1. James Watt was born in Greenock, Scotland, and was taught at home, later he went to Qreenock Grammar School.
2. His technical expertise1 seems to have been obtained from working in his father's workshop and from early in life he showed academic promise. His early formal training was as an instrument maker in London and Glasgow.
3. Watt combined the expertise of a scientist with that of a practical engineer, for later he was not only to improve the heat engine but also to devise new mechanisms.
4. In the development of the steam engine James Watt represents the perfecting of a sequence of stages beginning with the Newcomen engine and ending with the parallel motion and sun/planet gearing2. The latter is said to have been invented by W. Murdock but patented by Watt.
5. In the scientific field Watt's finest memorial, apart from steam engines, is his establishment of the unit of power — the rate of doing work. He coined the term3 horsepower (hp); one horse being defined as equivalent to 33,000 ftlb/min4.
6. Watt was interested in the strength of materials and designed a screw press for chemically copying written material. A leading brand of reprographic equipment today is remarkably similar. Watt received many honors in recognition of his important works. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of London and Edinburg, and was a member of the Academy of Sciences in France.
7. James Watt died in1819 in Heathfield, after a life of incomparable technical value. Later, a statue to Watt was placed in Westminster Abbey.
Пояснения к тексту:
1. expertise – мастерство
2. parallel motion and sun / planet gearing – параллелограммный механизм и планетарная передача.
3. to coin the term – ввести термин
4. ft lb. / min – футо–фунтов в минуту
8. Прочитайте 6, 7 абзацы текста, ответьте на вопрос:
What invention of J. Watt is still used in the reprographic equipment today?