Thomas Newcomen

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Thomas Newcomen

Thomas Newcomen , 1663-1729, English inventor of an early atmospheric steam engine (c.1711). It was an improvement over an earlier engine patented (1698) by Thomas Savery, who shared the later patent with Newcomen. This improved engine was used successfully to pump water.

Bibliography: See study by L. Rolt (1965).

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Newcomen, Thomas

A Dictionary of British History | 2004 | | Â© A Dictionary of British History 2004, originally published by Oxford University Press 2004. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Newcomen, Thomas (1663–1729). Dartmouth ironmonger and inventor of the steam‐engine. He combined Savery's independent boiler with the piston in his first ‘fire engine’ of 1712 at Dudley, applying atmospheric pressure to the top of the cylinder in which steam was condensed to create a partial vacuum and drive down the piston. Its use was confined to pumping water from mines. Smeaton's improvements allowed such engines to supply most horsepower in use c.1800, and Francis Thompson's patent (1792), effective rotary motion.

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