116-536: The London Steam Carriage was an early steam-powered road vehicle constructed by Richard Trevithick in 1803 and the world's first self-propelled passenger-carrying vehicle. Cugnot had built a steam vehicle 30 years previously, but that had been a slow-moving artillery tractor, not built to carry passengers. In 1801, after James Watt 's earlier patent on "a carriage propelled by a steam engine" had expired, Richard Trevithick constructed an experimental steam-driven vehicle ( Puffing Devil ) at Camborne , Cornwall . It
232-600: A barge powered by paddle wheels and several dredgers . Trevithick saw opportunities in London and persuaded his wife and four children reluctantly to join him in 1808 for two and a half years lodging first in Rotherhithe and then in Limehouse . In 1808 Trevithick entered a partnership with Robert Dickinson (businessman) , a West India merchant. Dickinson supported several of Trevithick's patents. The first of these
348-416: A connecting rod and crank into rotational force for work. The term "steam engine" is most commonly applied to reciprocating engines as just described, although some authorities have also referred to the steam turbine and devices such as Hero's aeolipile as "steam engines". The essential feature of steam engines is that they are external combustion engines , where the working fluid is separated from
464-502: A reaction turbine . In 1811 draining water from the rich silver mines of Cerro de Pasco in Peru at an altitude of 4,330 metres (14,210 ft) posed serious problems for the man in charge, Francisco Uville . The low-pressure condensing engines by Boulton and Watt developed so little power as to be useless at this altitude, and they could not be dismantled into sufficiently small pieces to be transported there along mule tracks. Uville
580-446: A boiler feeding a hollow axle to route the steam to a catherine wheel with two fine- bore steam jets on its circumference. The first wheel was 15 feet (4.6 m) in diameter and a later attempt was 24 feet (7.3 m) in diameter. To get any usable torque , steam had to issue from the nozzles at a very high velocity and in such large volume that it proved not to operate with adequate efficiency. Today this would be recognised as
696-403: A carriage attached. (Note this did not use the expansion of the steam, so-called "expansive working" came later) Trevithick began building his first models of high-pressure (meaning a few atmospheres ) steam engines – first a stationary one and subsequently one attached to a road carriage. A double-acting cylinder was used, with steam distribution by means of a four-way valve . Exhaust steam
812-497: A closed space (e.g., combustion chamber , firebox , furnace). In the case of model or toy steam engines and a few full scale cases, the heat source can be an electric heating element . Boilers are pressure vessels that contain water to be boiled, and features that transfer the heat to the water as effectively as possible. The two most common types are: Fire-tube boilers were the main type used for early high-pressure steam (typical steam locomotive practice), but they were to
928-423: A common four-way rotary valve connected directly to a steam boiler. The next major step occurred when James Watt developed (1763–1775) an improved version of Newcomen's engine, with a separate condenser . Boulton and Watt 's early engines used half as much coal as John Smeaton 's improved version of Newcomen's. Newcomen's and Watt's early engines were "atmospheric". They were powered by air pressure pushing
1044-471: A condensing engine. He was not the first to think of so-called "strong steam" or steam of about 30 psi (210 kPa). William Murdoch had developed and demonstrated a model steam carriage, initially in 1784, and demonstrated it to Trevithick at his request in 1794. In fact, Trevithick lived next door to Murdoch in Redruth in 1797 and 1798. Oliver Evans in the U.S. had also concerned himself with
1160-598: A consultant on mining methods. The government granted him certain mining rights and he found mining areas, but did not have the funds to develop them, with the exception of a copper and silver mine at Caxatambo . After a time serving in the army of Simon Bolivar he returned to Caxatambo but due to the unsettled state of the country and presence of the Spanish army he was forced to leave the area and abandon £5,000 worth of ore ready to ship. Uville died in 1818 and Trevithick soon returned to Cerro de Pasco to continue mining. However,
1276-418: A distance of 9.75 miles (15.69 km). On 21 February 1804, amid great interest from the public, it successfully carried 10 tons of iron, five wagons and 70 men the full distance in 4 hours and 5 minutes, at an average speed of approximately 2.4 mph (3.9 km/h). As well as Homfray, Crawshay and the passengers, other witnesses included Mr. Giddy , a respected patron of Trevithick, and an "engineer from
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#17327762918951392-438: A flywheel and crankshaft to provide rotative motion from an improved Newcomen engine. In 1720, Jacob Leupold described a two-cylinder high-pressure steam engine. The invention was published in his major work "Theatri Machinarum Hydraulicarum". The engine used two heavy pistons to provide motion to a water pump. Each piston was raised by the steam pressure and returned to its original position by gravity. The two pistons shared
1508-423: A given cylinder size than previous engines and could be made small enough for transport applications. Thereafter, technological developments and improvements in manufacturing techniques (partly brought about by the adoption of the steam engine as a power source) resulted in the design of more efficient engines that could be smaller, faster, or more powerful, depending on the intended application. The Cornish engine
1624-416: A large extent displaced by more economical water tube boilers in the late 19th century for marine propulsion and large stationary applications. Many boilers raise the temperature of the steam after it has left that part of the boiler where it is in contact with the water. Known as superheating it turns ' wet steam ' into ' superheated steam '. It avoids the steam condensing in the engine cylinders, and gives
1740-420: A length of 1,220 feet (370 m). In August 1807, he began driving a small pilot tunnel or driftway 5 feet (1.5 m) high tapering from 2 feet 6 inches (0.76 m) at the top to 3 feet (0.91 m) at the bottom. By 23 December, after it had progressed 950 feet (290 m), progress was delayed after a sudden inrush of water; and only one month later on 26 January 1808, at 1,040 feet (320 m),
