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Apr 16, 1300
The Hero Steam Engine
The first machine to use a "hidden" source of energy was Hero's steam engine. His machine did not do anything useful, and was only thought of as a novelty. -
Period: Apr 16, 1300 to
Early Steam Engine Inventions
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The First Heat Engine
Denis Papin used the discoveries of Otto von Guericke, and invented the first heat powered engine. This engine used a pistin, and used heat to create steam to do work. -
The Savery Engine
In England, in 1698, Thomas Savery invented the first sccessful steam-powered pump. This was used to pump water out of mines. This type of powered pump most resembles a pump-jack. -
The Newcomen Engine
In 1712, Thomas Necomen used the same idea as Thomas Savery, and introduced an engine that also used steam as its driving force. The idea was that a boiler produced steam that forced the piston up a cyclinder. When cold water was sprayed on the outside of the cyclinder, the steam would condense and the piston would move back down the cycliner. The up and down motion of the piston is what essentially drove the pump. -
The Watt Engine
In 1763, James Watt was asked to repair a Newcomen engine. Upon inspection James was appauled by the performance of the engine. It wasted a lot of heat when water was being heated and cooled in the same cyclinder. Watt designed an engine that had a seperate condensor to cool the steam, so the boiler cyclinder always remained hot. This was 3 times more efficient than before.
