James Watt invented horsepower so he could sell his steam engine as the next great thing. Learn more about how it started, and how it's calculated.

Watt, however, wasn't impressed, and was generally against the idea of steam engines being used for transportation. Watt never built high-pressure steam engines, which he rightly assumed would ...

In 1763, working as an instrument maker at the University of Glasgow, James Watt was assigned to repair an early steam engine. Watt was intrigued by the idea but noted the machine's inefficiency.

What seemed to finalize the impact of the Watt engine on the Industrial Revolution was his creation of the double-acting engine. Doubling the efficiency, it condensed steam both above and below ...

James Watt figured out a way to calculate horsepower. It was essentially the amount of work done by a horse in a said amount of time, and compared it to the steam engines at the time.

In 1764 Watt, an instrument maker at Glasgow University, was asked to repair a working model of Newcomen’s engine. As he did so he saw it wasted steam because its cylinder had to be alternately ...

Over at mises.org, Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine challenge the standard story of James Watt and the steam engine. Their conclusion: In most ...

An engine indicator is an instrument for graphically recording the cylinder pressure versus piston displacement through an engine stroke cycle. Engineers use the resulting diagram to check the design ...

Greek engineer Hero of Alexandria designs the first steam engine; it has a pedestal, an altar, and a rotating ball—but no practical use. 2 ... 1775: James Watt Piston Engine. ZU_09.