Timeline of steam power
Encyclopedia
Steam power developed slowly over a period of several hundred years, progressing through expensive and fairly limited devices in the early 17th century, to useful pumps for mining
in 1700, and then to Watt's improved steam engine
designs in the late 18th century. It is these later designs, introduced just when the need for practical power was growing due to the Industrial Revolution
, that truly made steam power commonplace.
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
in 1700, and then to Watt's improved steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
designs in the late 18th century. It is these later designs, introduced just when the need for practical power was growing due to the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
, that truly made steam power commonplace.
Early examples
- 1st century AD: Hero of AlexandriaHero of AlexandriaHero of Alexandria was an ancient Greek mathematician and engineerEnc. Britannica 2007, "Heron of Alexandria" who was active in his native city of Alexandria, Roman Egypt...
describes the aeolipileAeolipileAn aeolipile , also known as a Hero engine, is a rocket style jet engine which spins when heated. In the 1st century AD, Hero of Alexandria described the device, and many sources give him the credit for its invention.The aeolipile Hero described is considered to be the first recorded steam engine...
, as an example of the power of heated air or water. The device consists of a rotating ball spun by steam jets; it produced little power and had no practical application, but is nevertheless the first known device moved by steam pressure. He also describes a way transferring water from one vessel to another using pressure, filling a bucket the weight of which worked tackle to open temple doors, closed again by a deadweight once the water in the bucket had been drawn out by a vacuum caused by cooling of the initial vessel. - 1125: In ReimsReimsReims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
, according to William of MalmesburyWilliam of MalmesburyWilliam of Malmesbury was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. C. Warren Hollister so ranks him among the most talented generation of writers of history since Bede, "a gifted historical scholar and an omnivorous reader, impressively well versed in the literature of classical,...
, an organ was powered by heated water. - 1551: Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf describes a steam turbineSteam turbineA steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
-like device for rotating a spit. - 1601: Giovanni Battista della Porta performs experiments on using steam to create pressure or a vacuum, building simple fountains similar to a percolator.
- 1606: Jerónimo de Ayanz y BeaumontJerónimo de Ayanz y BeaumontJerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont . Spanish soldier, painter, musician and inventor. He is best remembered for the invention of a steam-powered water pump for draining mines, for which he was granted a patent by the Spanish monarchy in 1606.-References:*García Tapia, Nicolás, Un inventor navarro:...
receives a patent for a steam-powered device for pumping water out of mines. - 1615: Salomon de CausSalomon de CausSalomon de Caus was a French engineer and once credited with the development of the steam engine.Salomon was the elder brother of Isaac de Caus. Being a Huguenot, he spent his life moving across Europe....
, who had been an engineer and architect under Louis XIIILouis XIII of FranceLouis XIII was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1610 to 1643.Louis was only eight years old when he succeeded his father. His mother, Marie de Medici, acted as regent during Louis' minority...
, publishes a book showing a device similar to that of Porta. - 1629: Giovanni BrancaGiovanni BrancaGiovanni Branca was an Italian engineer and architect, chiefly remembered today for what some commentators have taken to be an early steam engine.-Life:...
suggests using a steam turbineTurbineA turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work.The simplest turbines have one moving part, a rotor assembly, which is a shaft or drum with blades attached. Moving fluid acts on the blades, or the blades react to the flow, so that they move and...
device similar to that described by Taqi al-Din but intended to be used to power a series of pestles working in mortars. - 1630: David Ramsey is granted a patent for various steam applications, although no description is given and the patent also covers a number of unrelated inventions. He refers to a "fire engine", and this term is used for many years.
Towards a workable steam engine
- 1663: Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquis of Worcester, publishes a selection of his inventions. One is a new sort of steam pump, essentially two devices like de Caus', but attached to a single boiler. A key invention is the addition of cooling around the containers to force the steam to condense. This produces a partial vacuum inside the chambers, which is used to draw a volume of water into the containers through a pipe, thus forming a pump. He builds one of very large size into the side of Raglan CastleRaglan CastleRaglan Castle is a late medieval castle located just north of the village of Raglan in the county of Monmouthshire in south east Wales. The modern castle dates from between the 15th and early 17th-centuries, when the successive ruling families of the Herberts and the Somersets created a luxurious,...