1856-508: A machine was developed in 1712 by Thomas Newcomen . James Watt made a critical improvement in 1764, by removing spent steam to a separate vessel for condensation, greatly improving the amount of work obtained per unit of fuel consumed. By the 19th century, stationary steam engines powered the factories of the Industrial Revolution . Steam engines replaced sails for ships on paddle steamers , and steam locomotives operated on
1972-545: A meal of roast goose and drinks. Meanwhile, the water boiled off, the engine overheated and the machine burned, destroying it. Trevithick did not consider this a serious setback, but rather operator error. In 1802 Trevithick took out a patent for his high-pressure steam engine. To prove his ideas, he built a stationary engine at the Coalbrookdale Company's works in Shropshire in 1802, forcing water to
2088-488: A measured height to measure the work done . The engine ran at forty piston strokes a minute, with an unprecedented boiler pressure of 145 psi (1,000 kPa). In 1802 the Coalbrookdale Company in Shropshire built a rail locomotive for him, but little is known about it, including whether or not it actually ran. The death of a company workman in an accident involving the engine is said to have caused
2204-522: A more serious inrush occurred. The tunnel was flooded; Trevithick, being the last to leave, was nearly drowned. Clay was dumped on the river bed to seal the hole, and the tunnel was drained, but mining was now more difficult. Progress stalled, and a few of the directors attempted to discredit Trevithick, but the quality of his work was eventually upheld by two colliery engineers from the North of England. Despite suggesting various building techniques to complete
2320-461: A new locomotive called Catch Me Who Can , built for him by John Hazledine and John Urpeth Rastrick at Bridgnorth in Shropshire , and named by Davies Giddy 's daughter. The configuration differed from the previous locomotives in that the cylinder was mounted vertically and drove a pair of wheels directly without a flywheel or gearing. This was probably Trevithick's fourth locomotive, after those used at Coalbrookdale, Pen-y-darren ironworks, and
2436-409: A partial vacuum by condensing steam under a piston within a cylinder. It was employed for draining mine workings at depths originally impractical using traditional means, and for providing reusable water for driving waterwheels at factories sited away from a suitable "head". Water that passed over the wheel was pumped up into a storage reservoir above the wheel. In 1780 James Pickard patented the use of
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#17327762918952552-405: A piston into the partial vacuum generated by condensing steam, instead of the pressure of expanding steam. The engine cylinders had to be large because the only usable force acting on them was atmospheric pressure . Watt developed his engine further, modifying it to provide a rotary motion suitable for driving machinery. This enabled factories to be sited away from rivers, and accelerated
2668-433: A set speed, because it would assume a new constant speed in response to load changes. The governor was able to handle smaller variations such as those caused by fluctuating heat load to the boiler. Also, there was a tendency for oscillation whenever there was a speed change. As a consequence, engines equipped only with this governor were not suitable for operations requiring constant speed, such as cotton spinning. The governor
2784-522: A significantly higher efficiency . In a steam engine, a piston or steam turbine or any other similar device for doing mechanical work takes a supply of steam at high pressure and temperature and gives out a supply of steam at lower pressure and temperature, using as much of the difference in steam energy as possible to do mechanical work. These "motor units" are often called 'steam engines' in their own right. Engines using compressed air or other gases differ from steam engines only in details that depend on
2900-513: A single internal fire tube or flue passing horizontally through the middle. Hot exhaust gases from the fire passed through the flue thus increasing the surface area heating the water and improving efficiency. These types were installed in the Boulton and Watt pumping engines at Dolcoath and more than doubled their efficiency. Again in 1812, he installed a new 'high-pressure' experimental condensing steam engine at Wheal Prosper. This became known as
3016-414: A steam jet usually supplied from the boiler. Injectors became popular in the 1850s but are no longer widely used, except in applications such as steam locomotives. It is the pressurization of the water that circulates through the steam boiler that allows the water to be raised to temperatures well above 100 °C (212 °F) boiling point of water at one atmospheric pressure, and by that means to increase
3132-628: A steam rail locomotive was designed and constructed by steamboat pioneer John Fitch in the United States probably during the 1780s or 1790s. His steam locomotive used interior bladed wheels guided by rails or tracks. The first full-scale working railway steam locomotive was built by Richard Trevithick in the United Kingdom and, on 21 February 1804, the world's first railway journey took place as Trevithick's steam locomotive hauled 10 tones of iron, 70 passengers and five wagons along
3248-537: A train along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks , in Merthyr Tydfil , Wales. Turning his interests abroad Trevithick also worked as a mining consultant in Peru and later explored parts of Costa Rica . Throughout his professional career he went through many ups and downs and at one point faced financial ruin, also suffering from the strong rivalry of many mining and steam engineers of
3364-612: A trio of locomotives, concluding with the Catch Me Who Can in 1808. Only four years later, the successful twin-cylinder locomotive Salamanca by Matthew Murray was used by the edge railed rack and pinion Middleton Railway . In 1825 George Stephenson built the Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway . This was the first public steam railway in the world and then in 1829, he built The Rocket which
3480-561: A very limited lift height and were prone to boiler explosions . Savery's engine was used in mines, pumping stations and supplying water to water wheels powering textile machinery. One advantage of Savery's engine was its low cost. Bento de Moura Portugal introduced an improvement of Savery's construction "to render it capable of working itself", as described by John Smeaton in the Philosophical Transactions published in 1751. It continued to be manufactured until
