Inventors, Innovators and Reformers (Samuel F.B. Morse & James Watt)

1. Inventors, Innovators and Reformers(Samuel F.B. Morse & James Watt) By: Jordan Cui and Victoria Herbert

2. Samuel F.B. Morse • Samuel F.B. Morse is known mostly for his contribution to the telegraph and Morse code. But Samuel Morse has done many other things as well. For instance, Morse was an accomplished painter. Morse’s main inspiration for inventing the telegraph was his wife's death in 1825. Morse had gotten a letter stating that his wife was recovering from illness, so he traveled back home in New Haven from Washington. When he arrived he found that his wife had died and been buried already. Frustrated and heartbroken, Morse wanted to invent a way to communicate long distances quickly. Morse developed the idea for telegraph when experimenting with electromagnetism. Although its clear that Morse had invented the telegraph, he never received official credit because he could not get the idea patented. This eventually led to the case of the patent, which Morse brought before the Supreme Court. The case became to be known as the O’riley vs. Morse case. In the end many different countries paid money to Morse for the use of his invention.

3. James Watt • James Watt is known for improving the steam engine, which were basic to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution. When Watt tried to commercialize his invention he face financial difficulties until he met Matthew Boulton. The two created a new firm called Boulton and Watt, which became highly successful. The unit of power “Watt” is named after James Watt. He also developed the concept of horsepower. One day his friend introduced him to steam engines and proposed that they could be used to propel carriages. This inspired Watt to make small model engines out of tin to drive small gears.