Rotative steam engine (sun-and-planet gear, double acting)
Movimiento rotativo de vapor (engranaje planetario y doble efecto)
- Date
- 1781 · confidence high
- Place
- Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- James Watt and William Murdoch (Boulton & Watt)
- People
- 👤 James Watt1736–1819👤 William Murdoch1754–1839
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A system converting the piston's back-and-forth motion into the continuous rotation of a shaft, allowing the steam engine to drive machinery directly rather than merely pump water. This was the step that carried steam power from the mine to the factory.
Watt used the sun-and-planet gear because James Pickard had patented the use of the crank with the steam engine in 1780; it is debated whether the original idea was Murdoch's.
What it led to
- Steam-powered textile factories in Manchester and Lancashire
- The concentration of production in industrial cities
- Shaft-and-belt transmission in workshops
- The growth of mechanical engineering as a profession
Built on
- Water-powered sawmill with crank and connecting rod (Hierapolis)century III
- Separate-condenser steam engine1765-1769
- Crank-and-connecting-rod mechanism
Made possible
- Watt's linkage1784
- Power loom1785
- Centrifugal governor1788
- Rotary printing press1843-1846
- Corliss valve steam engine1849
- Rolling mills and steam hammers