The history of the steam engine

Created during the 18th century, the steam engine was considered to be a great technological advance. In particular, it had a significant impact during the industrial revolution.

Many people have looked into the creation of this internal combustion engine. The creations of the English Thomas Newcomen and the Scot James Watt revolutionized the history of thermal energy. To find out more about the creation of the steam engine, SirEnergies takes you through its journey.

How was the steam engine invented?

Since ancient times, many men have studied steam and its use. They wanted to improve mechanical production, which at the time was limited to human or animal energy, but also to natural strength of elements like wind and water.

The first steam engines

Heron of Alexandria was the first to constitute a steam engine that he called Eolipyle. It was only years later that the idea of the power of water vapor resurfaced.

The 17th century saw numerous attempts to improve the expansion force of water vapor. Giambattista della Porta in 1601, then Jéronimo de Ayanz y Beaumont in 1606 and Salomon de Caus in 1615 put all their energy into using water vapor as industrial power source.

Papin's boiler

In 1679, the French Denis Papin built a boiler which was closed by the first valve. Developing his project in a book entitled “Description and use of the new water raising machine”, Papin put forward the idea that a machine could operate using a piston. This could move in an alternating movement in the heart of a cylinder, pushed as it was by the steam created by the heating of water. Its piston engine was created in 1690, but only worked under atmospheric pressure.

The contributions of Thomas Savery and Thomas Newcomen

In 1698, with the same idea, the Englishman Thomas Savery filed a patent for a steam pump and which would be used for mining. He developed this project with the help of another compatriot, Thomas Newcomen, in order to be able to allow use as early as 1712 in a mine of coal of his steam engine.

Used in all wet mines in Europe, this machine by Thomas Newcomen and Thomas Savery operated the pump using a vacuum in a closed chamber. Inside it, a jet of water caused steam to condense. Although automated some time later, these machines were very expensive because of the heating of the cylinder each time steam was admitted.

The Watt steam engine, a true industrial revolution

After the creation of Thomas Newcomen's machine, the Scotsman James Watt took over one of his engines in order to rework it and see how he could improve it. With the help of the entrepreneur Matthew Boulton, he then created its own steam engine while building on the work of its predecessors.

How the Watt steam engine works

In order to improve the condensation of the machine, the Scotsman decided to install a new compartment called the condenser. Thanks to this new device, he was able to increase engine power from 6 to 15 horsepower. After filing a patent in 1769, he continued his improvements in order to give more power and efficiency to his machine.

He then developed in 1782 The double-acting machine where the piston no longer acts as a brake, but as a motor, both on the way out and back. Vapour is admitted, regardless of the face of the piston. This allowed the machine to gain in power. The inventor continued to develop his machine by creating an articulated parallelogram or even a ball regulator.

The impact of Watt in the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was considered at the time as a race for ever greater returns. James Watt's steam engine was one of the key elements in terms of driving forces.

The steam engine was the first device that made it possible to transform thermal energy into mechanical energy. This shows how much Watt had a colossal impact during the industrial revolution. As proof, between 1776 and 1800, nearly 500 machines were built, giving Watt and Boulton a virtual monopoly situation.

The machines were used in mines, but also in workshops and mills (cotton, distillery, flour, iron...). They were very practical in order to allow easier extraction of coal in mines or even faster production in the metallurgical or textile industries. For the latter, factories and factories developed considerably at the expense of artisans and family businesses thanks to the steam engine. The latter has in fact replaced little by little Hydraulic power.

In social terms, the steam engine has made it possible to have a more qualified workforce, which has been beneficial for the industrial sector. She thus developed the skills of the employees, who then chose the rural exodus in order to be able to share their know-how with manufacturers. Watt and Boulton also revolutionized industrial organization by creating The drawing office. The sketch then represented both a contractual document and a manufacturing tool.

Development and operation of the steam engine

The steam engine Took some time to emancipate of the sectors for which it was used the most:

• Mechanical construction,
• The cotton industry,
• Metallurgy,
• The mines.

Except in Great Britain, where The expansion of the steam engine was important, countries such as France, Germany or even the United States took some time to install this device in their factories.

At the same time, the English engineer Richard Trevithick invented a high-pressure steam engine where he eliminated the condenser. The machines then became more compact and more easily transportable. Continuing with his project, he developed The first steam locomotive on rails in 1803 before starting it the following year. George Stephenson then created the first railway line to operate steam locomotives.

Development during the Great Depression

It was not until the end of the 19th century that the steam engine became the norm in terms of productivity. Manufacturers then took advantage of the very low cost of machines, which allowed them to save money. However, France is still lagging behind due to the cost of maintaining the steam engine. In 1880, there were 500,000 machines in France while Great Britain had 2 million and Germany 1.7 million.

It was only in the 1920s that France had as industrial reference motor the steam engine. This lasted until the 1930s with the arrival of the machines of thermal power plants of electricity production.

How the steam engine works

Despite all the inventions and creations, the steam engine has always maintained the same function in order to transform thermal energy into mechanical energy. The external combustion engine generates steam by heating water in a closed, airtight boiler. By pushing a piston, this has the consequence The expansion of the volume of a cylinder. For its part, the piston has a rotational movement that drives the rotor of an electrical generator or the rotation of the wheels.

Once the movement is over, the piston returns to its place and expels the steam using kinetic energy. To control steam pressure, inlet and outlet valves regulate the renewal of the charge. This allows steam to flow into the cylinder.

The influence of the steam engine nowadays

This external combustion engine had and still has influence in the industrial world. Some principles of the steam engine are used in processes for the internal combustion of an engine, whether it is the crankcase or the star cylinder system in aircraft engines.

However, electricity production is the field where the application of the steam engine is the most significant. Many thermal power plants use boiling water to run steam turbines. Connected to a generator, they thus make it possible to obtain electrical energy.

The only difference between these different thermal power plants is where the heat source comes from. To reach the steam stage, water is heated by:

• Of fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, or oil,
• Of solar energy,
• Uranium (Nuclear Energy).
  

While they were Great Players in the Industrial Revolution in the 18th Century, the steam engine and some of these processes are still present today. This external combustion engine allowed the industrial sector to develop before giving way to the internal combustion engine, electric and steam turbine. Scotsman James Watt will remain the person who will have an important impact during the industrial revolution, whether from a social or economic point of view.

Do not hesitate to read our article on The history of natural gas in France.