, apparently the first "industrial scale" steam engine. He has plans to build them for mining, but dies before he can set up his company. - 1680: Christiaan Huygens publishes memoirs describing a gunpowderGunpowderGunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...
engine that drives a piston. It is historically notable as the first known description of a piston engine. - 1698: Thomas SaveryThomas SaveryThomas Savery was an English inventor, born at Shilstone, a manor house near Modbury, Devon, England.-Career:Savery became a military engineer, rising to the rank of Captain by 1702, and spent his free time performing experiments in mechanics...
introduces a steam pump he calls the Miner's Friend. it is almost certainly a direct copy of Somerset's design. One key improvement is added later, replacing the cold water flow on the outside of the cylinder with a spray directly inside it. A small number of his pumps are built, mostly experimental in nature, but like any system based on suction to lift the water, they have a maximum height of 32 feet (and typically much less). In order to be practical, his design can also use the pressure of additional steam to force the water out the top of the cylinder, allowing the pumps to be "stacked", but many mine owners were afraid of the risk of explosion and avoided this option. (Savery engines were re-introduced in the 1780s to recirculate water to water wheels driving textile mills, especially in periods of drought). - c.1705: Thomas NewcomenThomas NewcomenThomas Newcomen was an ironmonger by trade and a Baptist lay preacher by calling. He was born in Dartmouth, Devon, England, near a part of the country noted for its tin mines. Flooding was a major problem, limiting the depth at which the mineral could be mined...
develops the atmospheric engine, which, unlike the Savery pump, employs a piston in a cylinder; the vacuum pulling the piston down to the bottom of the cylinder when water is injected into it. The engine enabled a great increase in pumping height and the draining of deeper mines than possible when using vacuum to pull the water up. Savery holds a patent covering all imagined uses of steam power, so Newcomen and his partner John CalleyJohn CalleyJohn Calley was an American film studio executive and producer. He was quite influential during his years at Warner Bros...
persuade Savery to join forces with them to exploit their invention until the expiration of the patent in 1733. - 1707: Denis PapinDenis PapinDenis Papin was a French physicist, mathematician and inventor, best known for his pioneering invention of the steam digester, the forerunner of the steam engine and of the pressure cooker.-Life in France:...
publishes a study on steam power, including a number of ideas. One uses a Savery-like engine to lift water onto a water wheelWater wheelA water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of free-flowing or falling water into useful forms of power. A water wheel consists of a large wooden or metal wheel, with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving surface...
for rotary power. The study also proposes replacing the water of a Savery engine with a piston, which is pulled on by the vacuum in a cylinder after steam inside is condensed, but he was unable to build the device. - 1718: Desaguliers introduces an improved version of the Savery engine, which includes safety valves and a two-way valve that operated both the steam and cold water (as opposed to two separate valves). It is not commercially employed.
- 1720: Leupold designs an engine based on expansion, which he attributes to Papin, in which two cylinders alternately receive steam and then vent to the atmosphere. Although likely a useful design, it appears none were built.
The Newcomen Engine: Steam power in practice
- 1712: Newcomen installs his first commercial engine.
- 1713: Humphrey Potter, a boy charged with operating a Newcomen engine, installs a simple system to automatically open and close the operating valves. The engine can now be run at 15 strokes a minute with little work other than firing the boiler.
