The steam engine was the most important discovery for the development of America from a farming country to a country which could produce goods in factories. The Industrial Revolution which started in Europe happened in America in the middle of the nineteenth century.
The use of steam engine powered boats, ships, railways and factories is how the industrial revolution is how America was able become more productive and powerful country with a high standard of living. Steam Engine Discovery and Technology Who discovered the steam engine The idea of using steam as source of power had been around for a very long time.It was Thomas Newcomen, an English blacksmith, invented the Atmospheric Steam Engine in 1712 with the help of John Calley. Newcomen started with a steam engine invented by Thomas Savery. Newcomen’s steam engine was different because it combined a steam cylinder with a piston, surface condensation, boiler and pumps.
How James Watt Improved Steam Engines During the Industrial Revolution the Newcomen steam engine was improved by James Watt. James Watt was a Scottish inventor who made huge improvement to the Newcomen steam engine when he was trying to repair one while working for the University of Glasgow.Watt's 1769 patent for a separate condenser connected to a cylinder by a valve was the big change that he made which made the steam engine much more efficient. Watt's engine was how steam engines began to be built for various uses and was what helped bring about the Industrial Revolution.
How do steam engines work Steam engines use steam to move a ship or a train. The force of the steam is created by boiling water fueled by either wood or coal. The power of steam is converted into mechanical force. When water becomes steam its volume increases by a huge amount and that expansion is what is the source of energy that moves vehicles like trains.The steam engine in a train has a boiler, slide valve, cylinder, steam reservoir, piston, and a drive wheel. The boiler is where coal is kept burning at a very high temperature to heat the boiler to create steam.
The steam expands and moves through steam pipes into the steam reservoir. The steam is regulated by a valve to move into a cylinder to push the piston. The steam under pressure pushes the piston which then turns the drive wheel in a circle and moves the train in the forward or backward direction. Impact of Steam Engines Industrial Revolution and the Steam EngineThe use of engines in factories increased productivity and use of the engines in trains and ships made it possible to transport the goods quickly across the country. The engines could be used to pump water for agriculture and mines and power trains, ships and farm machines. It was not the case that America and Europe would not have become industrially developed without steam engines but it was made it happen at very fast pace.
Using steam, factories could be constructed anywhere instead of having to be close to rivers and using water to power machines.Both the production and transportation of goods became much more efficient with the use of steam engines. Westward Expansion and the Steam Engine The growth of the population in the eastern part of the US led to people wanting to move into the western states. The western states had a lot of cheap and fertile land that could be cultivated or logged or used to mine metals like gold. All this was possible because people had more knowledge about the western states than did before and could move goods to and from them using steamboats and trains. Steam Engines and Agriculture Agricultural RevolutionOne of the most time consuming things to do in a farm was harvesting grain.
The tasks of separating wheat from straw and chaff from grain required a lot of manual labor. At first machines that that were pulled by farm animals were used to help with these tasks but the animals were not powerful enough to help separate wheat and chaff. The greater power that was necessary for this was provided by steam engines which were used to build the Pitts threshing machine in 1847. Soon after that plowing, mowing and cutting machines were invented and completely changed the way in which land was farmed.ConclusionThe steam engine played a very important role in the development of America.
The use of steam engine in factories made it possible to produce higher quality goods at a lower cost compared to those made by hand. The steam engine driven trains and ships meant that people and goods could get to places quicker and reach further into the western states to take advantage of cheap and fertile land. The efficient production also meant that people had to spend less time at work and could travel further to find work. Overall, one can say that became a developed and more efficient country because of steam engines.
