![]() ![]() His steam engine had a pump plunger and cylinder immersed in the water down in the mine. His was the first ‘steam engine’ with moving parts and mechanisms, and thus is considered by some to be the first actual steam engine. Newcomen’s steam engine is shown in the illustration at the left. ’ He built the first atmospheric steam engine as an improvement over Savery’s device for removing water from coal mines. Thomas Newcomen (1663 - 1729) is a third candidate for recognition as ‘the one who invented the steam engine. Since Savery’s device had no moving parts, it is often not considered to be a steam ‘engine.’ Thomas Newcomen and a Steam Engine to Remove Water from Mines It was said to be able to raise water as much as 24 feet. This apparatus could draw water from a mine by alternately sending steam from a boiler into a vessel containing water, thus forcing water out, and cooling the steam to condense it, creating a suction to draw water into the vessel from the mine. A 1702 version of Savery’s ‘fire engine,’ as he called it, is shown in the illustration at the right. That’s the year in which Savery (1650 - 1715), an English military engineer, patented a device to remove water from coal mines using steam. ![]() Thomas Savery uses Steam to Remove Water from MinesĪnother possible answer to the question, ‘Who invented the first steam engine and in what year ?’ is Thomas Savery in 1698. It seems that it was mostly a toy or a demonstration that was used in temples. The rotational motion could have been put to productive use driving machinery, but there is no evidence that it was put to that use. The steam escaped from the ball through the tubes that are bent at a 90o angle, so that the jet action from the exhausting steam caused the ball to rotate. ![]() The steam entered the ball through the vertical tubes connecting the ball to the heated pot. In this device, steam was generated by a fire under a closed pot of water. A diagram of the aeolipile built by Hero is shown at the left. The man credited with invention of the aeolipile, identified as either ‘Hero’ or ‘Heron,’ was a Greek who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, from about 10 to 70 A.D. Each of these candidates for recognition as the one who invented the steam engine will be discussed in the following sections of this article, then one will be identified as the best candidate. In approximately the last quarter of the 18th century, James Watt invented several improvements to the steam engine that made it into a device that could be used for power in factories. In about 1712, Thomas Newcomen, working with Thomas Savery, invented an atmospheric steam engine as an improved device for pumping water from coal mines. Another candidate, Thomas Savery, patented a means of pumping water out of coal mines by steam power in 1698. Heron (also called Hero) is sometimes credited as the one who invented the steam engine at about 100 A.D, because he built a device which rotated by jet power from exhausting steam. The question, ‘Who invented the first steam engine and in what year ?’ is an interesting one, because the answer is so fuzzy. ![]()
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