3596-473: A water pump for draining inundated mines. Frenchman Denis Papin did some useful work on the steam digester in 1679, and first used a piston to raise weights in 1690. The first commercial steam-powered device was a water pump, developed in 1698 by Thomas Savery . It used condensing steam to create a vacuum which raised water from below and then used steam pressure to raise it higher. Small engines were effective though larger models were problematic. They had
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3712-431: Is cylinder condensation and re-evaporation. The steam cylinder and adjacent metal parts/ports operate at a temperature about halfway between the steam admission saturation temperature and the saturation temperature corresponding to the exhaust pressure. As high-pressure steam is admitted into the working cylinder, much of the high-temperature steam is condensed as water droplets onto the metal surfaces, significantly reducing
3828-399: Is then pumped back up to pressure and sent back to the boiler. A dry-type cooling tower is similar to an automobile radiator and is used in locations where water is costly. Waste heat can also be ejected by evaporative (wet) cooling towers, which use a secondary external water circuit that evaporates some of flow to the air. River boats initially used a jet condenser in which cold water from
3944-542: Is vented up the chimney so as to increase the draw on the fire, which greatly increases engine power, but reduces efficiency. Sometimes the waste heat from the engine is useful itself, and in those cases, very high overall efficiency can be obtained. Steam engines in stationary power plants use surface condensers as a cold sink. The condensers are cooled by water flow from oceans, rivers, lakes, and often by cooling towers which evaporate water to provide cooling energy removal. The resulting condensed hot water ( condensate ),
4060-613: The Cornish engine , and was the most efficient in the world at that time. Other Cornish engineers contributed to its development but Trevithick's work was predominant. In the same year he installed another high-pressure engine, though non-condensing, in a threshing machine at the Trewithen Estate, a farm in Probus, Cornwall . It was very successful and proved to be cheaper to run than the horses it replaced. In use for 70 years, it
4176-468: The Rumford Medal , the committee said that "no one invention since Watt's time has so enhanced the efficiency of the steam engine". In addition to using 30% less steam, it provided more uniform speed due to variable steam cut off, making it well suited to manufacturing, especially cotton spinning. The first experimental road-going steam-powered vehicles were built in the late 18th century, but it
4292-415: The axles were mounted directly on the boiler, with no frame. On the drawing, the piston-rod, guide-bars and cross-head are located directly above the firebox door, thus making the engine extremely dangerous to fire while moving. Furthermore, the first drawing by Daniel Shute indicates that the locomotive ran on a plateway with a track gauge of 3 ft ( 914 mm ). This is the drawing used as
4408-434: The gradient was sufficiently gentle, it was possible to successfully haul heavy carriages along a smooth iron road using the adhesive weight alone of a suitably heavy and powerful steam locomotive. Trevithick's was probably the first to do so; but some of the short cast iron plates of the tramroad broke under the locomotive, because they were intended only to support the lighter axle load of horse-drawn wagons. Consequently,
4524-626: The tramway from the Pen-y-darren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil to Abercynon in south Wales . The design incorporated a number of important innovations that included using high-pressure steam which reduced the weight of the engine and increased its efficiency. Trevithick visited the Newcastle area later in 1804 and the colliery railways in north-east England became the leading centre for experimentation and development of steam locomotives. Trevithick continued his own experiments using
4640-514: The 1860s to the 1920s. Steam road vehicles were used for many applications. In the 20th century, the rapid development of internal combustion engine technology led to the demise of the steam engine as a source of propulsion of vehicles on a commercial basis, with relatively few remaining in use beyond the Second World War . Many of these vehicles were acquired by enthusiasts for preservation, and numerous examples are still in existence. In
4756-562: The 1960s, the air pollution problems in California gave rise to a brief period of interest in developing and studying steam-powered vehicles as a possible means of reducing the pollution. Apart from interest by steam enthusiasts, the occasional replica vehicle, and experimental technology, no steam vehicles are in production at present. Near the end of the 19th century, compound engines came into widespread use. Compound engines exhausted steam into successively larger cylinders to accommodate
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4872-408: The 20th century, where their efficiency, higher speed appropriate to generator service, and smooth rotation were advantages. Today most electric power is provided by steam turbines. In the United States, 90% of the electric power is produced in this way using a variety of heat sources. Steam turbines were extensively applied for propulsion of large ships throughout most of the 20th century. Although
4988-609: The Government". The engineer from the government was probably a safety inspector, who would have been particularly interested in the boiler's ability to withstand high steam pressures. The configuration of the Pen-y-Darren engine differed from the Coalbrookdale engine. The cylinder was moved to the other end of the boiler so that the fire door was out of the way of the moving parts. That obviously also involved putting
5104-769: The Pen-y-darren locomotive was commissioned in 1981 and delivered to the Welsh Industrial and Maritime Museum in Cardiff. When that closed, the locomotive was moved to the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea. Several times a year, it is run on a 40 m (130 ft) length of railway outside the museum. Christopher Blackett , proprietor of the Wylam colliery near Newcastle, heard of
