The invention of steam engines was a turning point in the history of mankind. Somewhere at the turn of the XVII-XVIII centuries began the replacement of inefficient manual labor, water wheels and windmills with completely new and unique mechanisms - steam engines. It was thanks to them that the technical and industrial revolutions became possible, and the whole progress of mankind.
But who invented the steam engine? To whom does humanity owe this? And when was that? We will try to find answers to all these questions.
Even before our era
The history of the steam engine begins in the first centuries BC. Heron of Alexandria described a mechanism that only began to work when steam was acting on it. The device was a ball on which nozzles were mounted. Steam came out of the nozzles tangentially, causing the engine to rotate. This was the first device that worked for a couple.
The creator of the steam engine (or rather, the turbine) is Tagi al-Dinome (Arab philosopher, engineer and astronomer). His invention became widely known in Egypt in the 16th century. The mechanism was arranged as follows: steam flows were sent directly to the mechanism with blades, and when the smoke fell, the blades rotated. Something similar in 1629 was proposed by the Italian engineer Giovanni Branca. The main disadvantage of all these inventions was the too high steam consumption, which in turn required huge energy expenditures and was not advisable. The development was suspended, since the then scientific and technical knowledge of mankind was not enough. In addition, the need for such inventions was completely absent.
Development
Until the 17th century, the creation of a steam engine was impossible. But as soon as the bar of the level of human development took off, the first copies and inventions appeared immediately. Although no one took them seriously at that time. So, for example, in 1663, an English scientist published in the press a draft of his invention, which he installed in Raglan Castle. His device served to raise water to the walls of the towers. However, like everything new and unknown, this project was accepted with doubt, and there were no sponsors for its further development.
The history of the steam engine begins with the invention of the steam-atmospheric engine. In 1681, a French scientist
Denis Papin invented a device that pumped water from mines. At first, gunpowder was used as a driving force, and then it was replaced with water vapor. So there was a steam-atmospheric machine. A huge contribution to its improvement was made by scientists from England Thomas Newcomen and Thomas Severen. Invaluable help was also provided by the Russian self-taught inventor Ivan Polzunov.
Papen's failed attempt
The steam-atmospheric machine, which at that time was far from perfect, attracted special attention in the shipbuilding field. D. Papen spent his last savings on the purchase of a small vessel, on which he was engaged in the installation of a steam-atmospheric water-lifting machine of his own production. The mechanism of action was that, falling from a height, the water began to rotate the wheels.
The inventor conducted his tests in 1707 on the Fulda River. A lot of people gathered to see a miracle: a ship moving along a river without sails and oars. However, a catastrophe occurred during the tests: the engine exploded and several people died. The authorities got angry at the unsuccessful inventor and forbade him from any work and projects. The ship was confiscated and destroyed, and a few years later Papen himself died.
Error
The steamer Papen had the following working principle. At the bottom of the cylinder it was necessary to fill a small amount of water. Under the cylinder itself was a roasting pan, which served to heat the liquid. When the water began to boil, the steam formed, expanding, raised the piston. Air was pushed out of the space above the piston through a specially equipped valve. After the water began to boil and began to steam, it was necessary to remove the fryer, close the valve to remove air, and cool the cylinder walls with cool water. Thanks to such actions, the vapor in the cylinder condenses, a vacuum forms under the piston, and due to atmospheric pressure the piston returns to its original place. During his movement down, useful work was done. However, the efficiency of the Papen steam engine was negative. The steamer engine was extremely uneconomical. And most importantly, it was too complicated and inconvenient to operate. Therefore, Papen’s invention did not have a future from the very beginning.
Followers
However, the story of creating a steam engine did not end there. The next, much more successful than Papen, was the English scientist Thomas Newcomen. He studied the work of his predecessors for a long time, focusing on weaknesses. And taking the best of their works, he created his own apparatus in 1712. The new steam engine (photo presented) was designed as follows: a cylinder was used in an upright position, as well as a piston. This Newcomer took from the work of Papen. However, steam was already formed in another boiler. Around the piston solid leather was fixed, which significantly increased the tightness inside the steam cylinder. This machine was also steam-atmospheric (water rose from the mine using atmospheric pressure). The main disadvantages of the invention were its bulkiness and inefficiency: the machine "ate" a huge amount of coal. However, it brought much more benefit than the invention of Papen. Therefore, it has been used for almost fifty years in dungeons and mines. It was used for pumping groundwater, as well as for drying ships. Thomas Newcomen tried to transform his car so that it was possible to use it for traffic. However, all his attempts were unsuccessful.
The next scientist to declare himself was D. Hull from England. In 1736, he introduced the world to his invention: a steam-atmospheric machine, which had impeller wheels as a mover. Its development was more successful than that of Papen. Several such ships were immediately released. They were mainly used to tow barges, ships and other vessels. However, the reliability of the steam-atmospheric machine was not credible, and the ships were equipped with sails as the main mover.
And although Hull was more fortunate than Papen, his inventions gradually lost their relevance, and they were abandoned. Still, steam-atmospheric machines of that time had many specific disadvantages.
The history of the steam engine in Russia
The next breakthrough occurred in the Russian Empire. In 1766, the first steam engine was created at a metallurgical plant in Barnaul, which supplied air to smelting furnaces using special blower bellows. Its creator was Ivan Ivanovich Polzunov, who was even given an officer rank for services to his homeland. The inventor presented to his superiors the blueprints and plans of a “fire engine” capable of driving blower bellows.
