The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1915-12-26
UNIT OFELECTRIC POWER GETS
ITS NAME FROM JAMES WATT
Inventor of the Steam Engine
Signally Honored by Elec-
tricaI Industry.

1.-THE splendid work of our great in
ventors would go for little If their
work was not supplemented by an
army Of men to give the widest and
most useful application to means and
methods the inventors have thought
out. We cannot all be inventors. But
we can all do our part to carry the
benefit of electricity 10 our fellow
men"
This statement was made by Henry
L. Doherty. president Of the Society
for Electrical Development and one
of the industry's leading men. Mr.. Do
herty referred to just such men as
James Watt, who is the subject Of this
E-lecturette. Watt was the man who
really invented the modern steam en-
CINE. 1t may seem strange that a
steam engine inventor should be so
signally. honored by one Of the most
frequently used words in electricity.
However, without the principle of the
steam engine electricity as a motive
power could not do the powerful tasks
II daily accomplishes.
or course Watt had nothing to do
with what is now known as a watt. A
watt is the product of the volts and
amperes, explained in the preceding
E-lecturettes..
The watt, however. is so small that
the kilowatt is generally used as a
unit as, for example, coal is sold by
the ton and not by the pound. ''Kilo"
means a thousand, so a thousand watts
are equal to one kilowatt. Electric
energy is sold not only for the amount
used, but the time as we'll. We buy
electricity by the kilowatt hour. A kill
owatt hour is one kilowatt Of cleo
tricity used for an hour. For instance,
load of hundred watts Of electric
energy will consume one kilowatt
hour in ten hours.
AS boy. Watt was considered in
dolent. Try as she would, his aunt,
Miss Muirhead, with whom he lived,
could not arouse him to what she con-
sidered a useful study. Hour after
hour he stood over teakettle, watch
ing the steam issue from the spout,
catching it in spoon and cup and
counting the drops into which 1t
formed. /.
James Watt concentrated all his
time and thought on the study Of
steam-where it came from, where it
went and how it could be collected
and used. He had but one companion
John Robinson. Watt was Stunned
by all other boys in the village be-
cause Of his love for books and the
fields. He lacked the adventuresome
spirit Of the young men Of his day and
lived his life only in study.
In 1850 Robinson, who was then a
student in Glasgow, knowing and APP
preciating his friends deep knowl-
edge. suggested that the power Of
steam might be utilized to propel the
wheels of a carriage. 1t was really
the first idea for horseless vehicle.
Robinson thought he could do away
with the work beam-then In use as
connecting lever between the cylin-
der and the wheel-if the open end OF
the cylinder was placed downward.
The idea kept repeating itself in
Watts mind long after his friend Rob-
inson had left college and gone to sea.
In 1863 Watt came into possession OF
little engine called the Newcome
model, the boiler Of which was some
what smaller than the ordinary kettle.
The cylinder OF the engine was only
two inches in diameter and had a
stroke of six inches. Watt at first re-
garded the model as plaything with
which to carry out some Of his ex-
periments.
One Sunday afternoon in the spring
of 1865, while Watt was taking his
usual solitary stroll on the village
green, a big thought came to him.
Still thinking over what Robinson
said of the little engine. the idea of a
separate condenser flashed across his
mind.
Watt lost no time in carrying out
his idea. He hired an old cellar and
proceeded to build model engine for
the purpose OF carrying out his ideas
under actual working conditions. He
met with considerable difficulty, but
his experiments proved beyond doubt
the advantage Of his invention.
Watt, assisted by John Gardiner, re-
tired to a larger workshop on King
street, Glasgow. After many months
OF patient labor they succeeded in pro-
ducing a working engine. embodying
all OF Watts ideas. A DR.. Roebuck
furnished Watt with the necessary
funds to continue his work, and the
great steam engine firm of Boulton
and Watt was formed.
And so the name Of this great man,
whose invention revolutionized the in
dustrial world will live so long as the
watt indicates the amount Of electric
energy being used when one ampere
OF current is flowing under pres