What seemed to finalize the impact of the Watt engine on the Industrial Revolution was his creation of the double-acting engine. Doubling the efficiency, it condensed steam both above and below ...

Watt refined the engine until it was efficient enough to run all sorts of machinery. Thanks to Watt, steam powered the first railway engine in 1804. He died in 1819 and the electrical unit, the ...

This fortuitous turn of events led Watt to join forces with Boulton in May 1774, marking the beginning of a collaborative partnership that would propel Watt’s revolutionary steam engine to new heights ...

This article was originally published with the title “ Centenary of the Steam Engine—James Watt ” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 20 No. 19 (May 1869), p. 297 doi:10.1038 ...

The steam engine may seem like a relic of the past. But without this game-changing invention, ... But by 1765, the fate of Newcomen's engine was sealed. In that year, James Watt, ...

Anyone with an hour or two to spare in London over the next year will be rewarded by a visit to the James Watt exhibition at the Science Museum.[1] As befits an exhibition relating to this genius ...

Over at mises.org, Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine challenge the standard story of James Watt and the steam engine. Their conclusion: In most histories, James Watt is a heroic inventor ...

James Watt has been called one of the most influential people in history, and his role in improving the steam engine to make it the primary force behind the industrial revolution is beyond dispute.

Watt's genius was not limited to his steam engine: he invented a raft of other things, including a centrifugal governor to limit the speed of his engines, sun-and-planet gears as an alternative to ...

James Watt invented horsepower so he could sell his steam engine as the next great thing. Learn more about how it started, and how it's calculated.

An engine indicator is an instrument for graphically recording the cylinder pressure versus piston displacement through an engine stroke cycle. Engineers use the resulting diagram to check the design ...

Naomi Alderman tells the story of James Watt and the steam engine that nearly never got made. A breath of steam hits cold metal. It cools suddenly and becomes a drop of water. There an idea. But ...