Thomas Newcomen’s Followers (1)

Thomas Newcomen

Born

in Dartmouth, Devon, England, The United Kingdom

February 24, 1664

Died

August 05, 1729

Website

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Newcomen

Genre

Science, Engineering, Invention

Influences

James Watt, John Calley ...more

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Thomas Newcomen (February 1664 – 5 August 1729) was an English inventor who created the first practical steam engine for pumping water, the Newcomen steam engine. He was an ironmonger by trade and a Baptist lay preacher by calling. He was born in Dartmouth, Devon, England, to a merchant family on 24 February 1664. In those days flooding in coal and tin mines was a major problem, and Newcomen was soon engaged in trying to improve ways to pump out the water from such mines. His ironmonger's business specialized in designing, manufacturing and selling tools for the mining industry.

Newcomen's great achievement was his steam engine, developed around 1710, combining the ideas of Thomas Savery and Denis Papin. It is likely that Newcomen was alread Thomas Newcomen (February 1664 – 5 August 1729) was an English inventor who created the first practical steam engine for pumping water, the Newcomen steam engine. He was an ironmonger by trade and a Baptist lay preacher by calling. He was born in Dartmouth, Devon, England, to a merchant family on 24 February 1664. In those days flooding in coal and tin mines was a major problem, and Newcomen was soon engaged in trying to improve ways to pump out the water from such mines. His ironmonger's business specialized in designing, manufacturing and selling tools for the mining industry.

Newcomen's great achievement was his steam engine, developed around 1710, combining the ideas of Thomas Savery and Denis Papin. It is likely that Newcomen was already acquainted with Savery, whose forebears were merchants in south Devon. Savery also had a post with the Commissioners for Sick and Hurt Seamen, which took him to Dartmouth. Savery had devised a 'fire engine', a kind of thermic syphon, in which steam was admitted to an empty container and then condensed. The vacuum thus created was used to suck water from the sump at the bottom of the mine. The 'fire engine' was not very effective and could not work beyond a limited depth of around thirty feet.

Newcomen replaced the receiving vessel (where the steam was condensed) with a cylinder containing a piston based on Papin's design. Instead of the vacuum drawing in water, it drew down the piston. This was used to work a beam engine, in which a large wooden beam rocked upon a central fulcrum. On the other side of the beam was a chain attached to a pump at the base of the mine. As the steam cylinder was refilled with steam, readying it for the next power stroke, water was drawn into the pump cylinder and expelled into a pipe to the surface by the weight of the machinery. Newcomen and his partner John Calley built the first successful engine of this type at the Conygree Coalworks near Dudley in the West Midlands. A working replica of this engine can be seen at the Black Country Living Museum nearby.

Newcomen died in 1729, and his body was buried at Bunhill Fields, a cemetery in north London; the exact location of his grave is now not known.

By 1733 about 125 Newcomen engines had been installed by Newcomen and others in most of the important mining districts of Britain and on the Continent of Europe: draining coal mines in the Black Country, Warwickshire and near Newcastle upon Tyne; at tin and copper mines in Cornwall; and in lead mines in Flintshire and Derbyshire, amongst other places.

There are examples of Newcomen engines in the Science Museum (London) and the Ford Museum, Dearborn amongst other places. In 1964 the Newcomen Society of London arranged for a Newcomen engine at Hawkesbury Junction, Warwickshire to be transferred to Dartmouth, where it can be seen working using a hydraulic arrangement instead of the steam boiler. According to Dr. Cyril Boucher of the Newcomen Society, this Memorial Engine dates from about 1725, with new valve gear and other parts added later. Perhaps the last Newcomen-style engine to be used commercially – and the last still remaining on its original site – is at the Elsecar Heritage Centre, near Barnsley in South Yorkshire. The only Newcomen engines that can be shown working are believed to be the Newcomen Memorial Engine at Dartmouth and the replica engine at the Black Country Museum in Dudley, West Midlands. There is currently a major project in progress to conserve the Elsecar Newcomen, its house and mineshaft, and to drive it using hydraulics. The project is due to be completed by Summer 2014. ...more

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	Energy: A Human History by Richard Rhodes, Jacques Roy (Narrator), Elizabeth I (Contributor) 3.75 avg rating — 1,883 ratings — published 2018 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Thomas Newcomen’s Followers (1)

Thomas Newcomen

Combine EditionsThomas Newcomen’s books

Combine Editions
Thomas Newcomen’s books