Timeline of steam power
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Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:More citations needed Steam power developed slowly over a period of several hundred years, progressing through expensive and fairly limited devices in the early 17th century, to useful pumps for mining in 1700, and then to Watt's improved steam engine designs in the late 18th century. It is these later designs, introduced just when the need for practical power was growing due to the Industrial Revolution, that truly made steam power commonplace.
Development phases
Early examples
- Circa 30-20 BC – Vitruvius provides the earliest known description of an aeolipile in his work de Architectura, noting hollow bronze vessels that, when water within boils, emit a “violent wind”.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 1st century AD – Hero of Alexandria describes an aeolipile, as an example of the power of heated air or water. The device consists of a rotating ball spun by steam jets; it produced little power but is nevertheless the first known device moved by steam pressure. He also describes a way of transferring water from one vessel to another using pressure. The methods involved filling a bucket, the weight of which worked tackle to open temple doors, which were then closed again by a deadweight once the water in the bucket had been drawn out by a vacuum caused by cooling of the initial vessel.
- Template:Timeline-event He claims it was built by Pope Sylvester II.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Late 15th century AD: Leonardo Da Vinci described the Architonnerre, a steam-powered cannon.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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Development of a practical steam engine
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The Newcomen Engine: Steam power in practice
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Watt's engine
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Improving power
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- Template:Timeline-event<ref name="Thomson 2009">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Template:Timeline-event<ref>Young, Robert: "Timothy Hackworth and the Locomotive"; the Book guild Ltd, Lewes, UK (2000) (reprint of 1923 ed.)</ref>
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- Template:Timeline-event<ref name="Thomson 2009"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
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- Template:Timeline-event<ref name="Hunter 1985">Template:Cite book</ref>
- Template:Timeline-event<ref name="Thomson 2009"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Earlier versions of the steam engine indicator were in use by 1851, though relatively unknown.<ref name = "Hunter 1991">Template:Cite book</ref>
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- Template:Timeline-event<ref>"World's First Steam Driven Airplane" Popular Science, July 1933, detailed article with drawings</ref><ref>Template:Cite video</ref>
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- Steam turbines are made to 1,500 MW (2,000,000 hp) to generate electricity.<ref>Copied from Wikipedia Steam turbine. See that article for references. Retrieved Aug 24, 2021</ref>
See also
- Steam engine
- Steam power during the Industrial Revolution
- Maritime timeline
- Timeline of heat engine technology
Notes
External links
- The Growth of the Steam Engine
- Alternative timeline: If electric generators & motors had preceded steam