THE WATT CENTENARY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 285, 28 August 1919, Page 5

THE WATT CENTENARY

TO MARE A MACHINERY REVIVAL JN- BRITAIN.

London, August' 25. Celebrations to mark the centenary of tho death of James Watt, the Scottish engineer, and inventor of the condensing steajr. engine, resulted in the . establishment of a school'of engineering research at Birmingham University. The 6chenie will cost ,£200,000. . The aim is to restore Britain to tho premier position in the discovery of labour-saving machinery.— Aus.-N.Z. Gable Assn.

James Watt, tho inventor of tho modern condensing steam-engine, was born in 1736, in an era that was essentially rural; he lived long enough to see a vast transformation into an era that was mechanical and industrial, and that transformation was largely due to his own genius and inventive skill. Onecan hardlv conceive the world as it would have been had not Jaujes Watt lived. His engine has been described as not an invention. but almost a creation, and the part which he played in the mechanical application of steam compared to that of Nowton in astronomy and Shakespeare in poetry. Though bora in Scotland, it w with Birmingham, the toyshop of Europe, as Burke aply called it, that' Watts namo and fame are mostly closely associated; in the neighbourhood of Birmingham his most important work was accomplished. Birmingham in the eighteenth century had many advantages to offer to the enterprising inventor. It was a centre to which came independent advanced thinkers, dreamers, and inventors, pioneers of all kinds, whose choso to enjoy a measure iof liberty that could hardly be found in any other town in the Kingdom. The industrial activity and tho political independence for which Birmingham has always been famous are largely _ due to the conditibns described, conditions of which Watt took full advantage when he settled there, and with Matthew Boulton began the manufacture of steam-engines. Ho had congenial company in Joseph Priestley, then engaged on his now famous chemical experiments, in Josiah Wedgwood, Erasmus Darwin, and many other of 'the brilliant members of the Lunar Society. Tho Soho factory, where Watt and partners laboured, achieved a fame which rang to the four corners of the world. Here Boulton and Watt strove to perfect their engines and other manufactures; here came Murdock, wearing his wooden hat, to become an honoured partner; and here Murdock applied his invention of gaslighting by firstusing it in illumination of the factory to celebrate the Peaco of Amiens in 1802. Dr. Johnson was a visitor there also, and tho man who would not disgrace the walls of Westminster by an epi tali written m English, passed by the classic productions of Wedgwood to gaze in astonishment on the engines by which Boulton rave to man what rami most desires to have—power. It Is proposed to give permanence to the centenary celebration by endowing a professorship of engineering, \o he lv'-iov/n as the .Tames "Watt Chair, at the University of Birmingham, for the promotion of research in the fundamental principle* underlying the production of. power and the study of the conservation of the natural sources of energy; ami ftnthev to erect a James Watt Moniori«l Tlu'ldinsr to serve as a museum for coliFuting together examples of the work of Watt nnd his contemporaries, Boulton r.ntl Murdoch", illustrating this interesting epoch in the history of engineering. The building .will also serve as a meeting place and library for scientific and technical societies, and be a centre from which engineers can co-operato in spread-, inor scientific knowledge. A memorial volume will likewise b« published.