Steam Engine History

Steam engine is regarded as one of the most important inventions of the era of industrial revolution. However, it is quite difficult as to ascertain who was the actual inventor of steam engine, because of several names associated with it. Though, most of the sources give the credit of invention to James Watt, others argue that Watt only compiled various inventions of others, to come up with an improvised version of steam engine which already existed, though in crude form.

The History of Steam Engine

The fact that steam could be harnessed as a driving force for mechanical engines was known to humans, long before modern steam engines were invented. Historical records suggest that Greeks were the first people to use steam powered mechanical engines. Though these engines were crude in nature, they were quite useful as they did serve the purpose.

Invention of Crude Steam Engine by Thomas Savery
In 1698, Thomas Savery, an English military engineer, got the patent for the first steam pump. During this period animals were used to draw water out from the mines. Savery's steam pump became an important invention in the mining sector, where it replaced animals to draw water. The mechanism used in this pump was simple. The water was heated, and vapor that was produced was stored in a tank. This was followed by isolating the tank from the source of steam, and condensing the steam. This isolation and condensation of steam resulted in creation of vacuum which was eventually used to draw water from the mines.

Invention of Atmospheric Engine by Thomas Newcomen
Thomas Newcomen came up with the first proper steam engine after modifying Thomas Savery's pump. This machine was referred to as the atmospheric engine as it used atmospheric pressure to work. In atmospheric engine, the steam was first sent to a cylinder, where it was condensed using cold water. This process created a vacuum in the cylinder, which in turn created atmospheric pressure that was eventually used to operate the piston. Though this was an improvised version of Savery's pump, Savery's patent turned out to be a hindrance for Newcomen, when it came to marketing his product. However, in 1712, Newcomen collaborated with John Calley to build an engine, and used it to pump out the water from a water-filled mine.

Improvisation of Steam Engine by James Watt
Although several sources give the credit for steam engine invention to James Watt, he actually improvised Newcomen's design, by eliminating its drawbacks, and made the engine more efficient. One of the major drawback of atmospheric engine designed by Newcomen was the enormous amount of energy wasted in heating and cooling the steam cylinder. Watt attended to this problem by building a separate condenser, which was connected to the cylinder by a valve. This made it possible to cool the steam with water and create necessary vacuum, without cooling the steam cylinder, thus eliminating the requirement of heating and cooling the steam cylinder again and again. Invention of a new boiler and introduction and understanding of the concept of latent heat was also helpful for Watt to a great extent. With time, the steam engine were improved and its use in different sectors increased. This invention was also important because it paved way for steam trains - which were used on a vast scale during the industrial revolution.

The engine improvised by James Watt turned out to be one of the most important inventions of the industrial revolution, thus making Watt play a major role in steam engine history. In fact, this invention played such an important role in the industrial revolution, that it is difficult to imagine the industrial revolution without the introduction of steam engine.