JAMES WATT.
"There was nothing of effort, indeed, or of impatience, any more than of pride or levity, in his demeanor; and there was a finer expression of reposing strength, and mild self-possession in his manner, than we ever recollect to have met with in any other person. He had in his character the utmost abhorrence for all sorts of forwardness, parade, and pretension; and indeed never failed to put all such impostors out of countenance, by the manly plainness and honest intrepidity of his language and deportment.
"He was twice married, but has left no issue but one son, associated with him in his business and studies, and two grandchildren by a daughter who predeceased him. He was fellow of the Royal Societies both of London and Edinburgh, and one of the few Englishmen who were elected members of the National Institute of France. All men of learning and of science were his cordial friends; and such was the influence of his mild character, and perfect fairness and liberality, even upon the pretender to these accomplishments, that he lived to disarm even envy itself, and died, we verily believe, without a single enemy."
[VI]
THE MASTER WORKER
We have already pointed out at some length that, in the hands of Watt, the steam engine came at once to be a relatively perfect apparatus, and that only three really important modifications have been applied to it since the day of its great perfecter. These modifications, as already named, are the doing away with the walking beam, the utilization of high pressure steam, and the development of the compound engine. Each of these developments requires a few words of explanation.
The retention of the heavy walking beam for so long a time after the steam engine of Watt had been applied to the various purposes of machinery, illustrates the power of a pre-conceived idea. With the Newcomen engine this beam was an essential, since it was necessary to have a weight to assist in raising the piston. But with the introduction of steam rather than air as the actual power to push the piston, and in particular with the elaboration of the double-chamber cylinder, with steam acting equally on either side of the piston, the necessity for retaining this cumbersome contrivance no longer existed. Yet we find all the engines made by Watt himself, and nearly all those of his contemporaries, continuing to utilize this means of transmitting the power of the piston. Even the road locomotive, as illustrated by that first wonderful one of Trevithick's and such colliery locomotives as "Puffing Billy" and "Locomotion," utilized the same plan. It was not until almost a generation later that it became clear to the mechanics that in many cases, indeed in most cases, this awkward means of transmitting power was really a needlessly wasteful one, and that with the aid of fly-wheel and crank-shaft the thrust of the piston might be directly applied to the wheel it was destined to turn, quite as well as through the intermediary channel of the additional lever.
The utility of the beam has, indeed, still commended it for certain purposes, notably for the propulsion of side-wheel steamers, such as the familiar American ferryboat. But aside from such exceptional uses, the beam has practically passed out of existence.