Newcomen atmospheric engine

What it is

A cylinder-and-piston engine in which steam condensed by a water jet created a vacuum, and atmospheric pressure pushed the piston, driving a beam that pumped water. The first practical steam engine, with more than a hundred units in operation by 1733.

Savery held the general patent, so Newcomen operated under licence; the direct influence of Papin and Hooke on his design is debated.

What it led to

• The drainage of deep coal and tin mines, and the expansion of coal
• The model for Watt's steam engine (the separate condenser, 1765)
• The start of the Industrial Revolution's energy transformation
• The trade of engine engineer and the precision casting of cylinders

Built on

• Water-powered sawmill with crank and connecting rod (Hierapolis)century III
• Newcastle sea-coal mining and trade1239
• Mercury barometer1643
• Vacuum pump (air pump)1650
• Magdeburg hemispheres1654
• Steam digester (pressure cooker)1679
• Papin's piston-and-cylinder steam engine proposal1690
• Savery steam pump1698

Made possible

• Water-column pumping engine (Hell)1749
• Separate-condenser steam engine1765-1769
• Steam locomotive1804
• Watt steam engine
• Darby and Wilkinson's cast-iron cylinders

Links

Sources✓ verified 2026-09-25

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newcomen_atmospheric_engine