Tin Jimmy : James Watt's Robot

James Watt's workshop from SCRAN

The following was excised from the notebooks of James Watt on grounds of National Security.

I could think of nothing but that machine.

By day I was working on more plans and sketches for Dalmarnock, but each evening was spent imagining this marvellous steam powered man.

As our world moved further and further towards full automation, I envisaged a future where even the greatest of our weaknesses - war - could become automatic, both creating new industry and saving lives. My automaton soldier would take the place of flesh and bone, never wearying, always obeying. Stronger, more determined and relentless - a metal man.

I busied myself with the plans, taking care to have the parts created in several different foundries, fearing some would think me mad for such an endeavor. I had no wish to play God, only to serve man.

I began to see the other applications; if successful in war, perhaps the automatons could be put to work in mines or in the more hazardous factory professions. I was creating us a workforce, which would leave mankind more time to indulge in the pursuit of science and social reform, surely the only ways forward for our society.

By the winter of 1811, he was built, already capable of several movements, determined by the notations upon a cylinder, much like a barrel organ. Differing actions could be achieved using different cylinders. I quickly realised however, that powering my metal man was t be more challenging than I thought. The energy consumption was intensive, even allowing for reuse of water through steam condensing. Either I would have to make more space to store water, or accept that the automaton would only be able to work in short bursts, requiring assistance to continue. I feel sure I would have achieved this, for the basic principles were all in place, and the most challenging problems - the movements of joints etc, had been all but solved. This is when I was visited by the gentleman from the government. I had dealt with his sort once before, during the unfortunate business with the Saint Nazairre experiments.  Having somehow heard about my experiments with the steam powered soldier, they were interested in deploying my automaton in the Russian and French campaigns. This was not presented to me as a matter open to discussion. My metal man was taken.

I heard but brief reports of his exploits, enough to know he survived destruction on the peninsula. Despite several requests for his return, he remained with the military, and my missives to parliament, went unanswered. I tired of trying and moved on to further works.

I do not think of him often, he was simply another experiment, a tool. However, if maintained correctly, I see absolutely no reason that my automatic man will not outlive us all.

Tin Jimmy

Megan has a secret, a big secret that only her recently exploded Grandmother knows. To uncover the truth behind her secret, she and her best friend Cam must follow an old town map down forgotten roads and disappeared places, through abandoned bomb shelters and railway tunnels, to graveyards and secret passages beneath the river. And all the while, the sinister men from the Waterworx company are watching, with their strangely menacing Public Art sculptures...

Tin Jimmy is a character in a childrens book I'm re/writing called The Superpower Project. It's unashamedly based in Inverclyde, using a backdrop of the sorts of folklore and legends of the area that appear on here, and featuring characters that appear in Identity : The Archivist's Treasure, our childrens book Wee Nasties, the Tales of the Oak comic and at The Dutch Gable House.

I've been sharing bits of it on my Stramashed blog over the last few months.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

This is kind of how I imagine he looks...

The Big Duluth on deviant art

Here are a few related stories from this blog...

Captain Nemo : Propulsion

The Cabin Boy

And here's a wee unrelated steampunk love poem from my other blog. Awwww.

The Steampunk community, as you would imagine, do like a bit of the old James Watt...

James Watt, perhaps outraged that in future he will be dishonoured by the
very rude renaming of his college, creates a giant robot to destroy us all.
(by Andy Lee, as seen in our Tales of the Oak comic)

Time for a Sea Serpent Sculpture?

New archaeological evidence, published last month, suggests that there may be more to local legends about sea serpent worship than we previously thought. The original discoveries are detailed in Skelmorlie : The Story of The Parish Consisting of Skelmorlie and Wemyss Bay (Walter Smart).

In Skelmorlie is one of the most remarkable antiquities in Scotland a ‘Serpent Mound’, supposed to have been used by the  ancient Britons in the worship of the Sun and the Serpent, and other religious rites. The head of the Serpent lies behind Brigend House and the ridge forming the body is now severed by the road running up the hill at Meigle. In the 1870’s Dr. Phené of Chelsea made some interesting excavations, discovering a paved platform some 80 feet long, and evidence of early cremations. The details were fully reported in the Glasgow Herald and the Scotsman at the time and there are specimens in the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow.

Recent examination of the pieces at Kelvingrove confirms that they are indeed burned human bones, something which was always disputed about Phene's original findings. Artefacts found at the Kempock Stone during similar excavations in the 19th Century are now also due to be tested alongside items found during the controversial excavations at Langbank, recently rediscovered at the National Museum Edinburgh. It is suggested that dating of the artefacts and remains will show them to be contemporary, and that the strange serpentlike drawings uncovered on stones at Langbank are linked to the "serpent mound" at Skelmorlie, via some sort of celtic river or serpent worship cult.

Sadly at this point no one has discovered any evidence of a big monster in the river. But of course there is certainly plenty of myth and legend linked to serpents and the West of Scotland, believed by many to be largely due to our links with Ireland. Certainly we have our own "Saint banishing serpent" legend for the area, and of course the washing up of the mysterious "Gourock monster" at Cardwell Bay during the Second World War.

The discovery has prompted local calls for a sculpture of the beast to be sited somewhere on the riverside, with space adjacent to Newark Castle, or locations at Cardwell Bay or Lunderston Bay being suggested.An online petition to pledge support to the potential sculpture has been set up.

Public art is itself a strange beast, wee Annie Kempock seems very popular, debate is still raging on the Endeavour sculpture up the Port, and its largely safe to say no one is altogether fussed about Ginger the traditional Greenock Arabian Stallion carthorse. We still think we've missed a trick on a Captain Kidd statue. But I'm happy to pledge support to this one...though I think the good people of Skelmorlie might have something to say about it...but who doesn't like sea serpents? Apart from sailors obviously.