- 1718: Henry BeightonHenry BeightonHenry Beighton was an English engineer and surveyor.He was born at Chilvers Coton near Nuneaton, Warwickshire and worked in the neighbouring village of Griff. In 1717, he published an engraving of the Newcomen engine erected there in 1714 by Thomas Newcomen. In 1718 he erected one at Oxclose...
introduces an improved and much more reliable version of Potter's operating system. - 1733: Newcomen's patent expires. By this time about 100 Newcomen engines have been built. Over the next 50 years engines are installed in collieries and metal mines all over England, notably in CornwallCornwallCornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, and are also used for municipal water supply and pumping water over water wheels, especially in ironworks. - 1755: Josiah HornblowerJosiah HornblowerJosiah Hornblower was an English engineer and statesman in America Belleville, New Jersey. He was a delegate for New Jersey in the Continental Congress in 1785 and 1786.-Engineering career :...
installs the first commercial Newcomen engine in the USA, in Passaic NJ, using parts imported from the UK. - 1769: John SmeatonJohn SmeatonJohn Smeaton, FRS, was an English civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist...
experiments with Newcomen engines, and also starts building improved engines with much longer piston stroke than previous practice. Later engines, which marked probably the high point of Newcomen engine design, deliver up to 80 horsepower (around 60 kW). - 1775: By this date about 600 Newcomen engines erected in the UK.
- 1779: The crank first applied by James PickardJames PickardJames Pickard was an English inventor. He modified the Newcomen engine in a manner that it could deliver a rotary motion. His solution, which he patented in 1780, involved the combined use of a crank and a flywheel....
to a Newcomen engine, producing rotary motion. Pickard patents this the following year, but the patent is unenforcable. - 1780-1800: NewcomenNewcomenNewcomen may refer to:* Viscount Newcomen, an extinct viscountcyPeople with the surname Newcomen:* John Newcomen , first white settler murdered by another white settler in Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts...
engines continue to be built in large numbers (about a thousand between 1775 and 1800), especially for mines but increasingly in mills and factories. Many have Watt condensers added after the patent expires (see below). Several dozen improved SaverySaverySavery is a surname, and may refer to:* Henry Savery , Australian novelist* Jan Savery , Flemish painter* Joe Savery , baseball pitcher* Nigel Savery , geneticist...
engines are also built.
Watt's engine
- 1765: James WattJames WattJames Watt, FRS, FRSE was a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer whose improvements to the Newcomen steam engine were fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world.While working as an instrument maker at the...
hits on the idea of the separate condenser, the key being to relocate the water jet, (which condenses the steam and creates the vacuum in the Newcomen engine) inside an additional cylindrical vessel of smaller size enclosed in a water bath; the still-warm condensate is then evacuated into a hot well by means of a suction pump allowing the preheated water to be returned to the boiler. This greatly increases thermal efficiency by ensuring that the main cylinder can be kept hot at all times, unlike in the Newcomen engines where the condensing water spray cooled the cylinder at each stroke. Watt also seals the top of the cylinder so that steam at a pressure marginally above that of the atmosphere can act on top of the piston against the vacuum created beneath it. - 1765: Matthew BoultonMatthew BoultonMatthew Boulton, FRS was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the...
opens the Soho ManufactorySoho ManufactoryThe Soho Manufactory was an early factory which pioneered mass production on the assembly line principle, in Soho, Smethwick, England, during the Industrial Revolution.-Beginnings:...
engineering works in HandsworthHandsworth, West MidlandsHandsworth is an inner city area of Birmingham in the West Midlands, England. The Local Government Act 1894 divided the ancient Staffordshire parish of Handsworth into two urban districts: Handsworth and Perry Barr. Handsworth was annexed to the county borough of Birmingham in Warwickshire in 1911...
. - 1765: Ivan PolzunovIvan PolzunovIvan Ivanovich Polzunov was a Russian inventor. He is credited with creation of the first steam engine in Russia and the first two-cylinder engine in the world.A minor planet, 1978SP7 is named in his honor, as well as a crater on the Moon.-Biography:...
builds a two-cylinder Newcomen engine for powering mine ventilation in BarnaulBarnaul-Russian Empire:Barnaul was one of the earlier cities established in Siberia. Originally chosen for its proximity to the mineral-rich Altai Mountains and its location on a major river, the site was founded by the wealthy Demidov family in the 1730s. In addition to the copper which had originally...
, RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. It includes an automated system for governing the water level in the boiler. - 1769: James WattJames WattJames Watt, FRS, FRSE was a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer whose improvements to the Newcomen steam engine were fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world.While working as an instrument maker at the...
is granted a patent on his improved design. He is unable to find someone to accurately bore the cylinder and is forced to use a hammered iron cylinder. The engine performed poorly, due to the cylinder being out of round leakage past the piston. However, the increase in efficiency is enough for Watt and his partner Matthew BoultonMatthew BoultonMatthew Boulton, FRS was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the...
to license the design based on the savings in coal per year, as opposed to a fixed fee. It would take Watt ten years in total to get an accurately bored cylinder. - 1774: John WilkinsonJohn Wilkinson (industrialist)John "Iron-Mad" Wilkinson was an English industrialist who pioneered the use and manufacture of cast iron and cast-iron goods in the Industrial Revolution.-Early life:...
invents a lathe capable of turning precise cylinders. The turning shaft goes completely through the cylinder and is supported on both ends, unlike earlier cantilevered boring lathes. - 1775: Watt and Boulton enter into a formal partnership. Watt's patent is extended by Act of Parliament for 25 years until 1800.
- 1776: First commercial Boulton and Watt engine built. Using Wilkinson's lathe the 50 in. diameter cylinder is sufficiently round for good sealing with the piston. At this stage and until 1795 B&W only provided designs and plans, the most complicated engine parts, and support with on-site erection.
- 1781: Jonathan HornblowerJonathan HornblowerJonathan Hornblower was a British pioneer of steam power, the son of Jonathan Hornblower and brother of Jabez Carter Hornblower, two fellow pioneers....
patents a two-cylinder "compound" engine, in which the steam pushes on one piston (as opposed to pulling via vacuum as in previous designs), and when it reaches the end of its stroke is transferred into a second cylinder that exhausts into a condenser as "normal". Hornblower's design is more efficient than Watt's single-acting designs, but similar enough to his double-acting system that Boulton and WattBoulton and WattThe firm of Boulton & Watt was initially a partnership between Matthew Boulton and James Watt.-The engine partnership:The partnership was formed in 1775 to exploit Watt's patent for a steam engine with a separate condenser. This made much more efficient use of its fuel than the older Newcomen engine...
are able to have the patent overturned by the courts in 1799. - 1782: First Watt rotative engine, driving a flywheel by means of the sun and planet gearSun and planet gearThe sun and planet gear was a method of converting reciprocal motion to rotary motion and was utilised in a reciprocating steam engine....
rather than a crank, thus avoiding James PickardJames PickardJames Pickard was an English inventor. He modified the Newcomen engine in a manner that it could deliver a rotary motion. His solution, which he patented in 1780, involved the combined use of a crank and a flywheel....
's patent. Watt secures further patents in this year and 1784. - 1783: Watt builds his first "double acting" engine, which admits steam so as to alternately act on one side of the piston then on the other, and the introduction of his parallel motionParallel motionThe parallel motion is a mechanical linkage invented by the Scottish engineer James Watt in 1784 for his double-acting steam engine.In previous engines built by Newcomen and Watt, the piston pulled one end of the walking beam downwards during the power stroke using a chain, and the weight of the...
linkage allows the transmission of the power of the piston motion to be transmitted to the beam on both strokes. This change enables use of a flywheel imparting steady rotary motion controlled by a governorGovernor (device)A governor, or speed limiter, is a device used to measure and regulate the speed of a machine, such as an engine. A classic example is the centrifugal governor, also known as the Watt or fly-ball governor, which uses a rotating assembly of weights mounted on arms to determine how fast the engine...
, thus making it possible for the engine to drive machinery in cotton mills, breweries and other manufacturing industries. - 1784: William MurdochWilliam MurdochWilliam Murdoch was a Scottish engineer and long-term inventor.Murdoch was employed by the firm of Boulton and Watt and worked for them in Cornwall, as a steam engine erector for ten years, spending most of the rest of his life in Birmingham, England.He was the inventor of the oscillating steam...
demonstrates a model steam carriage working on "strong steam". He is dissuaded from patenting his invention by his employer, James Watt. - 1788: Watt builds the first steam engine to use a centrifugal governor for the Boulton & Watt Soho factory.
