Newcomen Atmospheric Engine
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- Опубликовано: 5 ноя 2024
- John Child’s working model of a Newcomen Atmospheric Engine.
It was Thomas Newcomen who designed and built the first practical working steam engine in 1712; his invention changed the world. There is surprisingly very little known about Newcomen as a person and his first engine.
He was born 1664 in Dartmouth, Devon, to a merchant family eventually becoming an ironmonger by trade and a Baptist lay preacher. Newcomen and his partner John Calley built the first successful engine in the vicinity of Conygree Coalworks near Dudley in the West Midlands, the exact location has still to be defined.
It was most likely built from an eclectic mix of parts available to Newcomen as part of his ironmongery business; bits of scrap and allsorts, a BSA, but it worked. So why is it when people think of steam engines, the name James Watt springs to mind?
Newcomen was just an everyday practical hands on guy, he was not a member of the intellectual elite, the ‘intelligentsia’ who had always been ready to attribute bright moves by ‘their inferiors’ to other people. There is a myth that the intelligentsia explained away Newcomen’s discovery as an act of god. You do indeed question their ability to learn facts and skills and apply them, especially when this ability is highly developed.
You only have to read about John Harrison, and the obstacles carefully placed in his path of discovery by the academic elite while working on the development of the marine chronometer, a long-sought after device for solving the problem of establishing longitude.
John Child built this working model of a Newcomen Atmospheric Engine, and he bought it along to the Florette Festival Market in Lichfield in July 2015, for display on the stand of the Lichfield Waterworks Trust (the friends of Sandfields Pumping Station), it is a joy to behold.
John is a highly skilled engineer and an everyday, practical hands on guy. His model Newcomen engine is built from an eclectic mix of parts that you would find in any ironmongery shop. There are parts of locks, door handles, ceiling roses, baked bean tins, hopper heads and amplifiers, but it works.
By a strange coincidence, it was when James Watt, who was an instrument maker at the time, was trying to repair a broken model Newcomen engine and accidently allowed some melting solder let cold water into the cylinder, thus creating an instantaneous vacuum. An act of god?
Watt quickly realised the energy efficiency saving that could be made, by not have the cylinder cycle through hot to cold on each stroke, and the rest is history, or so it seems....
A very special thanks’ to John Child for ringing his amazing steam engine to Lichfield.
Links:
Lichfield Waterworks Trust
www.sandfields....
Lichfield Discovered
lichfielddisco...
A full sized working replica of a Newcomen engine can be seen here
www.bclm.co.uk/
The only remaining Newcomen engines still in its original location
www.elsecar-her...
The most impressive part was when they poured the water in the kettle with the beacon and didn't spill any. I actually did a speech on the Newcomen engine and James watt's engine. They are very fascinating.
Good video of a great build which I've admired for quite a few years. I don't like the music though and would have preferred to hear the engine running......
Too bad the audio is gone and substituted for sound effect music.
John Child’s working model of a Newcomen Atmospheric Engine.
It was Thomas Newcomen who designed and built the first practical working steam engine in 1712; his invention changed the world. There is surprisingly very little known about Newcomen as a person and his first engine.
He was born 1664 in Dartmouth, Devon, to a merchant family eventually becoming an ironmonger by trade and a Baptist lay preacher. Newcomen and his partner John Calley built the first successful engine in the vicinity of Conygree Coalworks near Dudley in the West Midlands, the exact location has still to be defined.
It was most likely built from an eclectic mix of parts available to Newcomen as part of his ironmongery business; bits of scrap and allsorts, a BSA, but it worked. So why is it when people think of steam engines, the name James Watt springs to mind?
Newcomen was just an everyday practical hands on guy, he was not a member of the intellectual elite, the ‘intelligentsia’ who had always been ready to attribute bright moves by ‘their inferiors’ to other people. There is a myth that the intelligentsia explained away Newcomen’s discovery as an act of god. You do indeed question their ability to learn facts and skills and apply them, especially when this ability is highly developed.
You only have to read about John Harrison, and the obstacles carefully placed in his path of discovery by the academic elite while working on the development of the marine chronometer, a long-sought after device for solving the problem of establishing longitude.
John Child built this working model of a Newcomen Atmospheric Engine, and he bought it along to the Florette Festival Market in Lichfield in July 2015, for display on the stand of the Lichfield Waterworks Trust (the friends of Sandfields Pumping Station), it is a joy to behold.
John is a highly skilled engineer and an everyday, practical hands on guy. His model Newcomen engine is built from an eclectic mix of parts that you would find in any ironmongery shop. There are parts of locks, door handles, ceiling roses, baked bean tins, hopper heads and amplifiers, but it works.
