PRESENTATION OUTLINE
ABOUT THE STEAM ENGINE
Steam engines can be said to have been the moving force behind the Industrial Revolution and saw widespread popular use, driving machinery in factories, mills and mines. Used to power pumping stations and propelling transport appliances such as railway locomotives, ships and road vehicles. Their use in agriculture led to an increase in the land available for cultivation.
How a steam engine works is rather simple. If we take a steam powered locomotive for example, in the engine there is a fire box filled with extremely hot coal. The coal burns at around 760 degrees Celsius. A water tank sits next to the firebox and as the water boils it produces the steam. The steam builds up pressure and causes pistons to move, the pistons are attached to rods and the rods to wheels. So when the piston moves so does the wheels, moving the train forward.
History
The steam engine was developed over a period of about a hundred years by three British inventors: Thomas Savery, Thomas Newcomen and James Watt.
The first steam powered machine was built by Thomas Savery, who was from England, in 1698. Savery built this machine to help pump water out of coal mines. This machine was so simple that it had no moving parts, the steam would push up the water and force it up pipes. Though it was a simple machine it used up heaps of coal just to pump out a small quantity of water. Though the Savery's steam engine wasn't a proper 'engine' it was still the first practical way to use steam in practical work.
Thomas Newcomens steam engine
The next stage in the history of the steam engine was a result of the work of Thomas Newcomen, also of England. Newcomen knew that there must be a way of improvingon Savery's inefficient steam powered pump. Newcomen built a machine where the steam actually pushed a movable piston in one direction. This steam engine was used to pump water out of coal mines, much like its predecessor though neither Savery nor Newcomen had any greater purpose in mind for their machines.
James Watt's steam engine
This all modified in 1763, when james watt, a Scottish engineer, started to enhance upon Newcomen's model. Watt discovered a way to push a piston back and forth in its cyclinder. And more importantly, he noticed a way to create this back-and-forth motion turn a wheel. By applying "crankshaft," the steam engine may produce circular motion. Watt might not have realised it at the time, however he had just invented the first railroad locomotive.
Reson the steam engine was built
That main reason the steam engine was built in the beginning was to pump water out of mines. Mines would have pockets of water in them that made it dangerous for miners. The newer version of the steam engine, made by Thomas Newcomen was a more efficient version of the original. Doing the same job but using half the amount of fuel to do it.
James Watt made his version of the steam engine to find a way to use steam to move something more than water, which he succeeded in building and started a revolution
How it's used today
Steam engines are not widely used anymore since we have found faster and more efficient ways of transport. It is still used as a novelty, in tourist attractions or old train rides and model trains as well. It is also used to drive electrical generators with steam turbines. Steam turbines are a turbine with a high-velocity jet of steam that rotates a bladed disc or drum and is used to generate 90% of the United States electricity. Steam engines are also in modern day boats as an emergency engine.
About 90 per cent of all electricity is generated through the use of steam.
5. In 1864, the speed limit for a steam-driven car in the UK
French aviation pioneer Gustave de Ponton d’Amecourt built a steam-driven model helicopter in 1863. He also coined the word ‘helicopter’.
The first motorbikes were steam-powered velocipedes made in France in 1867.
The first car was only able to go 3kms