5220-657: The Wylam colliery. He ran it on a circular track just south of the present-day Euston Square tube station in London. The site in Bloomsbury has recently been identified archaeologically as that occupied by the Chadwick Building , part of University College London . Admission to the "steam circus" was one shilling including a ride and it was intended to show that rail travel was faster than by horse. This venture also suffered from weak tracks and public interest
5336-480: The aeolipile were known in the first century AD, and there were a few other uses recorded in the 16th century. In 1606 Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont patented his invention of the first steam-powered water pump for draining mines. Thomas Savery is considered the inventor of the first commercially used steam powered device, a steam pump that used steam pressure operating directly on the water. The first commercially successful engine that could transmit continuous power to
5452-663: The age of 19 at the East Stray Park Mine. He was enthusiastic and quickly gained the status of a consultant , unusual for such a young person. He was popular with the miners because of the respect they had for his father. In 1797 Trevithick married Jane Harvey of Hayle . They raised 6 children: Jane's father, John Harvey , formerly a blacksmith from Carnhell Green , formed the local foundry , Harveys of Hayle . His company became famous worldwide for building huge stationary "beam" engines for pumping water, usually from mines. Up to this time such steam engines were of
5568-475: The atmosphere or into a condenser. As steam expands in passing through a high-pressure engine, its temperature drops because no heat is being added to the system; this is known as adiabatic expansion and results in steam entering the cylinder at high temperature and leaving at lower temperature. This causes a cycle of heating and cooling of the cylinder with every stroke, which is a source of inefficiency. The dominant efficiency loss in reciprocating steam engines
5684-557: The basis of all images and replicas of the later "Pen-y-darren" locomotive, as no plans for that locomotive have survived. The Puffing Devil was unable to maintain sufficient steam pressure for long periods, and would have been of little practical use. He built another steam-powered road vehicle in 1803, called the London Steam Carriage , which attracted much attention from the public and press when he drove it that year in London from Holborn to Paddington and back. It
5800-404: The boiler and engine in separate buildings some distance apart. For portable or mobile use, such as steam locomotives , the two are mounted together. The widely used reciprocating engine typically consisted of a cast-iron cylinder, piston, connecting rod and beam or a crank and flywheel, and miscellaneous linkages. Steam was alternately supplied and exhausted by one or more valves. Speed control
5916-520: The boiler and firebox, was placed behind the rear axle. The motion of the piston was transmitted to a separate crankshaft via the forked piston rod. The crankshaft drove the axle of the driving wheel (which was fitted with a flywheel) via a spur gear . The steam cocks (used to blow out water condensate from the steam chest ), the force pump and the firebox bellows were also driven by the crankshaft. The patent shows two features which may have been incorporated by Trevithick to discourage unlicensed copies: if
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#17327762918956032-425: The boiler cool before damage could occur. He also introduced the hydraulic testing of boilers, and the use of a mercury manometer to indicate the pressure. In 1802 Trevithick built one of his high-pressure steam engines to drive a hammer at the Penydarren Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil , Mid Glamorgan . With the assistance of Rees Jones, an employee of the iron works, and under the supervision of Samuel Homfray,
6148-401: The carriage into some house railings and, as a result of this, plus lack of interest in the carriage by potential purchasers, and its demonstrations having exhausted the inventors' financial resources, it was eventually scrapped. Richard Trevithick Richard Trevithick (13 April 1771 – 22 April 1833) was a British inventor and mining engineer . The son of a mining captain, and born in
6264-495: The combustion products. The ideal thermodynamic cycle used to analyze this process is called the Rankine cycle . In general usage, the term steam engine can refer to either complete steam plants (including boilers etc.), such as railway steam locomotives and portable engines , or may refer to the piston or turbine machinery alone, as in the beam engine and stationary steam engine . As noted, steam-driven devices such as
6380-474: The company to not proceed to running it on their existing railway. To date, the only known information about it comes from a drawing preserved at the Science Museum, London , together with a letter written by Trevithick to his friend Davies Giddy . The design incorporated a single horizontal cylinder enclosed in a return-flue boiler . A flywheel drove the wheels on one side through spur gears , and
6496-646: The concept, but there is no indication that his ideas had ever come to Trevithick's attention. Independently of this, Arthur Woolf was experimenting with higher pressures whilst working as the Chief Engineer of the Griffin Brewery (proprietors Meux and Reid). This was an Engine designed by Hornblower and Maberly, and the proprietors were keen to have the best steam engine in London. Around 1796, Woolf believed he could save substantial amounts of coal consumption. According to his son Francis, Trevithick
6612-542: The condensing or atmospheric type, originally invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, which also became known as low-pressure engines. James Watt , on behalf of his partnership with Matthew Boulton , held a number of patents for improving the efficiency of Newcomen's engine—including the "separate condenser patent", which proved the most contentious. Trevithick became engineer at the Ding Dong Mine in 1797, and there (in conjunction with Edward Bull ) he pioneered
6728-444: The crankshaft at the chimney end. The locomotive comprised a boiler with a single return flue mounted on a four-wheel frame. At one end, a single cylinder , with very long stroke, was mounted partly in the boiler, and a piston rod crosshead ran out along a slidebar, an arrangement that looked like a giant trombone. There was only one cylinder, which was coupled to a large flywheel mounted on one side. The rotational inertia of
