The expiration of Watt’s steam engine patent in 1800 opened the way for Richard Trevithick’s design of the portable, high-pressure steam engine, which in turn led to the development of locomotives and railroads.
The eighteenth century saw the emergence of the steam engine, the mechanism by which artificial sources of power were to be widely applied to many forms of production. Throughout that century, use of the steam engine spread mostly in the mines
Nineteenth century industry expanded the use of steam power, using it to operate the machinery in the factories growing across the landscape. Most important, however, was the use of steam power to operate the locomotives that made modern railroads possible. The engines of the eighteenth century were of two kinds: those designed by Thomas Newcomen
Changes in the use of high-pressure steam were not prevented by Watt’s patents alone, however; other technologies, notably in the field of metallurgy, also had to occur before the power of high-pressure steam could be put to use. One of these changes was the development of better quality cast iron
The expiration of Watt’s patents in 1800 unleashed a flood of new, high-pressure steam engines. Richard Trevithick was the first of many to build steam engines using high-pressure steam. In 1800, he built one for Cook’s Kitchen Mine, in Cornwall
The great advantage of Trevithick’s high-pressure steam engine was that its cylinder and piston could be quite small, and because he dispensed with the condenser that was an integral part of the Watt engines, the new engine was relatively light in weight. These factors made Trevithick’s engine portable. Previous versions of the steam engine, which had been used mostly in mines for pumping water or moving the mined material to the surface, had been stationary. Also, the new engines were commonly called puffers because they vented exhausted steam into the air instead of condensing the steam, as in Watt engines.
The power generated by the Trevithick engines was about ten times that of the contemporary Watt engines, even though the Trevithick engines were generally smaller. Trevithick demonstrated the potential of this great increase in power in 1804 at an iron mine near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. One of his engines had hauled a load of ten tons for nearly ten miles at five miles per hour. As it turns out, this engine had been the first locomotive, for it ran on iron
The rapidly growing demands placed on England’s mines propelled the new high-pressure steam engine forward. Traditionally, much of the demand had been concentrated in the ancient tin and lead mines of Cornwall.
The first steam railroad train.
The person who made that transfer possible was George Stephenson. Stephenson began his career as a mine superintendent. In 1812 he was put in charge of a group of coal mines in the vicinity of Newcastle, called the Grand Allies. At a mine in Killingworth the previous year, Stephenson had rebuilt the pump that removed the water filling the mine; his success led to his appointment as a mine superintendent. As superintendent he devoted himself to improving the ways in which the coal was moved from the mine, using the wagon way to move the material over cast-iron rails. He soon realized, however, that wrought iron would be a better material, and that flanged wheels would link the engine securely to the rails. A portable engine with high-pressure steam, combined with the secure locomotion provided by well-placed wrought iron rails, made rail travel possible.
Trevithick’s reputation was established beyond challenge when he designed and operated the Stockton and Darlington Railway
Stephenson became, with his son Robert, a powerhouse of the railroad industry as well. The pair produced many of the engines on the early railroads of England, and their designs clearly revealed the potential of this new technology.
In many respects the railroad was the signature technology of the nineteenth century. The work of Trevithick and Stephenson, conducted within the short span of thirty years, created a whole new industry that laid the foundation for the nineteenth century’s transportation revolution.
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Briggs, Asa. The Power of Steam: An Illustrated History of the World’s Steam Age. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982. A well-illustrated account of the adoption of steam power. Includes many useful diagrams. -
Cardwell, D. S. L. Turning Points in Western Technology: A Study of Technology, Science, and History. New York: Science History, 1972. Highlights significant inventions in the history of technology in the Western world. -
Derry, T. K., and Trevor L. Williams. A Short History of Technology from the Earliest Times to A.D. 1900. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1960. Sets the important inventions in context. -
Kirby, Maurice W. The Origins of Railway Enterprise: The Stockton and Darlington Railway, 1821-1863. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. A well-written study of the earliest commercial railroad. -
Mokyr, Joel. The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. Shows how technology makes possible economic advances. -
Tunzelmann, G. W. von. Steam Power and British Industrialization to 1860. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1978. Explores steam power’s role in industrialization in the first half of the nineteenth century.
Stockton and Darlington Railway Opens
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Opens
Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad Opens
Canada’s Grand Trunk Railway Is Incorporated
Pacific Railroad Surveys
First Underground Railroad Opens in London
Westinghouse Patents His Air Brake
First Transcontinental Railroad Is Completed
Diesel Patents the Diesel Engine
Rudolf Diesel; George Stephenson; Richard Trevithick.