Newcomen builds the first steam Engine

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Domains

Steam power

Dates

Date of occurrence 1704

Places

United Kingdom (Location)

Resources

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Thomas Newcomen (1663-1729) was an ironmonger in Dartmouth, Devon, who spent ten years trying to develop a cheaper and more efficient way of pumping water out of Cornish tin mines than the use of horses. His first effective steam-driven pump was produced in partnership with another Devon man, Thomas Savery (1650-1715) around 1704. His first working engine was installed at Dudley Castle, Staffordshire in 1712.

Newcomen.s breakthrough was to introduce a squirt of cold water into a steam-filled chamber, thus creating a vacuum in the cylinder. This pulled the piston up and primed it to receive another injection of steam for the down stroke. Newcomen engines were not very efficient users of heat, but pumps based on his technology were to remain in use for the next hundred years.

Newcomen.s…

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128 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Newcomen builds the first steam Engine". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 January 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=771, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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