Steam Engine - Research Paper Example

?Steam Engine: The time period between 1750 and 1850 is considered to be the period of industrial revolution and which laid the foundation for many technological advancements in myriad fields like agriculture, transportation, mining, electricity, healthcare, and communication. It actually began in Great Britain and passing through Europe and America eventually prevailed throughout the world. This industrial revolution is said to have made a critically important turning point in the history of the world as it played a gigantic role in beginning to improve the life standards of masses of people everywhere in the world. Due to myriad technological inventions and discoveries, employment opportunities expanded, average per capita income increased, health standards also rose, and world’s population increased by several folds. The world witnessed a sustained growth in the obvious influences exerted by technology related revolutions which begin to revolutionize every aspect of daily life for the better. Period extending from 1750 to 1850 is characterized by the transitional change of the manual and animal-based labor into critical machine-based manufacturing. The development of the stationary steam engine is one such machine-based manufacturing event which happened before 1850 and marked the history of technology. Steam engines soon after the first model got introduced by Savery went on to become the highly important, irreplaceable, and dominant source of power which fueled the industrial revolution on many levels. The paper basically aims at illuminating the reality of the claim that “the concept of stationary steam engines proposed first by Thomas Savery and later developed by Thomas Newcomen led to a major turning point in the history. They immensely added to the facility by exempting humans and animals from tedious labor to drive mills and factories and made draining of previously untouchable deep mines possible and successful.” Life prior to the development of technology was extremely difficult as people had to engage in very arduous tasks for long periods to get things done and receive wages. Animal and human-based manual labor laid the foundation of the mills, factories, and mining. With the advent of steam power technology and development of a variety of steam power engines, manufacturing process became a lot facilitated and living standards also increased. The basic purpose of the stationary steam engines is to pump and drive mills by generating power. While introduced in the 18th century, these engines continued to be produced in huge numbers throughout the 19th century, and most of the part of the 20th century until advancements made in the electrical field leading to the practical application of electric power and the development of the internal combustion engine took their place. The use of the fixed steam engines accelerated between the time period of 1750 and 1850 but started to gradually decline afterwards when more advanced and adaptable electricity powered engines began to be introduced. Though the use of internal combustion engines became more widespread later, this paper aims at stressing the fact that the importance of efforts leading to the discovery of steam power and invention of first commercially successful steam engine cannot be denied and should never be overlooked when contemplating the technological inventions introduced prior to 1850. Stationary steam engines have often been mistaken for other kinds of engines introduced during the time steam engines were under development process. But a little research into this matter proves that they can be distinguished and stand in contrast to locomotive engines used for railways, traction engines used for manufacturing roads, steam cars, and agricultural engines used for ploughing and harvesting fields. The steam engine is arguably considered the most important technology of the industrial revolution and the literature reviewed in this paper aims at underlining this claim that the steam engine due to multiple factors was indeed an invention made prior to 1850 of critical nature. Different types of steam engines continued to be introduced at different times and in order of evolution, the first ever version was invented by Thomas Savery in 1698. Savery is distinguished in the history in that he made the first ever actual attempt at industrially using steam power in practical terms. The concept of steam power was in circulation for a while before it was practically observed and implemented by Savery which set a landmark in the history of renowned technologies. As already mentioned that the industrial revolution initially began in Great Britain, Savery was also an English inventor among many other English scientists and inventors who invented different technologies during that period. He constructed his experiments using steam power in London at the end of which he managed in making a vacuum and pressure water pump which was used to generate power. This pump however did not go on to become a success and remained very narrowly acknowledged by people at that time as it could only generate about one horsepower which was not enough to pump height and was also quite prone to boiler explosions. Still it undeniably found many applications in terms of water works and was even tried to work mines though not quite successfully as its limitations became a hurdle in the way of widespread implementation in different fields of life like manufacturing and mining. In process of describing his invention to the public, Savery claimed that the steam engine invented by him could quite effectively drain mines and aid the manufacturing process in those mills and factories which do not have the natural benefit of water or constant winds. It could also be helpful in raising water and speeding up all sorts of mill work in addition to serving towns with water and all the while, using no manual or animal-based labor (Jenkins, 1936, p. 66). This claim by Savery depicts the important transition of manual and animal-based labor into machine-based labor which is also the hallmark of the industrial revolution that lasted till 1850. Literature proves that the efforts made by Savery leading to the invention of the first steam power engine hugely facilitated human life and opened the door to further investigation and experimentation into practical usage of steam power. The invention introduced by Savery