 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
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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 communi-
cation 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 con-
denser, when instantly the piston was raised by the steam under it,
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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 pro-
duce 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.
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[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, contain-
ing 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 Newcomon'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 oppor-
tunity 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 back-
ward; upward or downward; circulary or cornerwise; to and fro;
straight, upright, or downright; yet the pretended operation con-
tinueth and advanceth none of the motions above-mentioned, hin-
dering, 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
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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 sym-
metry, 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 fur-
nishing 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 inven-
tion to crown my labours," &c.
You will allow that this last, composed of the other two, is a com-
plete 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 inven-
tion--that is the forcing one.