THE HISTORY OF STEAM ENGINE

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The early development of locomotives and automotive brought the birth of steam engine. The steam engine was thought to be the final solution to the search for a liable motives but it success was never achieved. Though the first steam engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712 and it was used to pump water.

Study shows,  that energy is needed for anything to be done.That is why even the early development of locomotives uses coal as it source of energy of which was then the world favorite fuel and it powered anything, even the ill-fated steam planes invented by American scientist Samuel P. Langley.


                        Steam engine



In steam engines, the engines takes energy stored in coal and converts it to heat. The heat generated forms the steam which expands the piston cylinder causing the pressure to increase and forcing the piston to rise above atmospheric pressure. The power stroke occurs when cold water is sprayed on the cylinder to lower the temperature which lowers the pressure also. The atmospheric pressure now pushes the piston back down. This movement of the piston causes it to do its mechanical work.

In steam engines,  the steam required to power the engine are prepared using boiler and an addition stove for the burning of fuel.


Since the successful development of spark ignition engines in 1876 by Dr. Nicholas A. Otto and the invention of compression ignition engine by Rudolf Diesel in 1982, our knowledge on steam engine is becoming obsolete due to the reasons below


  • Bulkiness of a completely installed steam engine; they require boiler and other component to transfer energy
  • Heat loss in the boiler and heat lost in the engine
  • Continuous burning of fuel to maintain steam pressure
  • Low working pressure and temperature inside the steam engine
  • Efficiency of steam engine(15-20%)is lower compared to that of a corresponding internal combustion engine (35-40%)
Photo credit: asvrr.org

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