The history of the creation of a steam engine and its application

The invention of steam engines was a turning point in the history of mankind. Somewhere at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, inefficient manual labor, water wheels and windmills were replaced by completely new and unique mechanisms - steam engines. It was thanks to them that the technical and industrial revolutions, and the entire progress of mankind, became possible.

But who invented the steam engine? To whom is this man obliged? And when was it? We will try to find all the answers to all these questions.

Even before our era

The history of the creation of the steam engine begins in the first centuries BC. Geron of Alexandria described a mechanism that began to work only when it was affected by steam. The device was a ball on which the nozzles were fixed. The steam escaped from the nozzles, thereby causing the motor to rotate. It was the first device that worked for a couple.

The creator of the steam engine (or more precisely, the turbine) - Tagi-al-Dinome (Arab philosopher, engineer and astronomer). His invention became widely known in Egypt in the 16th century. The mechanism was arranged as follows: steam flows were directed directly at the mechanism with blades, and when the smoke was pouring - the blades rotated. Something similar in 1629 offered and the Italian engineer Giovanni Branca. The main drawback of all these inventions was too much steam consumption, which in turn required huge energy costs and was not advisable. Developments were suspended, as then scientific and technical knowledge of mankind was not enough. In addition, the need for such inventions was completely absent.

Developments

Until the 17th century, the creation of a steam engine was impossible. But as soon as the bar of the level of development of mankind took off, immediately the first copies and inventions appeared. Although seriously no one at that time did not take it. So, for example, in 1663 an English scientist published in the press a draft of his invention, which he installed in the castle of Reglan. His device served to raise water on the walls of the towers. However, like everything new and unexplored, this project was adopted with doubt, and sponsors for its further development was not found.

The history of the creation of a steam engine begins with the invention of a steam-atmospheric machine. In 1681, a scientist from France, Denis Papen, invented a device that pumped water from mines. As a driving force, gunpowder was used for the first time, and then it was replaced with water vapor. So there was a steam and atmosphere machine. A huge contribution to its improvement was made by scientists from England, Thomas Newcomen and Thomas Severen. Invaluable help was rendered also by the Russian inventor-self-taught Ivan Polzunov.

The failed attempt of Papen

The steam-atmospheric machine, far from perfect at that time, attracted special attention in the shipbuilding industry. D. Papen spent his last savings on the acquisition of a small vessel, where he began to install a water-lift steam-atmosphere machine of his own production. The mechanism of action was that, falling from a height, the water began to rotate the wheels.

The inventor conducted his tests in 1707 on the river Fulda. A lot of people gathered to look at the miracle: a ship moving along the river without sails and oars. However, during the tests, a catastrophe occurred: the engine exploded and several people died. The authorities were angry at the unsuccessful inventor and forbade him any work and projects. The ship was confiscated and destroyed, and a few years later he himself died.

Error

Papen's steamer had the following working principle. At the bottom of the cylinder it was necessary to fill a small amount of water. Under the cylinder itself was located a brazier, which served to heat the liquid. When the water began to boil, the steam formed, expanding, raised the piston. From the space above the piston, through a specially equipped valve, air was pushed out. After the water boiled and began to pour steam, it was necessary to remove the brazier, close the valve to remove air, and cool water to cool the cylinder walls. Thanks to such actions, the vapor in the cylinder condensed, under the piston a vacuum developed, and due to the force of atmospheric pressure the piston returned to its original position again. During his downward movement, useful work was done. However, the efficiency of the Papen steam engine was negative. The engine of the ship was extremely uneconomical. And most importantly, it was too complicated and inconvenient to operate. Therefore, Papen's invention did not have a future from the very beginning.

Followers

However, the history of the creation of the steam engine did not end there. The next, much more successful than Papen, was English scientist Thomas Newcomen. He studied the work of his predecessors for a long time, focusing on weak points. And taking the best of their works, created in 1712 his apparatus. The new steam engine (pictured) was designed as follows: a cylinder was used, which was in the vertical position, and also a piston. This Newcomen took from Papen's works. However, the steam was already formed in another boiler. Around the piston was fixed the whole skin, which greatly increased the tightness inside the steam cylinder. This machine was also steam-atmospheric (water was rising from the mine by atmospheric pressure). The main disadvantages of the invention were its cumbersome and uneconomical: the machine "ate" a huge amount of coal. However, it brought much more benefits than Papen's invention. Therefore, it was used almost 50 years in dungeons and mines. It was used for pumping groundwater, as well as for drying ships. Thomas Newcomen tried to transform his car so that it was possible to apply it for traffic. However, all his attempts were unsuccessful.

The next scientist who claimed to be himself was D. Hull from England. In 1736, he introduced the world his invention: a steam-atmospheric machine, which had propellers as paddle wheels. His development was more successful than that of Papen. Immediately, several such ships were produced. Basically, they were used to tow barges, ships and other vessels. However, the reliability of the steam-and-atmosphere machine was not credible, and the vessels were equipped with sails as the main propulsion unit.

And although Hoole was more fortunate than Papen, his inventions gradually lost relevance, and they were abandoned. Still, the steam-and-atmosphere machines of that time had many specific drawbacks.

The history of the creation of a steam engine in Russia

The next breakthrough happened in the Russian Empire. In 1766, the first steam engine was built at the metallurgical plant in Barnaul, which supplied air to the smelting furnaces with the help of special blow-bellows. Its creator was Ivan Ivanovich Polzunov, who for his services before his homeland was even given an officer's rank. The inventor presented to his superiors the drawings and plans of a "fiery machine" capable of driving blowing bellows.

However, fate played a cruel joke with Polzunov: seven years after his project was adopted and the car was assembled, he fell ill and died of consumption - just a week before the tests of his engine began. However, his instructions were enough to start the engine.

So, on August 7, 1766, the Polzunov steam engine was launched and put under load. However, in November of the same year it broke down. The reason was too thin walls of the boiler, not intended for loading. And the inventor in his instructions wrote that this boiler can only be used during testing. The production of a new boiler would easily pay off, because the efficiency of the Polzunov steam engine was positive. For 1023 hours of work with its help smelted silver 14 poods!

But despite this, no one to repair the mechanism did not. Steam engine Polzunov dusted more than 15 years in the warehouse, while the world of industry did not stand still and developed. And then was completely dismantled for spare parts. Apparently, at that time, Russia had not yet grown to steam engines.

Time requirements

Meanwhile, life was not standing still. And humanity has always been thinking about creating a mechanism that allows not to depend on capricious nature, but to control destiny. From the sail, everyone wanted to refuse as quickly as possible. Therefore, the question of creating a steam engine was constantly suspended in the air. In 1753 in Paris, a contest was launched among masters, scientists and inventors. The Academy of Sciences announced the award to someone who can create a mechanism that can replace the force of the wind. But despite the fact that the competition involved such minds as L. Euler, D. Bernoulli, Canton de Lacroix and others, no sensible proposal was made by anybody.

Years went by. And the industrial revolution covered more and more countries. The primacy and leadership among the other powers was inherent in England. By the end of the eighteenth century, it was the UK that became the creator of large-scale industry, due to which it won the title of world monopoly in this industry. The question of the mechanical engine became more and more urgent every day. And such an engine was created.

The first steam engine in the world

1784 was for England and for the whole world a turning point in the industrial revolution. And the man responsible for this was the English mechanic James Watt. The steam engine he created was the loudest discovery of the century.

James Watt for several years studied the drawings, structure and operation principles of steam-atmospheric machines. And on the basis of all this, he concluded that for the efficiency of the engine it is necessary to equalize the water temperatures in the cylinder and the steam that gets into the mechanism. The main disadvantage of steam-atmospheric machines was the constant need to cool the cylinder with water. It was expendable and inconvenient.

The new steam engine was constructed in a different way. So, the cylinder was a special shirt of steam. Thus, Watt achieved his constant heated state. The inventor created a special vessel immersed in cold water (a condenser). A pipe joined the pipe to it. When the steam was worked out in the cylinder, then through the pipe it got into the condenser and there it turned back into water. Working on improving his car, Watt created a vacuum in the condenser. Thus, all the vapor from the cylinder condensed in it. Thanks to this innovation, the process of steam expansion was greatly increased, which in turn made it possible to extract much more energy from the same amount of steam. It was the crown of success.

The creator of the steam engine also changed the principle of air supply. Now the steam fell first under the piston, thereby lifting it, and then collected over the piston, lowering it. Thus, both strokes of the piston in the mechanism became working, which previously was not even possible. And the coal consumption per horsepower was four times less than, respectively, for steam-atmospheric vehicles, which was what James Watt sought. The steam engine quickly won first the Great Britain, and then the whole world.

Charlotte Dundas

After the whole world was struck by the invention of James Watt, the wide application of steam engines began. So, in 1802 in England appeared the first ship for a couple - the boat "Charlotte Dundas". Its creator is William Simington. The boat was used as a towing barge along the canal. The role of the propulsor on the ship was played by a propeller mounted on the stern. The boat from the first time successfully passed the test: towed two huge barges for 18 miles in six hours. At the same time he was strongly interfered by a headwind. But he did it.

And yet he was put on a joke, because they feared that because of the strong waves that were created under the propeller wheel, the banks of the canal would be blurred. By the way, on trials of "Charlotte" there was a man whom the whole world now considers the creator of the first steamship.

The first steamer in the world

The English shipbuilder Robert Fulton, from his youthful years, dreamed of a vessel with a steam engine. And now his dream became realizable. After all, the invention of steam engines has become a new impetus in shipbuilding. Together with the ambassador from America R. Livingston, who took on the material side of the matter, Fulton engaged in a project of a ship with a steam engine. It was a complex invention, based on the idea of an oar motive. On the sides of the ship stretched in a row of plates, imitating a lot of oars. At the same time, the slabs continually interfered with each other and broke. Today, it can easily be said that the same effect could be achieved with only three or four plates. But from the standpoint of science and technology of that time, it was impossible to see this. Therefore, shipbuilders had much more difficult.

In 1803 Fulton's invention was presented to the whole world. The steamer walked slowly and smoothly along the Seine, striking the minds and imagination of many scholars and figures of Paris. However, the government of Napoleon rejected the project, and the frustrated shipbuilders were forced to seek happiness in America.

And in August 1807 the world's first steamship named Claremont, in which the most powerful steam engine was used (pictured), went along the Hudson Bay. Many then simply did not believe in success.

In his first flight, "Claremont" went without cargo and without passengers. Nobody wanted to go on a trip aboard a fire-breathing ship. But already on the way back, the first passenger appeared - a local farmer who paid six dollars for a ticket. He became the first passenger in the history of the shipping company. Fulton was so touched that he gave the daredevil a free lifeline for all his inventions.