Machines · machine
Newcomen Atmospheric Engine
Heat engine · 1712
- Year
- 1712
- Kind
- Heat engine
- Materials
- A cast-iron cylinder bored by hand, a wooden beam, brass fittings, and a boiler that was really a large kettle.
- Efficiency
- Under 1 %. Every stroke reheated a cylinder that had just been chilled.
- Used In
- Pumping water out of tin and coal mines, which was the only job worth that much coal.
- Power Density
- Very low: a house-sized engine for a few horsepower.
- Cycle
- None
How It Works
Steam at barely above atmospheric pressure fills a cylinder under a piston; a jet of cold water condenses it, the pressure inside collapses, and the weight of the atmosphere pushes the piston down. A rocking beam turns that into a pump stroke. The steam does no pushing at all — the air does.
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Open on the Machines shelf — the interactive card, the filters, and everything alongside it.