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Steam Engine
Heat Engine
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The first machine to convert the heat of burning fuel into sustained mechanical work at scale. Thomas Newcomen built the first practical atmospheric engine in 1712 to pump water from mines, and James Watt added the separate condenser in the 1760s and 1770s, multiplying its efficiency and freeing steam power to drive the mills, mines and railways of the Industrial Revolution.
Facts
Technology Type Invented Year1712 is the Newcomen engine at Dudley; Savery patented a steam pump in 1698, and Watt patented the separate condenser in 1769. Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Carnot derived the limit while analyzing the steam engines of his day.
Developed By
Newcomen built the first practical engine in 1712; Watt transformed it with the separate condenser and rotative motion.
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