By a strange coincidence, it was when James Watt, who was an instrument maker at the time, was trying to repair a broken model Newcomen engine and accidently allowed some melting solder let cold water into the cylinder, thus creating an instantaneous vacuum. An act of god?
Watt quickly realised the energy efficiency saving that could be made, by not have the cylinder cycle through hot to cold on each stroke, and the rest is history, or so it seems....
A very special thanks’ to John Child for ringing his amazing steam engine to Lichfield.
Links:
Lichfield Waterworks Trust
www.sandfields.org/
Lichfield Discovered
lichfielddiscoverd.wordpress.com/
A full sized working replica of a Newcomen engine can be seen here
www.bclm.co.uk/
The only remaining Newcomen engines still in its original location
www.elsecar-heritage-centre.co.uk/event/a-great-industrial-age-tours-of-elsecar-and-its-1795-newcomen-engine-3/
So awesome.. strangely the perfect song choice too
Thank you
Sarcasm?
Didn’t know they had Disco Music in 1712.
Nice model!
Very great 👍 video!!!
Thank you very much!
James Watt invented the world's first practical Steam Engine, by dumping Thomas Newcomen's Atmospheric Power and Arkwright's Water-Power for Steam Power.
He had to invent a new engine to achieve this.
Thomas Newcomen's Atmospheric Pump was a 70 years long dead-end!
( nothing changed ).
70 years after James Watt's invention, the world had changed so much they had to call it an " Industrial Revolution"
Britain 1800 to 1900.
20,000 Water-wheels decreased in number.
Windmills decreased in number.
The Englishman Thomas Newcomen's 1,500 Atmospheric Pumps disappeared.
The Scotsman James Watt's Steam Engines and their descendants increased in number to 10,000,000 !!!
For every SINGLE Water-wheel in 1800 there were now 500 Steam Engines in 1900 !!!
This WAS the Industrial Revolution!
I think "dead end" is a bit harsh. High pressure steam requires an understanding of metallurgy and a supply chain for high-quality iron or steel that just didn't exist at the time the atmospheric engine was in use. When Newcomen invented his engine, the world just wasn't ready for Watt's engine - you can argue it still wasn't ready in Watt's time given how prone to explosion early boilers were.
And really, Watt's engine has pretty much seen its day as well. No one uses reciprocating steam anymore - it's turbines, and only in large stationary applications like power plants. Now we live in the age of internal combustion and electric power. Neither of these steam engine designs are a dead end - they're just a step along the way.
Yes, I guess it does seem a little harsh, but it's no worse than the harshness Watt is treated to all over the Web and Media, from what should be his fellow Brits. The mantra " James Watt did not invent the Steam Engine " every where you look. " The great Improver ". His only improvement being efficiency. Whereas you absolutely never hear about Watt's change from Newcomen's Atmospheric Power to Watt's Steam Power( the crucial change ), or the new engine he had to invent to achieve that.The great civil engineer John Smeaton built Newcomen machines ( with every scientific means available ), 25% improvement. He went head to head with Watt at the same technological time and Watt won out. I'm not saying Watt was a genius but his Invention was pivotal, it brought us into the Modern World. From 20,000 Waterwheels to 10,000,000 Steam Engines !!! A 500 times increase in Power Output for the whole country in 100 years. It had never happened before and I doubt it will happen again. I'm afraid to say, it's a case of nationalism within the UK. Since when did a nation decry it's own inventors, and Watt is the only one.
Bloomfield Colliery
Near Dudley
1776: ' Birmingham, March 11th. On Friday last a Steam Engine constructed upon Mr Watt's new principles, was set to work at Bloomfield Colliery, Dudley. From the first moment of it's setting to work it made about 14 or 15 strokes per minute, and emptied the engine pit (which is about 90 feet deep, and stood 57 feet high in water) in less than an hour. This engine is applied to the working of a pump 14 inches and a half diameter, which is capable of doing to the depth 300 feet, or even 360 if wanted, with one fourth of the fuel that a common engine would require to produce the fame quantity of power. The cylinder is 50 inches diameter, and the lenth of the stroke is seven feet. These engines are not worked by the pressure of the atmosphere. Their principles are very different from all others.
@@Walter-w9v Strange. I'm not in the UK but I haven't heard anyone dissing Watt.
Watt lived at the right time for high pressure steam to be developed. He didn't invent it in a vacuum. But that's true of almost every invention. Watt still very much deserves the credit he's due. So does Newcomen, for that matter.
I think Newton put it best with his "if I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."
Scrap the crap music it it would be worth watching
Bill gates !