- 1791: William BullWilliam BullWilliam Bull may refer to:* William Bull * William Bull II * William Bull * William Bull , founder of Bilbul, a small town in New South Wales, Australia...
makes a seemingly obvious design change by inverting the steam engine directly above the mine pumps, eliminating the large beam used since Newcomen's designs. About 10 of his engines are built in Cornwall. - 1799: Richard TrevithickRichard TrevithickRichard Trevithick was a British inventor and mining engineer from Cornwall. His most significant success was the high pressure steam engine and he also built the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive...
builds his first high-pressure engine at Dolcoath tin mineDolcoath mineDolcoath mine was a copper and tin mine in Camborne, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom. Its name derives from the Cornish for 'Old Ground', and it was also affectionately known as The Queen of Cornish Mines. The site is north-west of Carn Brea. Dolcoath Road runs between the A3047 road and Chapel Hill...
in Cornwall. - 1800: Watt's patent expires. By this time about 450 Watt engines and over 1500 Newcomen engines have been built in the UK.
Improving power
- 1801: Richard TrevithickRichard TrevithickRichard Trevithick was a British inventor and mining engineer from Cornwall. His most significant success was the high pressure steam engine and he also built the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive...
builds and runs Camborne road engine. - 1801: Oliver EvansOliver EvansOliver Evans was an American inventor. Evans was born in Newport, Delaware to a family of Welsh settlers. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to a wheelwright....
builds his first high-pressure steam engine in the U.S.(Ptd. 1804) - 1804: Richard TrevithickRichard TrevithickRichard Trevithick was a British inventor and mining engineer from Cornwall. His most significant success was the high pressure steam engine and he also built the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive...
builds and runs single-cylinder flywheel locomotiveLocomotiveA locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
on the 9-mile Pen-y-Darran tramway. Due to plate breakages the engine is installed at Dowlais for stationary use. - 1804: John Steel builds locomotive to Trevithick's model at Gateshead for Mr Smith. This is demonstrated to Christopher BlackettBlackett of WylamThe Blacketts of Wylam were a branch of the ancient family of Blackett of Hoppyland, County Durham, England and were related to the Blackett Baronets....
who refuses it for reasons of excess weight. - 1804: Arthur WoolfArthur WoolfArthur Woolf was a Cornish engineer, most famous for inventing a high-pressure compound steam engine. As such he made an outstanding contribution to the development and perfection of the Cornish engine.Woolf left Cornwall in 1785 to work for Joseph Bramah's engineering works in London...
re-introduces Hornblower's double-cylinder designs now that Watt's patents have expired. He goes on to build a number of examples with up to nine cylinders as boiler pressures increase through better manufacturing and materials. - 1808: Christopher BlackettBlackett of WylamThe Blacketts of Wylam were a branch of the ancient family of Blackett of Hoppyland, County Durham, England and were related to the Blackett Baronets....
relays track at WylamWylamWylam is a small village about west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is located in the county of Northumberland.It is famous for the being the birthplace of George Stephenson, one of the early rail pioneers. George Stephenson's Birthplace is his cottage that can be found on the north bank of the...
Colliery. - 1808: Richard TrevithickRichard TrevithickRichard Trevithick was a British inventor and mining engineer from Cornwall. His most significant success was the high pressure steam engine and he also built the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive...
demonstrates the passenger carrying railway with his "steam circus" (using the locomotive Catch Me Who CanCatch me who canCatch Me Who Can was the fourth and last steam railway locomotive created by Richard Trevithick, . Built in 1808 by Rastrick and Hazledine at their foundry in Bridgnorth, England...
on a circular track) in London. - 1811: Blackett employs Thomas Waters to build a new flywheel locomotive.
- 1811: Blackett instructs Timothy HackworthTimothy HackworthTimothy Hackworth was a steam locomotive engineer who lived in Shildon, County Durham, England and was the first locomotive superintendent of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.- Youth and early work :...
to build hand-cranked chassis to prove feasibility of smooth rail for traction. - 1811: Second Wylam locomotive built by Blackett's development team consisting of Timothy HackworthTimothy HackworthTimothy Hackworth was a steam locomotive engineer who lived in Shildon, County Durham, England and was the first locomotive superintendent of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.- Youth and early work :...
