The Unorthodox Training Process of James Watt

James Watt was the son of a shipbuilder in a thoroughly middle-class family. When he was 17, he was sent to Glasgow to learn the trade of mathematical instrument makers. He could find no teacher who would take him as an apprentice - so he went to London and trained with clockmakers. The Newcomen engine lifted 10 gallons of water out per stroke at a rate of 12 strokes per minute.