6844-434: The day. During the prime of his career he was a well-known and highly respected figure in mining and engineering, but near the end of his life he fell out of the public eye. Trevithick was extremely strong and was a champion Cornish wrestler . Richard Trevithick was born at Tregajorran (in the parish of Illogan ), between Camborne and Redruth , in the heart of one of the rich mineral -mining areas of Cornwall . He
6960-652: The delays being due to problems with funding. Trevithick's suggestion of a submerged tube approach was successfully implemented for the first time across the Detroit River between Michigan in the United States and Ontario in Canada with the construction of the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel , under the engineering supervision of The New York Central Railway's engineering vice president, William J Wilgus . Construction began in 1903 and
7076-465: The driver and passengers were in a pub celebrating the event, it set fire to a shed in which it had been left unattended, and was destroyed. The following year, Trevithick and his partner, his cousin Andrew Vivian , patented a steam coach, the patent also describing other uses for Trevithick's new high-pressure engines. The vehicle was assembled at Felton's carriage works at Leather Lane, London,
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#17327762918957192-401: The efficiency of the steam cycle. For safety reasons, nearly all steam engines are equipped with mechanisms to monitor the boiler, such as a pressure gauge and a sight glass to monitor the water level. Many engines, stationary and mobile, are also fitted with a governor to regulate the speed of the engine without the need for human interference. The most useful instrument for analyzing
7308-539: The engine components having been brought from Falmouth where they were made. In 1831, Trevithick gave evidence to a Parliamentary select committee on steam carriages. Not all the details of the carriage are known, but the drawings which accompanied the original patent have survived, as have contemporary drawings made by a naval engineer who was sent to examine it. Further information has also been obtained from eyewitness accounts. The carriage had 8-foot-diameter (2.4 m) driving wheels which were intended to smooth out
7424-415: The engine had been assembled as per the patent drawings it would have been able to run only backwards; and if the water pump had been arranged to be driven by the valve spring as shown, it would have run unevenly if at all. It is reported that the coach builder William Felton charged £207 for building the coach (not including the engine) and that the cost of transporting the engine from Falmouth to London
7540-418: The flywheel would even out the movement that was transmitted to a central cog-wheel that was, in turn connected to the driving wheels. It used a high-pressure cylinder without a condenser. The exhaust steam was sent up the chimney, which assisted the draught through the fire, increasing the efficiency of the engine even more. The bet was won. Despite many people's doubts, it had been shown that, provided that
7656-485: The gradual replacement of steam engines in commercial usage. Steam turbines replaced reciprocating engines in power generation, due to lower cost, higher operating speed, and higher efficiency. Note that small scale steam turbines are much less efficient than large ones. As of 2023 , large reciprocating piston steam engines are still being manufactured in Germany. As noted, one recorded rudimentary steam-powered engine
7772-463: The higher volumes at reduced pressures, giving improved efficiency. These stages were called expansions, with double- and triple-expansion engines being common, especially in shipping where efficiency was important to reduce the weight of coal carried. Steam engines remained the dominant source of power until the early 20th century, when advances in the design of the steam turbine , electric motors , and internal combustion engines gradually resulted in
7888-401: The incident was exploited relentlessly by James Watt and Matthew Boulton ( competitors and promoters of the low-pressure engine) who highlighted the perceived risks of using high-pressure steam. Trevithick's response was to incorporate two safety valves into future designs, only one of which could be adjusted by the operator. The adjustable valve comprised a disc covering a small hole at
8004-429: The late 18th century. At least one engine was still known to be operating in 1820. The first commercially successful engine that could transmit continuous power to a machine was the atmospheric engine , invented by Thomas Newcomen around 1712. It improved on Savery's steam pump, using a piston as proposed by Papin. Newcomen's engine was relatively inefficient, and mostly used for pumping water. It worked by creating
8120-463: The mining heartland of Cornwall , Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He was an early pioneer of steam-powered road and rail transport, and his most significant contributions were the development of the first high-pressure steam engine and the first working railway steam locomotive . The world's first locomotive-hauled railway journey took place on 21 February 1804, when Trevithick's unnamed steam locomotive hauled
8236-399: The nature of the gas although compressed air has been used in steam engines without change. As with all heat engines, the majority of primary energy must be emitted as waste heat at relatively low temperature. The simplest cold sink is to vent the steam to the environment. This is often used on steam locomotives to avoid the weight and bulk of condensers. Some of the released steam
8352-400: The nearby village of Beacon . His cousin and associate, Andrew Vivian , steered the machine. It inspired the popular Cornish folk song " Camborne Hill ". During further tests, Trevithick's locomotive broke down three days later after passing over a gully in the road. The vehicle was left under some shelter with the fire still burning whilst the operators retired to a nearby public house for
8468-518: The pace of the Industrial Revolution. The meaning of high pressure, together with an actual value above ambient, depends on the era in which the term was used. For early use of the term Van Reimsdijk refers to steam being at a sufficiently high pressure that it could be exhausted to atmosphere without reliance on a vacuum to enable it to perform useful work. Ewing 1894 , p. 22 states that Watt's condensing engines were known, at
