Introduction
Steam power and more specifically, the steam engine was the single most important factor that contributed most towards the changes of the Industrial Revolution. Steam power harnessed through steamboats, steam railways and steam furnaces have proved to be a cost-effective and efficient means of power. The steam railway engine changed the world by facilitating cheap and easy transportation of people and goods.
How life was before Steam Engine
Before the advent of the steam engine, roads of rails called Wagonways were being used in Germany as early as 1550. These roads were made up of wooden rails over which horse-drawn wagons or cars moved with greater ease than over rough roads. In 1776, wooden rails were replaced by iron rails and the carts had iron wheels. Wagonways evolved into Tramways and became popular throughout Europe.
Steam Engines
What is a steam engine?
A steam engine is a machine that runs on steam power. It was during the Industrial Revolution that steam power replaced water power and muscle power as the primary source of power in use in industry. It was first used to pump water from mines. Steam power was not only used in engines but also in furnaces and other factory appliances that were difficult to implement prior to the invention of steam power.
Components of a steam engine
The components of a steam engine include a boiler where steam is prepared, a combustion unit (a controlled environment such as with a piston in a cylinder or a nozzle in a turbine), a steam jacket, and a separate steam condenser chamber. Thus, steam engines can be considered as a fast-acting hydraulic cylinders with an automatic valve.
How a steam engine works
The piston of the Newcomen-type engine was activated by introducing steam under it, condensing the steam with cold water, and then allowing the weight of the atmosphere to push the piston down. This was the basic principle of work behind the steam engine.
Improvements to the steam engines
Watt’s key improvement was to provide a separate condenser, which would conserve heat and make the piston “double-acting” by introducing steam alternately on both sides of the piston. Evans’s further improvement consisted of using the force of the steam itself (at 100–200 pounds per square inch) to drive the piston directly, allowing it to escape into the atmosphere uncondensed. The power of the Watt engine could usually be increased only by enlarging the cylinder. With Evans’s Columbian engine, only the steam pressure need be increased. Subsequent efforts at improvement went in two directions: toward further refinements of the reciprocating engine, especially by improved valve actions, and second, toward a rotary engine.
Types of Steam Engines
Thomas Newcomen Engine
The first safe and successful steam engine was introduced by Thomas Newcomen in1712. Newcomen’s engine was based on Papin’s experiments carried out 30 years earlier and employed a piston and cylinder, one end of which was open to the atmosphere above the piston. Steam just above atmospheric pressure was introduced into the lower half of the cylinder beneath the piston during the gravity-induced upstroke; the steam was then condensed by a jet of cold water injected into the steam space to produce a partial vacuum; the pressure differential between the atmosphere and the vacuum on either side of the piston displaced it downwards into the cylinder, raising the opposite end of a rocking beam to which was attached a gang of gravity-actuated reciprocating force pumps housed in the mineshaft.
The engine’s downward power stroke raised the pump, priming it and preparing the pumping stroke. At first, the phases were controlled by hand, but within ten years an escapement mechanism had been devised worked by of a vertical plug tree suspended from the rocking beam which rendered the engine self-acting. A number of Newcomen engines were successfully put to use in Britain for draining hitherto unworkable deep mines.
James Watt’s engine
James Watt in close collaboration with Matthew Boulton, in1778 in perfected his steam engine, which incorporated a series of radical improvements, notably the closing off of the upper part of the cylinder thereby making the low-pressure steam drive the top of the piston instead of the atmosphere, use of a steam jacket and the celebrated separate steam condenser chamber. All this meant that a more constant temperature could be maintained in the cylinder and that engine efficiency no longer varied according to atmospheric conditions.
These improvements increased engine efficiency by a factor of about five, saving 75% on coal costs. By 1783 the more economical Watt steam engine had been fully developed into a double-acting rotative type, which meant that it could be used to directly drive the rotary machinery of a factory or mill.
The Uses of steam power in transportation
Steam Boats
Development of steamboats
John Fitch (1743-1798) made the first steamboat on August 22, 1787. He later built a larger vessel that carried passengers and freight between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey. John Fitch was granted his first United States patent for a steamboat on August 26, 1791. John Fitch constructed four different steamboats between 1785 and 1796 that successfully plied rivers and lakes using steam for water locomotion.
His models utilized various combinations of propulsive force, including ranked paddles, paddle wheels, and screw propellers. Robert Fulton was accredited with turning the steamboat into a commercial success. Along with Robert Livingston, Fulton in 1811 introduced the “New Orleans” with passenger and freight route on the lower Mississippi River, and by 1814 they were offering regular steamboat and freight service between New Orleans, Louisiana, and Natchez, Mississippi. In 1816, Henry Miller Shreve launched his steamboat Washington which was faster than earlier steamboats. By1853, the trip to Louisville took only four and one-half days.
Difficulties faced by inventors in developing steamboats
While his boats were mechanically successful, Fitch failed to pay sufficient attention to construction and operating costs and was unable to justify the economic benefits of steam navigation. Another difficulty faced by early inventors was in the realm of speed. Steamboats were very slow and only later on when vessel design improved, there could be increased speed.
