Steam Engine Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Steam Engine - Research Paper Example The basic purpose of the stationary steam engines is to pump and drive mills by generating power. While introduced in the 18th century, these engines continued to be produced in huge numbers throughout the 19th century, and most of the part of the 20th century until advancements made in the electrical field leading to the practical application of electric power and the development of the internal combustion engine took their place. The use of the fixed steam engines accelerated between the time period of 1750 and 1850 but started to gradually decline afterwards when more advanced and adaptable electricity powered engines began to be introduced. Though the use of internal combustion engines became more widespread later, this paper aims at stressing the fact that the importance of efforts leading to the discovery of steam power and invention of first commercially successful steam engine cannot be denied and should never be overlooked when contemplating the technological inventions intr oduced prior to 1850. Stationary steam engines have often been mistaken for other kinds of engines introduced during the time steam engines were under development process. But a little research into this matter proves that they can be distinguished and stand in contrast to locomotive engines used for railways, traction engines used for manufacturing roads, steam cars, and agricultural engines used for ploughing and harvesting fields. The steam engine is arguably considered the most important technology of the industrial revolution and the literature reviewed in this paper aims at underlining this claim that the steam engine due to multiple factors was indeed an... This essay stresses that the world witnessed a sustained growth in the obvious influences exerted by technology related revolutions which begin to revolutionize every aspect of daily life for the better. Period extending from 1750 to 1850 is characterized by the transitional change of the manual and animal-based labor into critical machine-based manufacturing. This paper makes a conclusion that the steam engine has always remained in limelight in the history. After Savery, Newcomen played a gigantic role of critical nature in advancing the efforts initiated by the previous engineer and introduced a version of steam engine which not only overcame the issues associated with the earlier model but also helped in greatly facilitating the human life by fostering the transition of manual-based labor into machine-based manufacturing. Then Watt’s highly effective double-acting rotative steam engine and later versions of steam engines invented in later years served as the basis for a whole new wave of modern or revolutionary steam technology. General consensus is that though the steam engine was an essential early element of the industrial revolution, still this technology remained underused for most of the part of that period as most of the industries then continued to rely on wind and water power along with manual and animal-based labor to run machines. The discovery of steam power formed the backbone of the steam engine manufacturing process and multiple scientists and engineers whose work precedes 1850 are involved in continually developing this technology.