encouraged other scientists of that time like Thomas Newcomen to engage in further major developments as a result of which steam engines began to be used on a wide scale in many industrial settings as the initial version based engines were exclusively used in mining to pump water. This invention should be considered the most important technology invented before 1850 as it facilitated work to such an extent that by using engines mills and factories began to be established anywhere which was not the case before as in the absence of engines, mills had to be run at places close to water or where strong winds kept blowing. Though the early steam engines were not very effective and could generate power of low horsepower but on grounds of only these features, undermining the importance of this invention constitutes a deplorable trend which should be discouraged. Opponents claim that steam engine cannot be considered the most beneficial and comfort assuring technology because the earlier versions lacked the power to be extensively applied in other factory appliances also. But the point is that the opponents should ponder on what constituted the driving force behind the industrial revolution? Steam power began to replace water power and manual labor during the industrial revolution and started being used on a large level with the invention of steam engines. Prior to steam engines which made extensive use of steam power, the primary source of power used in the industries in Great Britain came from water and horses. But soon after Savery laid the foundation for steam engine, more complete and powerful versions started coming up particularly the double-active rotative version invented by James Watt which became a driving force behind the revolution started in Great Britain. As different firms during that time used to share information to reduce the research time and expenses, collaborative efforts sped up the technological advances in context of steam power and engines and the industrial revolution happened more quickly which proves that this technology or invention had the potential to drive the revolution and it did so briskly. Initially only used in mining, this technology soon grew rapidly to be used in a wide variety of other industries because it not only improved productivity and marked the history of technologies invented prior to 1850 as is claimed in this paper, but it also opened the prospects for the development of smaller yet better equipped and powered engines. After Savery’s less practical yet significantly impactful invention in 1698, Newcomen in 1712 introduced the first safe and successful steam power plant with multiple applications. Though initially this tool did not have the program of self-action installed and different phases like introducing steam into the cylinder, condensing the steam, raising the pump, and preparing the stroke had to be controlled by hand, but within a small span of ten years such an escapement program got established which rendered the steam power plant self-acting thus phenomenally adding to the productivity and advancing technology. So it can be safely said that the Savery’s engine managed in laying down the foundation of this technology, Newcomen’s invention went on to be acknowledged as the first practical and multi-application steam powered engine, while subsequent steam engines developed like Watt’s 1775 double-acting rotative version went on to fuel the industrial revolution as is suggested in this paper. This also refutes the claim held by opponents that steam power does not mark the history of technology and steam engines did not power the industrial revolution which lasted till 1850. How important a technology steam engine proved to become can be judged from the fact that a staggering number of engines based on Newcomen principle of manufacturing were put to use through out Great Britain and the results met with success. These steam powered atmospheric engines were used to drain previously unworkable mines and made such work situations easier where manual or water power could not reap any effective results. All such engines typically appeared to be big machines which could generate power as much as 5horsepower. Though claimed to be extremely inefficient by modern standards and requiring a lot of capital for manufacturing purposes, these machines using steam engines at that time fomented a huge explosion in the field of coal mining at that time as they allowed the mines to go deeper than before. Though it is argued on grounds of some disadvantages associated with the Newcomen engines like requiring a lot of capital to build and being heavy as they were big machines that steam power and steam engine should be categorized as relatively less important technology and invention, truth is that the Newcomen engines were safe, reliable, and easy to maintain. This is also the reason why these engines continued to be used well during the 19th century, spread to different faraway parts of the world like Austria and Germany, a variety of improvements continued to be introduced during the later years by other engineers as a result of which as many as 1454 practical engines had been built by 1800s (Rolt & Allen, p. 145, 1977). It is argued by opponents that though the steam engine invented by Savery undoubtedly opened the doors to practical implementation of steam power, yet exceptional merit should not be attached with this invention. Savery’s model is criticized on grounds of four serious problems associated with it which caused the operators to bear expenses of frequent damage repair and operate the engine from far down in the mine. First, it had no piston so every time the water was entered into the cylinder lots of heat got wasted in raising the water temperature that was to be pumped as the machine could not self-act and the escapement mechanism was devised many years later for this purpose by Newcomen. Secondly, as already mentioned Savery’s engine was like a newborn baby and could only generate power up to 1hp so the second stage of the working process which required high-pressure steam to force the heated water up used to get seriously impaired as the machine engine’s parts and joints were not effectively capable of tolerating high pressure steam. This inability of the weak engine joints to withstand high pressure steam forms one reason why this engine, though claimed by Savery to serve a variety of purposes, underwent serious harm again