Los Framel, age 16, of Vancouver, Wash., for his question:

WHO WAS JAMES WATT?

James Watt was a Scottish engineer who will be remembered for designing an improved engine that made steam power practicable. Lots of people think Watt was the inventor of the steam engine. He wasn't, but he made the idea work.

Before Watt's time, steam engines burned large amounts of coal and they didn't produce much power. Their back and forth motion, called lateral motion, restricted their use to running pumps.

Then Watt invented a separate condenser which made steam engines much more efficient. It is because of this that the steam engine became a useful tool to man.

Born in 1736, Watt was 18 years old when he went to Glasgow and then on to London to learn how to become a mathematical instrument maker. He became an instrument maker at the University of Glasgow in 1757.

He turned his thoughts to the steam engine in 1763 and discovered the principle of the separate condenser. In 1769 he patented this discovery.

Steam filled the cylinder space under the piston in old engines. The steam then had to be condensed, which left a vacuum into which the piston was shoved by atmospheric pressure. This meant first heating and then chilling the cylinder.

Since steam was an elastic vapor, Watt decided it would fill any container into which it was admitted. He came up with the way to produce a vacuum in the cylinder without having to chill it first.

With the backing of a manufacturer named Matthew Boulton, Watt organized a company in 1774 that would rent out the design of the new engine and oversee its building and operation. The company was a great success.

Watt used steam coils to heat his office in 1784. It was the first practical steam heater.

Watt came up with a number of other inventions including a crank movement that allowed the engine to turn wheels. He also invented the rotary engine that could be used to run many types of machinery.

Watt also invented a double action engine that allowed steam to be admitted into both ends of a cylinder alternately. To record the steam pressure in the engine, he invented a steam indicator. There was also an invention of a throttle valve and a governor for regulating engine speed.

Watt was one of the first to suggest that water is a compound and not an element. He also did research in chemistry and metallurgy.

Watt was a very wealthy man when he retired in 1800. He died at the age of 83 in 1819.

The power unit known as the watt is so named to honor James Watt.