The history
of the steam engine stretches back as far as the 1st century AD; the first
recorded rudimentary steam engine being the aeolipile described by Hero of
Alexandria.[1] Over a millennium after Hero's (or "Heron's")
experiments, a number of steam-powered devices were experimented with or
proposed, but it was not until 1712 that a commercially successful steam engine
was finally developed, Thomas Newcomen's atmospheric engine. During the
industrial revolution, steam engines became the dominant source of power and
remained so into the early decades of the 20th century, when advances in the
design of the electric motor and the internal combustion engine resulted in the
rapid replacement of the steam engine by these technologies. However, the steam
turbine, an alternative form of steam engine, has become the most common method
by which electrical power generators are driven.[2] Investigations are being
made into the practicalities of reviving the reciprocating steam engine as the
basis for a new wave of 'advanced steam technology' .
1 Precursors
1.1 Early
uses of steam power
1.2
Cylinders
1.3 Savery
steam pump
2
Atmospheric condensing engines
2.1 Newcomen
"atmospheric" engine
2.2 Watt's
separate condenser
2.3 Watt
double-acting and rotative engines
3
High-pressure engines
3.1 Cornish
engine and compounding
4 Corliss
engine
5
Porter-Allen high speed engine
5.1 Uniflow
(or unaflow) engine
6 References
7
Bibliography
8 Further
reading
Related Articles:
