| dc.description.abstract | The first recorded rudimentary steam engine was the aeolipile described by Heron of
Alexandria in 1st-century Roman Egypt. Several steam-powered devices were later
experimented with or proposed, such as Taqi al-Din's steam jack, a steam turbine in 16th century Ottoman Egypt, and Thomas Savory’s steam pump in 17th-century England. In
1712, Thomas Newcomer’s atmospheric engine became the first commercially successful
engine using the principle of the piston and cylinder, which was the fundamental type of
steam engine used until the early 20th century. The steam engine was used to pump water
out of coal mines.
During the Industrial Revolution, steam engines started to replace water and windpower, and
eventually became the dominant source of power in the late 19th century and remaining so
into the early decades of the 20th century, when the more efficient steam turbine and the
internal combustion engine resulted in the rapid replacement of the steam engines. The
steam turbine has become the most common method by which electrical power generators are
driven. Investigations are being made into the practicalities of reviving the reciprocating
steam engine as the basis for the new wave of advanced steam technology. | en_US |
