Newcomen, Thomas

See also Black, Joseph Engines Gasoline Engines Newcomen, Thomas Parsons, Charles... 

Newcomen Thomas (1663—1729) Brit, inventor, known for atmospheric steam engine and its application for pumping water from mines... 

Thomas Newcomen First recorded Newcomen 1836 W.G. Whistler First American steam whistle, on... 

Fable or fame Thomas Newcomen, like many inventors who preceded him in the steam revolution, has been clearly overshadowed in historical circles by the far more famous Scotsman, Janies Watt, who remains—incorrectly to some—known as the inventor of the steam engine. Watts engines arrived more than fifty years after Newcomen s successful mechanical works, and were considered improved versions of the Eiiglishman s concepts. But this was precisely the basis of many inventors successes, building upon their predecessors efforts in the normal course of technological advancement. WTiat is irrefutable is that both men, as well as others, can lay claim as pioneering fathers of the Industrial Revolution. 

Newcomen came from the ranks of practical tradesmen, unlike many industrial inventors who tended to be noblemen, philosophers and royal proteges. The Newcomen family had had an impressive lineage and had held its manor from the twelfth cen-tuiy until misfortune dropped them into obscurity four centuries later. Yet, a work ethic was instilled by Newcomen s grandfather, who became a merchant venturer (owning several ships), a freeholder of Dartmouth, treasurer for his town, and a staunch Parliamentarian. Elias Newcomen, the father of Thomas, was also a freeholder and a merchant of Dartmouth, trading to distant areas with a ship that he had inherited. 

It IS reasonably certain that Thomas Newcomen was born in late Januaiy or early Februai y 1663 in the family house in Dartmouth in Devon, England. He was schooled at home by the well-known nonconformist scholar, John Flavell, who played a key role in Newcomen s educational thinking. Although throughout his life Newcomen was proud of his common status as an ironmonger, some rivals attempted to credit his success to no more than good luck and chance. Many of his contemporaries doubted that he could be the sole author of so momentous an invention. 

Roll, L. T. C. and Alien,. S. (1997). The Steam Engine of Thomas Newcomen. Ashbourne, UK Landmark... 

English inventor Thomas Newcomen builds his atmospheric steam engine. 

Denys Papin s steam engine, France. Reciprocating steam engine developed by Thomas Newcomen (English). 

Thomas Newcomen s steam engine comes into general use. 

The original steam condensers were barometric condensers, which were used to increase the efficiency of the steam-driven reciprocating beam engines by a factor of 10. The barometric condenser was invented by James Watt (the steam engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen). Exhaust steam is mixed directly with cold water. As this creates a vacuum, the barometric condenser must be elevated about 30 ft above grade. The mixed condensate and cooling water drains through a pipe called a barometric leg—hence the name barometric condenser. 

The central idea of our industrialized society is to have machines do the work formerly done by humans or animals. The technical problem that kicked off the industrial revolution was flooding in the tin mines of Cornwall, a region in southern Britain. To work the mines and extract the valuable tin ore, steam-driven reciprocating pumps had been constructed. These plunger-type pumps were moved up and down by the famous beam engines, and these reciprocating engines were powered by steam, thanks to the efforts of Thomas Newcomen, in 1712. 

Thermodynamics first emerged as a science after the construction and operation of steam engines in 1697 by Thomas Savery and in 1712 by Thomas Newcomen in England. Later, Carnot, Rankine, Clausius, Kelvin, Gibbs, and many others developed formulations of thermodynamic principles for describing the conservation and conversion of energy. 

Iame.s Watt (17.36-181 ) siRnificantly improved the heat engine developed by Thomas Newcomen. 

The simplest steam engine is a cylinder with a movable piston. Water in the piston is heated by an external flame until it turns to steam, which expands and moves the piston out. When the heat source is removed, steam condenses, and the piston moves back into the vacuum. This simple design was improved by Thomas Newcomen, who added a jet of cold water to cool the steam. The Newcomen engine became the standard model until it was improved in the 1700s by a Scottish instrument maker, James Watt. 

The originator of thermodynamics was the Frenchman Sadi Carnot (1796-1832). Carnot was interested in the steam engines which had been developed in Great Britain by Thomas Newcomen (1663-1729) and improved by James Watt (1736-1819). It was clear to Carnot that the efficiency of the steam engine was still very low, and he tried to deduce on theoretical grounds how it might be improved. He used the caloric theory of heat, which was still in vogue in spite of Rumford s work, but this did not affect the validity of his conclusions. 

Savery pmnp (Thomas Savery) Savery s pump was impractical to build, but it served as a prototype for Thomas Newcomen s steam engine. 

Atmospheric steam engine (Thomas Newcomen) Newcomen s engine is developed to pump water out of coal mines. 

James Watt (1736-1819), the most famous of Joseph Black s pupils, obtained a patent for his modifications of Thomas Newcomen s steam engine in the year... 

Thomas Newcomen (1663-1729). An English inventor, Newcomen built one of the first practical steam engines in 1712. His atmospheric pressure steam engine was used to pump water from British mines for almost 75 years before it was replaced by James Watt s more efficient engine. 

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