8584-456: The performance of steam engines is the steam engine indicator. Early versions were in use by 1851, but the most successful indicator was developed for the high speed engine inventor and manufacturer Charles Porter by Charles Richard and exhibited at London Exhibition in 1862. The steam engine indicator traces on paper the pressure in the cylinder throughout the cycle, which can be used to spot various problems and calculate developed horsepower. It
8700-456: The piston axis in vertical position. In time the horizontal arrangement became more popular, allowing compact, but powerful engines to be fitted in smaller spaces. The acme of the horizontal engine was the Corliss steam engine , patented in 1849, which was a four-valve counter flow engine with separate steam admission and exhaust valves and automatic variable steam cutoff. When Corliss was given
8816-475: The plunger-pole pump, a type of pump—with a beam engine—used widely in Cornwall's tin mines, in which he reversed the plunger to change it into a water-power engine. As his experience grew, he realised that improvements in boiler technology now permitted the safe production of high-pressure steam, which could move a piston in a steam engine on its own account, instead of using pressure near to atmospheric, in
8932-463: The project, including a submerged cast iron tube , Trevithick's links with the company ceased and the project was never actually completed. The first successful tunnel under the Thames was started by Sir Marc Isambard Brunel in 1823, 0.75 miles (1,200 m) upstream, assisted by his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel (who also nearly died in a tunnel collapse). Marc Brunel finally completed it in 1843,
9048-731: The proprietor, Trevithick mounted the engine on wheels and turned it into a locomotive. In 1803, Trevithick sold the patents for his locomotives to Samuel Homfray . Homfray was so impressed with Trevithick's locomotive that he made a bet of 500 guineas with another ironmaster, Richard Crawshay , that Trevithick's steam locomotive could haul ten tons of iron along the Merthyr Tramroad from Penydarren ( 51°45′03″N 3°22′33″W / 51.750825°N 3.375761°W / 51.750825; -3.375761 ) to Abercynon ( 51°38′44″N 3°19′27″W / 51.645567°N 3.324233°W / 51.645567; -3.324233 ),
9164-428: The railways. Reciprocating piston type steam engines were the dominant source of power until the early 20th century. The efficiency of stationary steam engine increased dramatically until about 1922. The highest Rankine Cycle Efficiency of 91% and combined thermal efficiency of 31% was demonstrated and published in 1921 and 1928. Advances in the design of electric motors and internal combustion engines resulted in
9280-406: The reciprocating steam engine is no longer in widespread commercial use, various companies are exploring or exploiting the potential of the engine as an alternative to internal combustion engines. There are two fundamental components of a steam plant: the boiler or steam generator , and the "motor unit", referred to itself as a "steam engine". Stationary steam engines in fixed buildings may have
9396-417: The replacement of reciprocating (piston) steam engines, with merchant shipping relying increasingly upon diesel engines , and warships on the steam turbine. As the development of steam engines progressed through the 18th century, various attempts were made to apply them to road and railway use. In 1784, William Murdoch , a Scottish inventor, built a model steam road locomotive. An early working model of
9512-578: The river is injected into the exhaust steam from the engine. Cooling water and condensate mix. While this was also applied for sea-going vessels, generally after only a few days of operation the boiler would become coated with deposited salt, reducing performance and increasing the risk of a boiler explosion. Starting about 1834, the use of surface condensers on ships eliminated fouling of the boilers, and improved engine efficiency. Evaporated water cannot be used for subsequent purposes (other than rain somewhere), whereas river water can be re-used. In all cases,
9628-430: The road surfaces of the time, to help the fire from being extinguished by shaking. A forked piston rod reduced the distance between the single cylinder and the crankshaft and was considered a singular innovation at the time. Spring-operated valve gear was used to minimise the weight of the flywheel , overcoming one of the drawbacks of industrial steam engines. The engine had a single horizontal cylinder which, along with
9744-510: The same vessel. Trevithick's home was just a few miles from Falmouth so Uville was able to meet him and tell him about the project. On 20 October 1816 Trevithick left Penzance on the whaler ship Asp accompanied by a lawyer named Page and a boilermaker bound for Peru. He was received by Uville with honour initially but relations soon broke down and Trevithick left in disgust at the accusations directed at him. He travelled widely in Peru acting as
9860-511: The ships boilers for cooking. In May 1810 Trevithick caught typhoid and nearly died. By September, he had recovered sufficiently to travel back to Cornwall by ship, and in February 1811 he and Dickinson were declared bankrupt . They were not discharged until 1814, Trevithick having paid off most of the partnership debts from his own funds. In about 1812 Trevithick designed the ‘ Cornish boiler ’. These were horizontal, cylindrical boilers with
9976-412: The steam plant boiler feed water, which must be kept pure, is kept separate from the cooling water or air. Most steam boilers have a means to supply water whilst at pressure, so that they may be run continuously. Utility and industrial boilers commonly use multi-stage centrifugal pumps ; however, other types are used. Another means of supplying lower-pressure boiler feed water is an injector , which uses
10092-486: The success in Wales and wrote to Trevithick asking for locomotive designs. These were sent to John Whitfield at Gateshead, Trevithick's agent, who in 1804 built what was probably the first locomotive to have flanged wheels. Blackett was using wooden rails for his tramway and, once again, Trevithick's machine was to prove too heavy for its track. In 1808 Trevithick publicised his steam railway locomotive expertise by building
