His most important work,
the most unique service performed by him, was, however, that of its
adaptation and introduction to do the work of the world. James Watt
was the inaugurator of the era of refinement of the machine already
invented, and the greatest of its builders and distributors. His
inventions were all directed to the improvement of its details, and
his labors to its introduction and its application to the myriad tasks
awaiting it. By the hands of Watt it was made to pump water, to spin,
to weave, to drive every mill; and he it was who gave it the form
demanded by Stephenson, by Fulton, by the whole industrial world, for
use on railway and steamboat, and in mill and factory, throughout the
civilized countries of the globe. It was this great mechanic who
showed how it might be made to do its work with least expense, with
highest efficiency, with greatest regularity, with utmost
concentration of power.
The grand secret of his success was historical and economic, as much
as scientific and mechanical. He brought out his inventions just when
the world was economically and historically ready for them. The age of
authority was past, that of freedom was come; the period of political
and ecclesiastical tyranny was gone by, and that of the spontaneous
development of man was arrived. The great invention was offered to a
world ready and needing it, and, more than all, competent, for the
first time in history, to make and use it.
Pages:
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117