However, fate played a trick on Polzunov: seven years after his project was accepted and the car assembled, he became ill and died of consumption - just a week before the tests of his engine began. However, his instructions were enough to start the engine.
So, on August 7, 1766, Polzunov’s steam engine was launched and put under load. However, already in November of that year, it broke. The reason was too thin walls of the boiler, not intended for the load. Moreover, the inventor in his instructions wrote that this boiler can only be used during testing. The manufacture of a new boiler would easily pay off, because the efficiency of the Polzunov steam engine was positive. Over 1023 hours of work, it was smelted with more than 14 pounds of silver!
But despite this, no one began to repair the mechanism. Polzunov's steam engine was gathering dust for more than 15 years in a warehouse, while the world of industry did not stand still and developed. And then it was completely disassembled for parts. Apparently, at that moment Russia had not yet grown to steam engines.
Time requirements
Meanwhile, life did not stand still. And mankind has constantly thought about creating a mechanism that allows us not to depend on the capricious nature, but to control fate ourselves. Everyone wanted to abandon the sail as quickly as possible. Therefore, the question of creating a steam mechanism was constantly hanging in the air. In 1753, a competition was held in Paris among masters, scientists and inventors. The Academy of Sciences has announced an award to someone who can create a mechanism that can replace wind power. But despite the fact that such minds as L. Euler, D. Bernoulli, Canton de Lacroix and others participated in the competition, no one made a sensible proposal.
Years passed. And the industrial revolution covered more and more countries. Superiority and leadership among other powers were invariably given to England. By the end of the eighteenth century, it was Great Britain that became the creator of large-scale industry, thanks to which it won the title of a world monopolist in this industry. The question of a mechanical engine became more and more urgent every day. And such an engine was created.
The first steam engine in the world
1784 was a turning point for England and for the whole world in the industrial revolution. And the person responsible for this was the English mechanic James Watt. The steam engine he created was the loudest discovery of the century.
James Watt for several years studied the drawings, structure and principles of operation of steam-atmospheric machines. And on the basis of all this, he concluded that for the efficiency of the engine it is necessary to equalize the temperature of the water in the cylinder and the steam that enters the mechanism. The main disadvantage of steam-atmospheric machines was the constant need for cooling the cylinder with water. It was expendable and uncomfortable.
The new steam engine was designed differently. So, the cylinder was in a special shirt made of steam. Thus, Watt achieved his constant heated state. The inventor created a special vessel immersed in cold water (condenser). A cylinder joined it with a pipe. When the steam was worked out in the cylinder, it got into the condenser through the pipe and there it turned back into water. Working on improving his machine, Watt created a vacuum in the condenser. Thus, all of the steam entering the cylinder condenses in it. Thanks to this innovation, the process of expansion of the steam increased very much, which in turn made it possible to extract much more energy from the same amount of steam. It was the crown of success.
The creator of the steam engine also changed the principle of air supply. Now the steam first fell under the piston, thereby raising it, and then collected above the piston, lowering it. Thus, both piston strokes in the mechanism became working, which previously was not even possible. And the coal consumption per horsepower was four times less than, respectively, in steam-atmospheric machines, which James Watt sought. The steam engine very quickly conquered the UK first, and then the whole world.
Charlotte Dundas
After the whole world was struck by the invention of James Watt, widespread use of steam engines began. So, in 1802, the first steam ship appeared in England - the Charlotte Dundas boat. Its creator is William Symington. The boat was used as towing barges along the canal. The role of the mover on the ship was played by a paddle wheel mounted at the stern. The boat was successfully tested the first time: it towed two huge barges for 18 miles in six hours. At the same time, a headwind prevented him greatly. But he did it.
Nevertheless, he was joked because they were afraid that due to the strong waves that were created under the paddle wheel, the banks of the canal would be washed away. By the way, the Charlotte trial was attended by a man whom the whole world today considers the creator of the first ship.
The first ship in the world
English shipbuilder Robert Fulton from his youth dreamed of a ship with a steam engine. And so his dream became possible. After all, the invention of steam engines was a new impetus in shipbuilding. Together with the American envoy R. Livingston, who took upon himself the material side of the issue, Fulton took up the project of a ship with a steam engine. It was a complex invention based on the idea of a rowing mover. On the sides of the ship stretched in a row of plates imitating many oars. In this case, the tiles kept interfering with each other and broke. Today we can easily say that the same effect could be achieved with only three or four tiles. But from the standpoint of science and technology of that time, it was unrealistic to see. Therefore, shipbuilders had a lot more difficult.
In 1803, Fulton's invention was presented to the whole world. The ship walked slowly and smoothly along the Seine, striking the minds and imagination of many scientists and figures in Paris. However, the government of Napoleon rejected the project, and the annoyed shipbuilders were forced to seek happiness in America.
And in August 1807, the world's first steamboat called “Clermont”, in which the most powerful steam engine was involved (photo presented), went along the Hudson Bay. Many then simply did not believe in success.
Clermont set off on its first flight without cargo and without passengers. No one wanted to travel aboard a fire-breathing vessel. But already on the way back, the first passenger appeared - a local farmer who paid six dollars for a ticket. He became the first passenger in the history of shipping. Fulton was so moved that he gave the daredevil free lifetime travel on all his inventions.