First commercial steamboat
In 1802, Robert Fulton contracted with Robert Livingston to construct a steamboat for use on the Hudson River; Over the next four years, several prototypes were built in Europe. He returned to New York in 1806. On August 17, 1807, the Clermont, Robert Fulton’s first American steamboat, left New York for Albany, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
Railways
Development of Steam railway
Railroads began to flourish only after they adopted steam technology. Initially, roads of rails called Wagonways were being used in Germany as early as 1550. These primitive railed roads consisted of wooden rails over which horse-drawn wagons or carts moved with great ease. By 1776, iron had replaced the wood in the rails and wheels on the carts. Wagonways evolved into Tramways and spread though out Europe. In 1789, Englishman, William Jessup designed the first wagons with flanged wheels which allowed the wheels to grip the rail better. This design was later carried over to locomotives.
The invention of the steam engine was critical to the invention of the modern railroad and trains. Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) built the first steam engine tramway locomotive in 1801. In 1821, Englishman, Julius Griffiths was the first person to patent a passenger road locomotive. In September 1825, the Stockton & Darlington Railroad Company began as the first railroad to carry both goods and passengers on regular schedules using locomotives designed by English inventor, George Stephenson. George Stephenson is considered to be the inventor of the first steam locomotive engine for railways.
Uses of the railway in that time
The first steam engine tramway locomotive in 1804 was used to haul a load of 10 tons of iron, 70 men, and five extra wagons for a distance of 9 miles between the ironworks at Pen-y-Darron in the town of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales to the bottom of the valley called Abercynnon. It took about two hours. Usually, railways were used for the transport of both goods and passengers on regular schedules.
Other uses of steam engines
Steam Engines in Mines
Steam engines have been used in mines to pump out water. Many mines at that time had been dug so deep that they were constantly flooded, and to continue them in operation the operators had to find a better means to pump out the water. Newcomen devised the steam-driven machine which could drive a water pump. Newcomen’s steam engine spread throughout the mining area of England and rescued many mines from bankruptcy. In 1755 the first steam engine began operation in the American colonies, at a copper mine in Belleville, New Jersey. This engine, built by the British firm of Joseph Hornblower, was followed by another in Philadelphia, built-in 1773 by Christopher Colles. Three years later a third engine was at work, raising water for New York City waterworks.
How Steam Engines in Mines Worked
The basic principle of Newcomen’s engine was simple. Steam was injected into a cylinder, forcing a piston to move out. Coldwater was then sprayed into the piston, the steam condensed, and a partial vacuum was formed. Atmospheric pressure then returned the piston to its original position, so that the process could be repeated. The piston’s reciprocating motion was finally transferred to a water pump by a beam that rocked about its center. The to-and-fro motion was somehow transformed into the more useful rotary motion.
The effect of the steam engine
Impact of using steam engine
Impact on Society
Steam power propelled first Britain and then the world into the industrial revolution and from then, there was increasing mechanization of all aspects of human endeavor, and this included warfare. Steam affected warfare in three respects: it provided motive power on land through the steam railways; it provided motive power over the sea through steamboats and finally, it revolutionized the industry and made possible the growth in arms manufacture necessary for the equipping of modern mass armies. Railways could now be used to transport the armed forces strategically. On the sea, the introduction of steam empowered the navy as they were no longer dependent on weather and wind conditions.
Impact on Economy
As far as the economy was concerned, steam power changed the economy of the world. Between 1814 and 1834, New Orleans steamboat arrivals increased from 20 to 1200 a year. The boats transported cargoes of cotton, sugar, and passengers. Throughout the east, steamboats contributed greatly to the economy by transporting agricultural and industrial supplies. By the 1870s, railroads had begun to supplant steamboats as the major transporter of both goods and passengers. Newcomen’s steam engine spread throughout the mining area of England and rescued many mines from bankruptcy.
The steam engine could be used in many industrial settings, not just in mining. Early mills had run successfully with water power, but the advancement of using the steam engine meant that a factory could be located anywhere, not just close to water.
As a result of his steam engine, in 1775 Watt formed an engine-building and engineering partnership with manufacturer Matthew Boulton. This partnership became one of the most important businesses of the Industrial Revolution. Boulton & Watt served as a kind of creative technical center for much of the British economy. They solved technical problems and spread the solutions to other companies. Thus, the technological advances of the Industrial Revolution happened more quickly because firms often shared information, which they then could use to create new techniques or products, thereby affecting the economy in a hugely positive manner.
Conclusion
Summary
Before the advent of the steam engine, there were railroads made of wood on which were drawn carts with wheels. In time, iron replaced wood and steam replaced horsepower. Many people worked towards discovering the perfect steam engine, chief among them being Thomas Newcomen and it was only James Watt who succeeded in inventing the modern steam engine with its separate condenser. The invention of the steam engine lead to the creation of the steamboat and later to the creation of the steam railway engine. Steam engines were also used to pump water out from the mines during those early days.
The steam railway engine impacted life in a huge way by making transportation of people and goods very cheap and easy. People could now travel faster, share goods easily and also have greater military power. The economy was impacted in a positive way due to the easily available means of transport of goods.
Opinion
It is true and no exaggeration to say that steam power was the single most important factor that changed the way people traveled, explored, and did business in the world.