Wikinventia — Atlas of discoveries and inventions · Exploration Age

Separate condenser and double-acting steam engine — James Watt

1769 AD · Transmission: Global
TechnologyInventionBritish

James Watt (Greenock, 1736 – Birmingham, 1819), an instrument maker at the University of Glasgow, conceives in 1765 the separate condenser — an independent vessel where steam condenses without cooling the cylinder — while repairing a Newcomen model. The patent is granted in 1769. In 1782 he adds double-acting motion (steam acting on both piston strokes), multiplying power. The Boulton & Watt company (1775) manufactures and sells the engines at industrial scale. Watt introduces the concept of "horsepower" (hp) to communicate performance to non-technical customers. The Watt engine's efficiency triples that of Newcomen's. His contribution is not inventing the steam engine — Newcomen already had a practical one — but making it efficient enough for applications beyond mine pumping: textile manufacturing, paper, foundries, transport.

InstitutionUniversity of Glasgow; Soho Manufactory, Birmingham
Historical regionUnited Kingdom (Scotland / Birmingham)
Primary sourceWatt, J. — Patent No. 913 (5 January 1769): "A new method of lessening the consumption of steam and fuel in fire engines". Patent Office, London
Secondary sourceDickinson, H.W. & Jenkins, R. — James Watt and the Steam Engine (1927); Hills, R.L. — James Watt, vol.1-3 (Landmark Publishing, 2002–2006)
Original languageEnglish
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