, William HedleyWilliam HedleyWilliam Hedley was one of the leading industrial engineers of the early 19th century, and was very instrumental in several major innovations in early railway development...
, and Jonathan Foster. - 1812: BlenkinsopBlenkinsopBlenkinsop, or Blenkinsopp, or Blenkinsap is a surname, of British origin.People with the surname Blenkinsop:*Arthur Blenkinsop, , Labour MP*Christopher Blenkinsop , Anglo-German musician...
develops rack railway system in collaboration with Matthew MurrayMatthew MurrayMatthew Murray was an English steam engine and machine tool manufacturer, who designed and built the first commercially viable steam locomotive, the twin cylinder Salamanca in 1812...
of Leeds Round Foundry - single-flue boiler; vertical cylinders sunk into boiler. - 1813: Third Wylam locomotive built, with 8 wheels to spread axle load.
- 1815: George StephensonGeorge StephensonGeorge Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives...
builds BlücherBlücher (locomotive)Blücher was an early railway locomotive built in 1814 by George Stephenson for Killingworth Colliery. It was the first of a series of locomotives that he designed in the period 1814-16 which established his reputation as an engine designer and laid the foundations for his subsequent pivotal role in...
- similar to Blenkinsop model. - 1825: Robert Stephenson & CoRobert Stephenson and CompanyRobert Stephenson and Company was a locomotive manufacturing company founded in 1823. It was the first company set up specifically to build railway engines.- Foundation and early success :...
build LocomotionLocomotion No 1Locomotion No. 1 is an early British steam locomotive. Built by George and Robert Stephenson's company Robert Stephenson and Company in 1825, it hauled the first train on the Stockton and Darlington Railway on 27 September 1825....
for Stockton and Darlington RailwayStockton and Darlington RailwayThe Stockton and Darlington Railway , which opened in 1825, was the world's first publicly subscribed passenger railway. It was 26 miles long, and was built in north-eastern England between Witton Park and Stockton-on-Tees via Darlington, and connected to several collieries near Shildon...
. - 1827: Timothy HackworthTimothy HackworthTimothy Hackworth was a steam locomotive engineer who lived in Shildon, County Durham, England and was the first locomotive superintendent of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.- Youth and early work :...
builds highly efficient Royal George with centrally-placed blastpipeBlastpipeThe blastpipe is part of the exhaust system of a steam locomotive that discharges exhaust steam from the cylinders into the smokebox beneath the chimney in order to increase the draught through the fire.- History :...
in the chimney for Stockton and Darlington Railway. - 1829: Robert Stephenson & CoRobert Stephenson and CompanyRobert Stephenson and Company was a locomotive manufacturing company founded in 1823. It was the first company set up specifically to build railway engines.- Foundation and early success :...
successfully competes at Rainhill TrialsRainhill TrialsThe Rainhill Trials were an important competition in the early days of steam locomotive railways, run in October 1829 in Rainhill, Lancashire for the nearly completed Liverpool and Manchester Railway....
against Hackworth'sTimothy HackworthTimothy Hackworth was a steam locomotive engineer who lived in Shildon, County Durham, England and was the first locomotive superintendent of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.- Youth and early work :...
Sans PareilSans PareilSans Pareil is a steam locomotive built by Timothy Hackworth which took part in the 1829 Rainhill Trials on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, held to select a builder of locomotives...
and Braithwaite's and Ericsson'sJohn EricssonJohn Ericsson was a Swedish-American inventor and mechanical engineer, as was his brother Nils Ericson. He was born at Långbanshyttan in Värmland, Sweden, but primarily came to be active in England and the United States...
NoveltyNovelty (locomotive)Novelty was an early steam locomotive built by John Ericsson and John Braithwaite to take part in the Rainhill Trials in 1829.It was an 0-2-2WT locomotive and is now regarded as the very first tank engine. It had a unique design of boiler and a number of other novel design features...