and again and required frequent repair. As the name atmospheric steam engine suggests, this technology used atmospheric pressure to push the heated water up working against a condensed vacuum and so it had to be installed at no more than 30feet above the water level. This feature associated with Savery’s engine also resulted in a lot of inconvenience. These problems, however, were addressed by Newcomen later who devised ideas to overcome these issues and introduced more advanced design of steam engine. The later designs of steam engines actually constituted the force which drove the wheel of the industrial revolution, but actually Savery’s model should not be forgotten as it gave the idea on which further research commenced. Newcomen’s model differed from Savery’s steam engine in respect that it worked purely by atmospheric pressure. This technique of inventing an engine which worked purely by atmospheric pressure helped significantly in avoiding the high pressure steam associated dangers which included the hassle of frequent repair as already mentioned. It can also be distinguished from the steam engine invented by Savery in respect that it used the piston concept and made good use of it in an attempt to address the issues faced by using the initially introduced model. With the discovery of piston concept, raising water from deep mines became possible (Rolt & Allen, 1997) which was a great achievement as in case of Savery’s model, the steam engine had to be installed at no more than 30ft from the water level. One evidence underlining how much high pressure steam was released by one of Savery’s engines put to display in London can be found in the book examining the steam engine of Thomas Newcomen in which it is claimed that the steam produced by Savery’s engine was about 10 times stronger than common air which made it son strong that it blew open the joints of the machine (Rolt & Allen, 2007, pp. 27-28). The weak joints of the engine simply could not bear very high pressure steam. Still the importance of Savery’s model cannot be denied as even the more advanced design introduced later by Newcomen was marketed under Savery’s name who indeed is the pioneer of the steam power technology. These early engines were unique in respect that they were primarily used to control the water supply like one engine using Savery’s principle was used to control the water supply at Hampton Court and another engine was built and installed in Kensington. This steam engine reportedly operated for more than 18 years (Lindsey, 2008) which underlines the huge practical application of steam engine and fosters the claim made in this paper that the steam engines in deed form a highly reputable invention made in the history. Though the efforts of using Savery’s steam engines in mines turned out to be futile due to not being able to be adjusted and operated far from the water level, the quantity of steam raised was so enormous that it added another complication to surface. It, the high pressure steam, used to be so high that it had the potential to rip the whole carefully organized machine to pieces. This is one reason why the practical application concept of steam engine in mining was put to rest for some years in addition to the scheme of raising water as it was considered highly impracticable at that time which could be in 1705 (King, 2007, p. 42). In context of further practical applications, research suggests that another example of using the steam engine in early 1700s could be related to a copper mine in Cornwall where this engine was possibly tried (Earl, 1994, p. 38). So in a nutshell, after Savery’s initial attempts in 1698 at presenting a role model of a steam engine, Newcomen advanced those efforts and patented a fully atmospheric steam engine in 1712. After Newcomen, Watts spent years in perfecting the steam engine and played a major role in overcoming the issues associated with Newcomen’s model by inventing a double-acting rotative version by 1783. This budget-friendly steam engine model introduced by Watts made people witness radical improvements which increased engine’s efficiency and saved coal costs by a large percentage due to which it remained quite successful commercially. Summing up, this much remains clear from the above discussion that the steam engine has always remained in limelight in the history. Though its history stretches as far back as imaginable, it was not until Thomas Savery invented steam powered engine and made practical use of steam power that things started to take a notable shift. After Savery, Newcomen played a gigantic role of critical nature in advancing the efforts initiated by the previous engineer and introduced a version of steam engine which not only overcame the issues associated with the earlier model but also helped in greatly facilitating the human life by fostering the transition of manual-based labor into machine-based manufacturing. Then Watt’s highly effective double-acting rotative steam engine and later versions of steam engines invented in later years served as the basis for a whole new wave of modern or revolutionary steam technology. General consensus is that though the steam engine was an essential early element of the industrial revolution, still this technology remained underused for most of the part of that period as most of the industries then continued to rely on wind and water power along with manual and animal-based labor to run machines. The discovery of steam power formed the backbone of the steam engine manufacturing process and multiple scientists and engineers whose work precedes 1850 are involved in continually developing this technology. References: Earl, B. (1994). Cornish Mining: The Techniques of Metal Mining in the West of England, Past and Present. (2nd ed.). St Austell: Cornish Hillside Publications. Jenkins, R. (1936). Links in the History of Engineering and Technology from Tudor Times. Ayer Publishing. King, P.W. (2007). Black Country Mining before the Industrial Revolution. Mining History: The Bulletin of the Peak District Mines History Society, 16(6), 42-43. Lindsey, C.F. (2008). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved from http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/24/101024733/ Rolt, L.T.C., & Allen, J.S. (1997). The steam engine of Thomas Newcomen. US: Moorland Pub. Co. Rolt, L.T.C., & Allen, J.S. (2007). The Steam Engine of Thomas Newcomen. Ashbourne: Landmark Publihsing. Read More