Steam injector

What it is

A device with no moving parts that used a jet of steam to inject feedwater into the boiler at a pressure higher than the boiler's own. It simplified and cut the cost of locomotives by eliminating mechanical pumps.

1858 patent; rapidly adopted by railways around the world.

What it led to

• Simpler, safer locomotives
• The study of fluid dynamics and ejectors
• Portable and marine steam equipment

Built on

• Bernoulli's principle1738
• High-pressure steam engine1801-1802
• Steam locomotive1804

Made possible

• Babcock and Wilcox water-tube boiler1867
• Ejectors and jet pumps
• Standardised locomotives

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