. - 1830: Stephensonian locomotive configuration appears with Stephenson's Planet type along with Edward BuryEdward BuryEdward Bury was an English locomotive manufacturer.Edward Bury was born in Salford, Lancashire, the son of a timber merchant, and was educated at Chester. By 1823 he was a partner in Gregson & Bury's steam sawmill at Toxteth Park, Liverpool, but in 1826 he set himself up as an iron-founder and...
's Liverpool - horizontal cylinders placed beneath smokebox; drive to rear crank - bar frames. - 1849: George Henry CorlissGeorge Henry CorlissGeorge Henry Corliss was an American mechanical engineer and inventor, who developed the Corliss steam engine, which was a great improvement over any other stationary steam engine of its time. The Corliss engine is widely considered one of the more notable engineering achievements of the 19th...
develops and markets the Corliss-type steam engineCorliss Steam EngineA Corliss steam engine is a steam engine, fitted with rotary valves and with variable valve timing patented in 1849, invented by and named after the American engineer George Henry Corliss in Providence, Rhode Island....
, a four-valve counterflow engine with separate steam admission and exhaust valves. Trip valveTrip valveTrip valve mechanisms are a class of steam engine valve gear developed to improve efficiency. The trip mechanism allows the inlet valve to be closed rapidly, giving a short, sharp cut-off. The valve itself can be a drop valve or a Corliss valve....
mechanisms provide sharp cutoff of steam during admission stroke. The efficiency of Corliss engines greatly exceeds other engines of the period, and they are rapidly adopted in stationary service throughout industry. The Corliss engine has better response to changes in load and runs at a more constant speed, making it suitable for applications such as thread spinning. - 1854: John RamsbottomJohn Ramsbottom (engineer)John Ramsbottom was an English mechanical engineer who created many inventions for railways, including the piston ring, the Ramsbottom safety valve, the displacement lubricator, and the water trough.- Biography :...
publishes a report on his use of oversized split steel piston rings which maintain a seal by outward spring tension on the cylinder wall. This allows much better sealing (compared to earlier cotton seals) which leads to significantly higher system pressures before "blow-by" is experienced. - 1862: The steam engine indicator is exhibited at the London Exhibition. Developed for Charles Porter by Charles Richard, the steam engine indicator traces on paper the pressure in the cylinder throughout the cycle, which can be used to spot various problems and to optimize efficiency.
- 1865: Auguste Mouchout invents the first device to convert solar energy into mechanical steam power, using a cauldron filled with water enclosed in glass, which would be put in the sun to boil the water.
- 1867: Stephen WilcoxStephen WilcoxStephen Wilcox, Jr. was an American inventor, best known as the co-inventor of the water-tube boiler. They went on to found the Babcock & Wilcox Company. He was born in Westerly, Rhode Island....
and his partner George Herman BabcockGeorge Herman BabcockGeorge Herman Babcock was an American inventor. He and Stephen Wilcox co-invented a safer water tube steam boiler, and founded the Babcock & Wilcox boiler company....
patent the "Babcock & Wilcox Non-Explosive Boiler", which uses water inside clusters of tubing to generate steam, typically with higher pressures and more efficiently than the typical "firetube" boilers of that time. Babcock and WilcoxBabcock and WilcoxThe Babcock & Wilcox Company is a U.S.-based company that provides design, engineering, manufacturing, construction and facilities management services to nuclear, renewable, fossil power, industrial and government customers worldwide. B&W's boilers supply more than 300,000 megawatts of installed...
-type boiler designs become popular in new installations. - 1897: Charles Algernon ParsonsCharles Algernon ParsonsSir Charles Algernon Parsons OM KCB FRS was an Anglo-Irish engineer, best known for his invention of the steam turbine. He worked as an engineer on dynamo and turbine design, and power generation, with great influence on the naval and electrical engineering fields...
patented a steam turbineSteam turbineA steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
, which was used to power a ship. The turbine works like a multi-cylinder steam engine, but with any number of "cylinders" in series, built of simple bladed wheels. The efficiency of large steam turbines is considerably better than the best compound engines, while also being much simpler, more reliable, smaller and lighter all at the same time. Steam turbines have replaced piston engines for power generation almost universally since then. - 1897: Stanley Brothers begin selling lightweight steam cars, over 200 being made.
