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A steam locomotive from East Germany. This class of engine was built in 1942–1950 and operated until 1988. A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder.
The first steam engine to be applied industrially was the "fire-engine" or "Miner's Friend", designed by Thomas Savery in 1698. This was a pistonless steam pump, similar to the one developed by Worcester. Savery made two key contributions that greatly improved the practicality of the design.
Thomas Savery's steam pump. The industrial use of steam power started with Thomas Savery in 1698. He constructed and patented in London the first engine, which he called the "Miner's Friend" since he intended it to pump water from mines. Early versions used a soldered copper boiler which burst easily at low steam pressures.
Watt steam engine. A late version of a Watt double-acting steam engine, built by D. Napier & Son (London) in 1832, now in the lobby of the Superior Technical School of Industrial Engineers of the UPM (Madrid). Steam engines of this kind propelled the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain and the world. The Watt steam engine design was an ...
1884 (140 years ago) (1884) A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. [1][2] Fabrication of a modern steam turbine involves advanced ...
Steam locomotives consume vast quantities of water because they operate on an open cycle, expelling their steam immediately after a single use rather than recycling it in a closed loop as stationary and marine steam engines do. Water was a constant logistical problem, and condensing engines were devised for use in desert areas.
Newcomen atmospheric engine. Schematic Newcomen engine. – Steam (pink), water (blue) – Valves open (green), valves closed (red) The atmospheric engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, and is often referred to as the Newcomen fire engine (see below) or simply as a Newcomen engine. The engine was operated by condensing steam drawn ...
Steam locomotive components. Main components found on a typical steam locomotive include: enlarge. The diagram, which is not to scale, is a composite of various designs in the late steam era. Some components shown are not the same as, or are not present, on some locomotives – for example, on smaller or articulated types.