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Dec 24, 1035
Hero of Alexandria
Hero designed the first steam engine called a reaction turbine. It was a primitive model of the modern steam engine. The engine resembled a type of turbine used to do work. HIs device was the first mechanical device that used heat as a source of energy. His invention had no useful purpose, he designed as a toy. -
Denis Papin
Palin designed a heat engine that used heat to create steam to do work. Water was heated and cooled in a cylinder with a piston moving up and down. The engine used steam pressure in the cylinder, which created a vacuum. -
Thomas Savery
Avery invented the first successful steam-powered pump. The pump was used to keep water out of mines, -
Thomas Newcomen
Newcomen patented a steam engine that used a boiler to create steam that moves a piston in a separate pump. The engine vaguely resembles a modern day pump jack. When the water was boiled to steam, the piston would move up, and when he water condensed, the piston moved back down. -
James Watt
Watt improved Newcomen's steam engine by having cold and hot water in two separate containers. The engine was 3 times more efficient. The Watt engine dominated the market for the next 100 years and was available throughout the industrial revolution. The engine resembles a modern day pump jack and uses steam to move a piston to do work.
