STEAM ENGINE SUGGESTED BY THE TEAKETTLE 183 



duction of motion, and the number of the inventors who had 

 devoted themselves to the improvement of the steam engine 

 was very large Battista della Porta, Branca, Solomon 

 de Caus, the Marquis of Worcester, Savery, and many 

 others had all invented engines of various types. Indeed 

 the engines of Newcomen were then in practical operation 

 in the mines and had in many cases displaced horses. So 

 that Watt was not the inventor of the first steam engine 

 that did practical work, and that such engines were in use 

 was known to every intelligent mechanic. 



But that Watt was the inventor of the first engine that 

 was commercially successful as a motive power for ma- 

 chinery is true beyond all question, and this success was not 

 due to any happy accident, but was the result of long-contin- 

 ued and earnest study and investigation. This is not the 

 place for even a brief history of Watt and his inventions, 

 but as the prominent incidents which led to his final success 

 afford a most valuable illustration of the great truth that 

 almost all inventions and discoveries are the result of hard 

 and earnest work and not of mere accident, we may be 

 pardoned for glancing at them. 



Owing to the failure of his father in business, Watt was 

 early thrown upon his own resources. He went to London 

 and engaged as apprentice with a philosophical instrument 

 maker, but as his health failed he was obliged to return 

 home at the end of a year. During this year, however, 

 he seems to have acquired unusual skill in the use of tools 

 and a very thorough insight into the construction of appa- 

 ratus, and through the influence of some of the professors 

 in the University of Glasgow, with whom he had formed a 

 friendship, he was employed to repair and adjust the appa- 

 ratus used by them in their lectures. He even attempted 



