Steam Engine: Concept to Reality by Ryan S.

The idea of making a steam engine to perform physical work is an old idea that has been around for centuries. Not many people realize how old this concept is. In fact, the idea was first written down almost twenty-one centuries ago. Many people contributed to its success and no one can take absolute credit for designing the steam engine. However, some people did greatly influence the successful path of the steam engine, and the steam engine in turn put the United States out in front economically. As Robert H. Thurston said, “The wonderful progress of the present century is, in a very great degree, due to the invention and improvement of the steam engine, and to the ingenious application of its power to kinds of work that formerly taxed the physical energies of the human race.”

The power of steam is a natural force—a very powerful natural force. A geyser would be an example of natural steam power. People noticed the energy of steam and recognized its potential uses early on in history. The learned writer, Hero, wrote about the first prototype of a steam engine in Alexandria. He was assembling a book about devices of the time. His manuscript gave historians an accurate blueprint of his steam engine. The purpose of his unique design was to open two temple doors. To do this a fire would be lit on the pulpit. This energy would heat and boil water in a hidden container beneath the floor. The steam would rise and flow into a narrow tube and then escape into the “globe.” Once the steam had built enough pressure inside the “globe,” it would escape out of one of two holes, causing the “globe” to spin. The spinning of the globe would pull ropes attached to two poles. As the poles, turned the doors connected to the poles turned, too. However ingenious this design may seem, there was no actual evidence of its material existence.

After Hero’s time the steam engine seemed to vanish from people’s minds. There was no real need for steam engines. Slaves and draft animals could do the physical work that was needed. However, around the sixteenth century, the demand for physical work began to exceed the work that could be provided by slaves and animals. As Robert H. Thurston said, “Inventions only become successful when they are not only needed, but when mankind is so far advanced in intelligence as to appreciate and to express the necessity for them, and to at once make use of them.” True to his words, people realized the potential power of the steam engine once again and began experiments to harness its power. A man named Matthesius lectured people about the future possibilities of the steam engine. His support inspired many people to try to build the world’s first successful and useful steam engine. The fuse was lit and the race was on. In 1543, the first attempt to make a steam ship, in which a steam engine was used to paddle a wheel, was tried. Good records were not kept but people can infer that the project was not triumphant. In fact, the person credited with the steam engine’s invention was not even born yet!

In 1601, Giovanni Battista Della Porta drew up plans for a machine powered by steam that could raise a column of water. He named his creation “Spiritali.” However, the world around him called it “Pneumatica” after the force that made up a crucial part of the engine. His steam engine consisted of making a vacuum in a tube to raise water. The vacuum would be caused by the condensation of steam. His brilliant plan was never applied but Giovanni Battista Della Porta did describe the necessary presence of a vacuum in order for a steam engine to work.
Another man trying to raise water with steam power was Edwards Somerset Marquis. He was mistakenly hailed as the inventor of the water-raising machine. He never made a successful steam powered engine. Instead he made a hand powered pump that did nothing to further the development of the steam engine. Many people from different times were entangled in the web of mystery as each tried to reconstruct the power so commonly seen in nature. All of these people helped with the success of the steam engine and provided knowledge that would assist future generations in solving the puzzle. Some of these people were noted for other projects as well, such as Leonardo Davinci, a mathematician, engineer, poet, and painter. Agostiro Romell was a distinguished Italian writer. Jacob Benso was a professor of mathematics and natural philosophy. Many others, such as Ilorence Rivault, Salonon de Caus, Giovanni Branca, David Raseye, Thomas Grant, and Edward Ford, were valuable to the project’s success before Newcomen and Watt, the two most credited “inventors” of the steam engine, were born.

With all this help the steam engine progressed. Even the failures helped because afterwards people could skip over an experiment that didn’t work, thus reducing the time it took to get from the drawing board to the market. Thomas Savery was the first person to create a running steam engine that could raise water twenty-six to twenty-eight feet high. His engine used the condensation of steam and the pressure of the atmosphere to power it. The power of the atmosphere played a very important part in the steam engine and if Savery had not realized that, it is possible that the invention of a real steam engine would have been delayed. He used this engine to drain flooded mines and patented it in 1698. As good as his engine was, it was not self-acting. It had to be helped along. There was plenty of room for improvement.

The next great inventor came along. Newcomen was the first to make a steam engine that could do physical work other than lifting columns of water. It was the most reliable engine of the time and it was a self-operating engine. His design included a boiler, pump, and cylinder, which housed a piston. One of the few problems with the engine was the loss of energy during the process of converting steam energy into work. The steam condensed inside the cylinder itself and a lot of potential energy was lost. Newcomen was an ironmonger and a tradesman. Because of his low class standings he did not receive much credit for his work at the time of invention but people began to see his engine as the best.

Newcomen is often over shadowed by James Watt, who was born in Greenock, Scotland. Watt was asked to fix one of Newcomen’s broken engines in 1761 and he did fix it. He also added something. That something was a separate condenser. The steam would no longer condense inside the cylinder. This addition conserved heat energy and saved 75% of the fuel that had been used to heat Newcomen’s engine. It was the greatest single improvement to the engine and it opened up new possibilities.

Much of the Industrial revolution was caused by this great invention. Trains were made and work could be accomplished with high efficiency. Steamboats became successful. People and goods could now travel to remote places. This opened up the West. People flocked there and business thrived. All the trade and growth caused the whole country to explode economically. As Robert H. Thurston said, the success of our country was based upon the success of the steam engine and the people who built it. However, new technology does not stay new forever. Better technology was made and it quickly replaced steam technology. Steam-powered trains were replaced with diesel and then electricity. The invention that hundreds had struggled to bring about vanished in the face of the new. The last steam-powered train ever made was called the “Evening Star,” a fitting name for the collapse of steam.

Even though the steam engine disappeared from use as once again the demand for physical work grew, it played an indispensable part in United States history. It helped economically and allowed technology to improve. The multitudes of people who endeavored to create it, share the glory of its success even after death; and the three most influential—Savery, Newcomen, and Watt—should be hailed as heroes for their great efforts on behalf of the steam engine and this country.