Description

This is the 127th Engineering Heritage Award being awarded by the IMechE.

The Hunterian Musuem at Glasgow University and Engineering Heritage Awards Committee would like to invite the local IMechE membership and the general public to this prestigious celebration at Glasgow University on Monday 19 August 2019.

About the recipient

Repairing this model steam engine for the University of Glasgow in the early 1760s led the young James Watt to consider improvements to steam engine technology, and ultimately the creation of the separate condenser, a crucial development in the Industrial Revolution.

在1710年代早期托马斯·纽科门(1664 - 1729)发票ented an atmospheric steam engine, principally for pumping water out of mines. A boiler produced steam, which entered a open-topped cylinder. Within the cylinder was a movable piston, attached by a chain and a pivoting beam to pump rods which descended into the mine. When a spray of cold water was injected inside the cylinder, the steam condensed, which formed a partial vacuum. The greater atmospheric pressure outside the cylinder pushed down the piston, which in turn raised the pump rods. Numerous full-size Newcomen engines were built across the United Kingdom in the middle of the 18th century, enabling deeper and more extensive extraction of resources such as coal and metals.

In the 1750s this model Newcomen engine resided in the University of Glasgow's premises on the High Street. It was presumably used for teaching, demonstrating and experimenting. In 1756 the 20-year-old Scottish instrument maker, James Watt (1736-1819) was employed by Professor of Natural Philosophy Robert Dick (1722-1757), to repair some astronomical instruments. This resulted in Watt establishing a workshop within the University and styling himself 'Mathematical Instrument Maker to the University'. In this role Watt was exposed to the vibrant community of experimenters and theorists in Enlightenment Glasgow, such as Dick's successor, John Anderson (1726-1796), chemist Joseph Black (1728-1799), who was developing a theory of latent heat, and many others.

Watt was asked by Anderson to repair the University's model Newcomen engine in the winter of 1763-4, which led him to consider experiments to improve it. Watt's realisation in 1765 was that a great deal of heat was wasted in the condensation process, as the cylinder was repeatedly cooled and heated. His key innovation to steam engine technology was the invention of the separate condenser, which condensed the steam in a separate vessel, reducing the heat wastage and greatly improving the engine's efficiency. In collaboration with his later business partner Matthew Boulton (1728-1809), Watt's improved steam engines were significantly more efficient than Newcomen's, a business success, and a milestone in the Industrial Revolution. Although there is no evidence that Watt ever attached a separate condenser to this specific model engine, it remains a highly important object in the world history of engineering and industry.

Programme of Events

Time	Feature
1245	Registration
1300	Host Welcome Steph Scholten, Director, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow Frank Coton, Vice-Principal, University of Glasgow
1310	Alan Stewart,IMechE Scottish Regional Chair- Background to the Heritage Awards
1320	Host Presentations NickyReeves, curator of scientific and medical history collections, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow –James Watt and the University of Glasgow’s NewcomenEngine David Cumming, Chair of Electronic Systems and Head of School, James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow –The James Watt School of Engineering Colin McInnes,James Watt Chair, Prof of Engineering Science, University of Glasgow –James Watt’s Engineering Legacy
1340	Alan Stewart,IMechE Scottish Regional Chair的牌匾揭幕,照片等。
1400	Networking Time & Sandwich Lunch
1400	Opportunity to inspect Hunterian Museum collections and visitJames Watt and Glasgow, 1819 – 2019exhibition at University Library
1500	Event End

Keynote Speaker:Alan Stewart, Scottish Regional Chair