10208-489: The temperature of the steam above its saturated vapour point, and various mechanisms to increase the draft for fireboxes. When coal is used, a chain or screw stoking mechanism and its drive engine or motor may be included to move the fuel from a supply bin (bunker) to the firebox. The heat required for boiling the water and raising the temperature of the steam can be derived from various sources, most commonly from burning combustible materials with an appropriate supply of air in
10324-482: The time, as low pressure compared to high pressure, non-condensing engines of the same period. Watt's patent prevented others from making high pressure and compound engines. Shortly after Watt's patent expired in 1800, Richard Trevithick and, separately, Oliver Evans in 1801 introduced engines using high-pressure steam; Trevithick obtained his high-pressure engine patent in 1802, and Evans had made several working models before then. These were much more powerful for
10440-445: The top of the boiler above the water level in the steam chest. The force exerted by the steam pressure was equalised by an opposite force created by a weight attached to a pivoted lever. The position of the weight on the lever was adjustable thus allowing the operator to set the maximum steam pressure. Trevithick also added a fusible plug of lead, positioned in the boiler just below the minimum safe water level. Under normal operation
10556-421: The tramroad returned to horse power after the initial test run. Homfray was pleased he won his bet. The engine was placed on blocks and reverted to its original stationary job of driving hammers. In modern-day Merthyr Tydfil, behind the monument to Trevithick's locomotive, lies a stone wall, the sole remainder of the former boundary wall of Homfray's Penydarren House . A full-scale working reconstruction of
10672-477: The use of high-pressure steam. He worked on building and modifying steam engines to avoid the royalties due to Watt on the separate condenser patent. Boulton & Watt served an injunction on him at Ding Dong, and posted it "on the minestuffs" and "most likely on the door" of the Count (Account) House which, although now a ruin, is the only surviving building from Trevithick's time there. He also experimented with
10788-486: The war of liberation denied him several objectives. Meanwhile, back in England, he was accused of neglecting his wife Jane and family in Cornwall. Steam power A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid . The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder . This pushing force can be transformed by
10904-415: The water temperature could not exceed that of boiling water and kept the lead below its melting point. If the water ran low, it exposed the lead plug, and the cooling effect of the water was lost. The temperature would then rise sufficiently to melt the lead, releasing steam into the fire, reducing the boiler pressure and providing an audible alarm in sufficient time for the operator to damp the fire, and let
11020-549: Was arithmetic , for which he had an aptitude, though arriving at the correct answers by unconventional means. Trevithick was the son of mine "captain" Richard Trevithick (1735–1797) and of miner's daughter Ann Teague (died 1810). As a child he would watch steam engines pump water from the deep tin and copper mines in Cornwall. For a time he was a neighbour of William Murdoch , the steam carriage pioneer, and would have been influenced by Murdoch’s experiments with steam-powered road locomotion. Trevithick first went to work at
11136-518: Was completed in 1910. The Detroit–Windsor Tunnel which was completed in 1930 for automotive traffic, and the tunnel under the Hong Kong Harbour were also submerged-tube designs. Trevithick went on to research other projects to exploit his high-pressure steam engines: boring brass for cannon manufacture, stone crushing, rolling mills, forge hammers, blast furnace blowers as well as the traditional mining applications. He also built
11252-546: Was developed by Trevithick and others in the 1810s. It was a compound cycle engine that used high-pressure steam expansively, then condensed the low-pressure steam, making it relatively efficient. The Cornish engine had irregular motion and torque through the cycle, limiting it mainly to pumping. Cornish engines were used in mines and for water supply until the late 19th century. Early builders of stationary steam engines considered that horizontal cylinders would be subject to excessive wear. Their engines were therefore arranged with
11368-450: Was either automatic, using a governor, or by a manual valve. The cylinder casting contained steam supply and exhaust ports. Engines equipped with a condenser are a separate type than those that exhaust to the atmosphere. Other components are often present; pumps (such as an injector ) to supply water to the boiler during operation, condensers to recirculate the water and recover the latent heat of vaporisation, and superheaters to raise
11484-531: Was entered in and won the Rainhill Trials . The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened in 1830 making exclusive use of steam power for both passenger and freight trains. Steam locomotives continued to be manufactured until the late twentieth century in places such as China and the former East Germany (where the DR Class 52.80 was produced). The final major evolution of the steam engine design
11600-437: Was equipped with a firebox enclosed within the boiler, with one vertical cylinder, the motion of the single piston was transmitted directly to the driving wheels by means of connecting rods . It was reported as weighing 1,520 kg (3,350 lb) fully loaded, with a speed of 14.5 km/h (9 mph) on the flat. Trevithick ran this for several hundred yards up a hill with several people hanging on to it. Unfortunately, while
11716-411: Was improved over time and coupled with variable steam cut off, good speed control in response to changes in load was attainable near the end of the 19th century. In a simple engine, or "single expansion engine" the charge of steam passes through the entire expansion process in an individual cylinder, although a simple engine may have one or more individual cylinders. It is then exhausted directly into
11832-476: Was limited. Trevithick was disappointed by the response and designed no more railway locomotives. It was not until 1812 that twin-cylinder steam locomotives, built by Matthew Murray in Holbeck , successfully started replacing horses for hauling coal wagons on the edge railed , rack and pinion Middleton Railway from Middleton colliery to Leeds , West Yorkshire . Robert Vazie , another Cornish engineer,
