Greatest Coal-Saver

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 1211, 10 December 1919, Page 3

Greatest Coal-Saver

THE WATT CENTENARY. By Harold Luke in the Daily Mail).. If* only we had a James Watt now 1 That is the thought that must come to anyone who considers the work of the man whose centenary was lately celebrated at Birmingham—the scene of his triumphant labours. For Watt was the greatest coal saver in the world has ever known, and if a man would come now to repeat the wonders which he wrought, most of our industrial and commercial troubles would be solved. Discarding technicalities, the result «l Watt's work may be expressed by. saying that he made it possible for three pounds of coal to do the work for which ten pounds had been required before. Those figures are based on comparisons of the work of thebest steam engines existing at the time when his improvements were introduced with the work whtoh his engines performed. There were, of course, other reactions from, his inventions. But for the economy which he effected, railways and steamships would have been Impossible. If you' doubt lhis r consider the hunters of our- great liners or the tenders of bur express trains. But for James Watt they would havo. required more than, three times as much coal as they consume to=-day. Aqd, if anyone could effept in our modern world an economy on the same scale which he niade possible, there would be no need pi worry over reduced output.

Plagued by 111 -health 'and almostconstant headaches throughout his life, James Watt's career was .abundantly unfortunate in many waysF But good fortiinc came to him when he met Matthew Boulton. the' Birmingham manufacturer. Boulton had optimism and business ability to make up for Watt's deficiencies, and he had financial resources to stand the strain of the years of experiment which were, necessary. But even his resources were strained to breaking-point before success was assured, and no sooner was the value of the Watt engines demonstrated than the partners'.found themselves involved in complicated law-suits over infringements of the patents. ' Yet there was in Watt that indomitable zeal of the scientist which enabled him to Keep steadily at work through all this muddling worry. It enabled him to overcome the difficulties of a time when tools of precision were in their infancy, and it made possible for him the triumph over the pains of his own body.

He was a great master of precision in an age when precision was only beginning to be understood. It was his furious anxiety for exact measurements that opened the way for his inventions, and all through his life, you find him making instruments to carry out exactly the most delicate measurements. So he came 'at last to the peace of his latter years, when, with assured prosperity, he was able to spend his days in the workshop which is still to be seen in the old house in Birmingham. There, in seclusion from tho world ho did not understand, he lived and worked, cooking his own meals very often, and knowing that joy which can only come to the supreme craftsman.