James Watt: Musical Instrument Maker

2002 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Wright
Keyword(s):  
Musical Instrument ◽  
Instrument Maker ◽  
James Watt

James Watt as Musical Organ Maker

2020 ◽  
pp. 209-229
Author(s):  
Nina Baker
Keyword(s):  
Musical Instrument ◽  
Musical Instruments ◽  
Science Museum ◽  
Wind Instruments ◽  
Stringed Instruments ◽  
James Watt ◽  
Instrument Technology

This chapter examines Watt’s work in Glasgow between 1756-1744 when he struggled to make a living from mathematical instruments and also resorted to making and selling musical instruments. He made stringed instruments, including viole da gamba and guitars, plus flutes and organs. There are no complete stringed or wind instruments extant, although tools and parts are held in the London Science Museum. Watt also collaborated with Charles Clagget, an accomplished viol de gamba player and innovator in musical instrument technology, including the first trumpet valves. Watt’s accounts books make clear that he made or repaired barrel, chamber and finger organs and the chapter examines the evidence for these organs including the James Watt Organ in the Glasgow Museums’ Service collection. Its potential links to the great man are considered, to try to uncover the boundaries between myth and reality in regards to the provenance of this instrument.

The chemical work of James Watt, F. R. S

1985 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-52 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Early Phase ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Steam Engine ◽  
250Th Anniversary ◽  
Chemical Work ◽  
Instrument Maker ◽  
Astronomical Instruments ◽  
James Watt ◽  
Joseph Black ◽  
The University

The 250th anniversary of the birth of James Watt will be celebrated in January 1986. Watt is primarily remembered for his improvements to the steam engine, which were of such great importance in the early phase of the Industrial Revolution (1). It is less well known that throughout his life Watt was interested in chemistry. This article outlines the main themes of Watt’s chemical work. Watt learned the trade of instrument maker in London. On returning to his native Scotland in 1756 he was employed for a few months by the University of Glasgow in the repair of some astronomical instruments. During this time he met the newly appointed professor of anatomy and chemistry, Joseph Black, who may have assisted Watt in obtaining his appointment as mathematical instrument maker to the University in the following year. It seems possible that Black stimulated Watt’s latent interest in chemistry. Although Watt’s subsequent career took him away from Scotland, he remained in correspondence with Black until the latter’s death in 1799. This correspondence shows how keen and sustained was Watt’s interest in chemistry (2).

James Watt (1736-1819)

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Science Museum ◽  
Scientific Instrument ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Instrument Maker ◽  
James Watt ◽  
Humphry Davy ◽  
Joseph Black ◽  
Technological Achievement

James Watt (1736-1819) was a pivotal figure of the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution. His career as a scientific instrument maker, inventor and engineer developed in Scotland, the land of birth. His prominence as a scientist, technologist and businessman was forged in the Birmingham area. His pumping and rotative steam engines represent the summit of technological achievement in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries which led to future developments in locomotive and steamship design and mechanical engineering such as the steam hammer. This is the traditional picture of James Watt. After his death, his son, James Watt junior, projected his father’s image through commissioning sculptures, medals, paintings and biographies which celebrated his reputation as a ‘great man’ of industry and science. Though some academic appraisals have sought to move beyond the heroic image of Watt, there is still a tendency to focus on his steam technology. This collection of ten chapters breaks new ground by looking at Watt in new ways: by exploring his philosophical and intellectual background; the relevance of his Greenock environment; the influence of his wives, Peggy and Ann; Watt’s political fears and beliefs; his links with other scientists such as Thomas Beddoes, Davies Giddy, Humphry Davy, Joseph Black and James Keir; Watt and the business of natural philosophy; his workshop in the Science Museum and what it reveals; the myth or reality of his involvement with organ making and the potential of Birmingham’s Watt Papers for further exploration of his personality, family and domestic and business activities.

scholarly journals Joseph Merlin in London, 1760–1803: the Man behind the Mask. New Documentary Sources

2014 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 130-163
Author(s):  
Margaret Debenham
Keyword(s):  
Primary Source ◽  
Musical Instrument ◽  
Source Material ◽  
Personal Life ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Instrument Maker ◽  
Patent Rights ◽  
National Archives ◽  
Parish Registers

Joseph Merlin (1735–1803), ‘Ingenious Mechanick’, musical-instrument maker and flamboyant showman, is perhaps best remembered for his Museum in Princes Street, London, with its scintillating displays of automata and extraordinary inventions. Two newly identified sets of Court documents, Nicholl v. Merlin, 1779 and Merlin v. Celsson, 1779–81, now provide insights into previously unknown aspects of his business dealings and personal life. The former concerns a dispute over a house that Merlin commissioned to be built in 1776, the latter a violation of his 1774 combined harpsichord-pianoforte patent rights. Material relating to Lavigne Verel, his musical instrument foreman from 1773 to 1781, is also reported. Amongst other novel findings, perhaps the most surprising is Merlin's marriage in 1783. Contemporary primary-source material consulted includes original manuscripts held at The National Archives, UK, the Scone Palace Archives, Parish Registers, Land Tax and Apprenticeship records and numerous contemporary newspaper advertisements and notices.

The Rise of James Watt

2020 ◽  
pp. 39-60
Author(s):  
Stephen Mullen
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
North American ◽  
Atlantic World ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Chattel Slavery ◽  
Instrument Maker ◽  
James Watt ◽  
The University ◽  
Formative Years

This chapter offers a re-appraisal of the life of James Watt (1736–1819) in Greenock and Glasgow in the formative period of his career. In the mid-eighteenth century, Greenock developed into a major seaport connecting Scotland to the Americas via the river Clyde. Upriver, Glasgow received imports of North American tobacco and Caribbean sugar. Travelling to Glasgow in 1754, Watt worked in a burgh on the cusp of industrialisation fuelled by commerce and enabled by the application of enlightened ideas. His embryonic career was ignited by his appointment as mathematical instrument maker to the University of Glasgow before leaving for Birmingham in 1774. This chapter uncovers the Watt family’s connections with transatlantic commerce and chattel slavery concluding the profits were instrumental in Watt’s rise. Through an Atlantic world lens, this chapter re-assesses Watt’s formative years which laid the foundations for one of the greatest careers of the industrial revolution.

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