11948-479: Was not until after Richard Trevithick had developed the use of high-pressure steam, around 1800, that mobile steam engines became a practical proposition. The first half of the 19th century saw great progress in steam vehicle design, and by the 1850s it was becoming viable to produce them on a commercial basis. This progress was dampened by legislation which limited or prohibited the use of steam-powered vehicles on roads. Improvements in vehicle technology continued from
12064-496: Was routinely used by engineers, mechanics and insurance inspectors. The engine indicator can also be used on internal combustion engines. See image of indicator diagram below (in Types of motor units section). The centrifugal governor was adopted by James Watt for use on a steam engine in 1788 after Watt's partner Boulton saw one on the equipment of a flour mill Boulton & Watt were building. The governor could not actually hold
12180-598: Was selected by the Thames Archway Company in 1805 to drive a tunnel under the River Thames at Rotherhithe . Vazie encountered serious problems with water influx, and had got no further than sinking the end shafts when the directors called in Trevithick for consultation. The directors agreed to pay Trevithick £1000 (the equivalent of £100,528 in 2023 ) if he could successfully complete the tunnel,
12296-464: Was sent to England to investigate using Trevithick's high-pressure steam engine. He bought one for 20 guineas, transported it back and found it to work quite satisfactorily. In 1813 Uville set sail again for England and, having fallen ill on the way, broke his journey via Jamaica . When he had recovered he boarded the Falmouth packet ship 'Fox' coincidentally with one of Trevithick's cousins on board
12412-556: Was set up at Limehouse to manufacture them, employing three men. The tanks were also used to raise sunken wrecks by placing them under the wreck and creating buoyancy by pumping them full of air. In 1810 a wreck near Margate was raised in this way but there was a dispute over payment and Trevithick was driven to cut the lashings loose and let it sink again. In 1809, Trevithick worked on various ideas on improvements for ships: iron floating docks, iron ships, telescopic iron masts, improved ship structures, iron buoys and using heat from
12528-530: Was the Nautical Labourer ; a steam tug with a floating crane propelled by paddle wheels. However, it did not meet the fire regulations for the docks, and the Society of Coal Whippers, worried about losing their livelihood, even threatened the life of Trevithick. Another patent was for the installation of iron tanks in ships for storage of cargo and water instead of in wooden casks . A small works
12644-763: Was the aeolipile described by Hero of Alexandria , a Hellenistic mathematician and engineer in Roman Egypt during the first century AD. In the following centuries, the few steam-powered engines known were, like the aeolipile, essentially experimental devices used by inventors to demonstrate the properties of steam. A rudimentary steam turbine device was described by Taqi al-Din in Ottoman Egypt in 1551 and by Giovanni Branca in Italy in 1629. The Spanish inventor Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont received patents in 1606 for 50 steam-powered inventions, including
12760-411: Was the first to make high-pressure steam work in England in 1799, although other sources say he had invented his first high-pressure engine by 1797. Not only would a high-pressure steam engine eliminate the condenser, but it would allow the use of a smaller cylinder, saving space and weight. He reasoned that his engine could now be more compact, lighter, and small enough to carry its own weight even with
12876-438: Was the use of steam turbines starting in the late part of the 19th century. Steam turbines are generally more efficient than reciprocating piston type steam engines (for outputs above several hundred horsepower), have fewer moving parts, and provide rotary power directly instead of through a connecting rod system or similar means. Steam turbines virtually replaced reciprocating engines in electricity generating stations early in
12992-454: Was the youngest-but-one child and the only boy in a family of six children. He was very tall for the era at 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m), as well as athletic and concentrated more on sport than schoolwork. Sent to the village school at Camborne, he did not take much advantage of the education provided; one of his school masters described him as "a disobedient, slow, obstinate, spoiled boy, frequently absent and very inattentive". An exception
13108-444: Was then retired to an exhibit at the Science Museum . In 2023, the owners of the Trewithen Estate planned to redevelop their farm, which will also involve returning the historic Trevithick steam engine to its original location within the farm. In one of Trevithick's more unusual projects, he attempted to build a 'recoil engine' similar to the aeolipile described by Hero of Alexandria in about AD 50. Trevithick's engine comprised
13224-437: Was uncomfortable for passengers and proved more expensive to run than a horse-drawn carriage, and was abandoned. In 1831, Trevithick gave evidence to a Parliamentary select committee on steam carriages. Also in 1803, one of Trevithick's stationary pumping engines in use at Greenwich exploded, killing four men. Although Trevithick considered the explosion to be caused by a case of careless operation rather than design error,
13340-741: Was vented via a vertical pipe or chimney straight into the atmosphere, thus avoiding a condenser and any possible infringements of Watt's patent. The linear motion was directly converted into circular motion via a crank instead of using a more cumbersome beam. Trevithick built a full-size steam road locomotive in 1801, on a site near present-day Fore Street in Camborne. (A steam wagon built in 1770 by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot may have an earlier claim.) Trevithick named his carriage Puffing Devil and on Christmas Eve that year, he demonstrated it by successfully carrying six passengers up Fore Street and then continuing on up Camborne Hill, from Camborne Cross, to
13456-489: Was £20 14s 11d. The cost of the engine is unknown. Following its completion, the London Steam Carriage was driven about 10 miles (16 km) through the streets of London to Paddington and back via Islington , with seven or eight passengers, at a speed of 4–9 miles per hour (6.4–14.5 km/h), the streets having been closed to other traffic. On a subsequent evening, Trevithick and his colleague crashed
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