The basic process involved a water-filled cylinder, steam, a one-way valve and a repeating cycle which enable water to refill the cylinder and the pump cycle to be complete. When completed, the machine could carry heavy charges and run over long distances at a constant speed without the need of being recharged or reloaded after several miles. The brand-new technology showed magnificent progresses in the 17th century, enabling long-distance journeys across the land.
Seventeenth century
The first patented steam engine was created by the Englishman Thomas Savery in 1698 and used as a way of pumping water out of mines. Around a dozen years later, Thomas Newcomen improved Savery’s invention. In 1712, Newcomen’s steam engine included a piston inside the cylinder and the process repeated automatically as long as steam was applied to the cylinder.
The piston included by the Englishman Thomas Newcomen drastically changed the functioning of the machine and, eventually, improved it. In fact, the piston separated the water from the cylinder when the water was being sucked out and improved the machine’s efficiency.
The new elaborated machine, however, belonged both men. As Thomas Savery had already patented his creation in 1698, both inventors were obliged to collaborate in order to finalize the piston’s design.
Eighteenth century
It is only during the second half of the 18th century that steam engines became a valuable source and piece of machinery which led to the industrial revolution. James Watt, a Scottish inventor, and his business partner Matthew Boulton, contributed to improving the efficiency of the steam engines. His design included a separate condenser so that the steam could be cooled in another cylinder than the one containing the piston. By sampling adding one cylinder and changing or enhancing the capacity of their technological equipment, James Watt and his business partner revolutionized their era. Now applicable to a variety of factory processes, hundreds of steam engines were built for industrial use.
Nineteenth century
James Watt’s steam engine, however, was considered as a low-pressure steam engine. It is only at the beginning of the 19th century that the American Oliver Evans and the Englishman Richer Trevitchick innovated high-pressure steam engines. Those engines were much smaller, but more powerful and could be used to power trains or boats and to perform a variety of tasks such as running saws in mills.
Today, steam engines have mostly been replaced by internal combustion engines for most types of locomotion, but their creation still remains one of the greatest in the history of mankind.
Laurie Le Roux
Worldwide 