- Thomas Newcomen - 1663 - 1729 - |
English  Italiano |
 | Thomas Newcomen had drawn up, independently of Denis
Papin, the idea to move a piston inside a cylinder by atmospheric
pressure thanks to the partial vacuum created by steam condensing. The Newcomen engine was successful. Newcomen made his efficient engine after ten years of experiments. However, due to the patent accorded to Savery for each engine based on fire, Newcomen's opportunities to develop his engine were limited. Newcomen had to establish a firm with Savery. The Newcomen atmospheric engine (please see the animation) had a piston connected to a large crossbeam. The other end of the crossbeam was connected to a very heavy pump piston. In 1725, the Newcomen engine was employed in many coal mines but also was used to take water to mill-wheels. This engine was slow and wasteful. Each injection of water chilled the cylinder and the steam was consumed in reheating the cylinder for the next stroke. The thermal efficiency of this engine was about 1% ie for every 100 kg of coal burned, only 1 kg was utilized to pump water! Notwithstanding this very grave deficiency, the Newcomen engine worked without rivals for a long time (60 years) and also out of Britain. Newcomen engine animation James Watt INDEX OF ARGUMENTS |
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