- 1899: The Locomobile Company begins manufacture of the first production steam-powered cars, after purchasing manufacturing rights from the Stanley Brothers.
- 1902: The Stanley Motor Carriage Company begins manufacture of the Stanley SteamerStanley SteamerThe Stanley Motor Carriage Company was a manufacturer of steam-engine vehicles; it operated from 1902 to 1924. The cars made by the company were colloquially called Stanley Steamers, although several different models were produced.-Early history:...
, the most popular production steam-powered car. - 1903: Commonwealth EdisonCommonwealth EdisonCommonwealth Edison is the largest electric utility in Illinois, serving the Chicago and Northern Illinois area...
Fisk Street Station opens in Chicago, using 32 Babcock and WilcoxBabcock and WilcoxThe Babcock & Wilcox Company is a U.S.-based company that provides design, engineering, manufacturing, construction and facilities management services to nuclear, renewable, fossil power, industrial and government customers worldwide. B&W's boilers supply more than 300,000 megawatts of installed...
boilers driving several GEGeneral ElectricGeneral Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
Curtis turbines, at 5000 and 9000 kilowatts each, the largest turbine-generators in the world at that time. Almost all electric power generation, from the time of the Fisk Station to the present, is based on steam driven turbine-generators. - 1913: Nikola TeslaNikola TeslaNikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer...
patents a bladeless steam turbineTesla turbineThe Tesla turbine is a bladeless centripetal flow turbine patented by Nikola Tesla in 1913. It is referred to as a bladeless turbine because it uses the boundary layer effect and not a fluid impinging upon the blades as in a conventional turbine...
that utilizes the boundary layer effectBoundary layerIn physics and fluid mechanics, a boundary layer is that layer of fluid in the immediate vicinity of a bounding surface where effects of viscosity of the fluid are considered in detail. In the Earth's atmosphere, the planetary boundary layer is the air layer near the ground affected by diurnal...
. This design has never been used commercially due to its low efficiency. - 1923: Alan Arnold GriffithAlan Arnold GriffithAlan Arnold Griffith was an English engineer, who, among many other contributions, is best known for his work on stress and fracture in metals that is now known as metal fatigue, as well as being one of the first to develop a strong theoretical basis for the jet engine.-Early work:A. A...
publishes An Aerodynamic Theory of Turbine Design, describing a way to dramatically improve the efficiency of all turbines. In addition to making newer power plants more economical, it also provides enough efficiency to build a jet engineJet engineA jet engine is a reaction engine that discharges a fast moving jet to generate thrust by jet propulsion and in accordance with Newton's laws of motion. This broad definition of jet engines includes turbojets, turbofans, rockets, ramjets, pulse jets...
. - 2009: On August 25, 2009, Team Inspiration of the British Steam Car Challenge broke the long-standing record for a steam vehicle set by a Stanley SteamerStanley SteamerThe Stanley Motor Carriage Company was a manufacturer of steam-engine vehicles; it operated from 1902 to 1924. The cars made by the company were colloquially called Stanley Steamers, although several different models were produced.-Early history:...
in 1906, setting a new speed record of 139.843 mph in the Edwards Air Force BaseEdwards Air Force BaseEdwards Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located on the border of Kern County, Los Angeles County, and San Bernardino County, California, in the Antelope Valley. It is southwest of the central business district of North Edwards, California and due east of Rosamond.It is named in...
, in the Mojave DesertMojave DesertThe Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...
of CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
See also
- Steam engineSteam engineA steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
- Steam power during the Industrial RevolutionSteam power during the Industrial RevolutionDuring the Industrial Revolution, steam power began to replace water power and muscle power as the primary source of power in use in industry. Its first use was to pump water from mines...
- Timeline of heat engine technologyTimeline of heat engine technologyThis Timeline of heat engine technology describes how heat engines have been known since antiquity but have been made into increasingly useful devices since the seventeenth century as a better understanding of the processes involved was gained...