Isabel Vela Sánchez – Carrión 3”C” 19/11/2020

From the perspective of the 21st century the steam engine invented by Thomas
Newcomen of Darmouth seems pathetically primitive, particularly after its
replacement with the steam engine of James Watt.

But in its time the Necomen engine was a major

technological advance. Savery's engine could lift
water but only a distance of fifty feet and could not
operate continuously. The most pressing need for an
engine was to pump water from the deep mines. This
the Savery engine could not do but the Newcomen
engine could.

When the boiler's load of water had been forced up the pipes the valve was closed
and another valve opened which was connected to a pipe immersed in water
about twenty feet below the boiler. The fire under the boiler was put out. The
Steam was generated in the boiler A. The piston P moved in a cylinder B. When
the valve V was opened, the steam increases the pressure under the piston,
therefore, the counterweight producing
a force on F can pull up the piston. At
the top of the stroke, the valve was
closed, the valve V' was opened, and a
jet of cold water from the tank C was
injected into the cylinder, thus
condensing the steam and reducing
the pressure under the piston.
 Isabel Vela Sánchez – Carrión 3”C” 19/11/2020

1. What do people of the middle ages need to heat their homes with?
Peasants of theses ages normally used a fire pit in the middle of the room
to keep warm. The home was usually quite smoky, but that was a small
price to pay to keep their families warm.
Other than having a fire, people had animal heat to depend on. Most
peasants would have their animals barn close to their living spaces
because the animals close together kept it warm.
Families would all sleep close together to share each other’s body heat.
They did not use twin style beds, there was no point. They also had wool,
feathers, and furs to keep warm with which came with having animals.

2. What did they burn once they were running out of trees?
They extracted minerals from the mines

3. When people exhausted the coal from the surface, what did they do?
They Opened two types of mines extract coal: surface, which are exposed,
and underground. Most open sites are 15 meters above the Earth's
surface, while underground sites are typically hundreds of meters below
ground.

4. What was one of the main technological problem of the mines in the
early eighteenth century?
The steam engine was invented as early as 1712 by Newcomen and
substantially perfected by James Watt in 1774. The application of the
steam engine to the textile industry represented the use of new coal-based
energy sources which, thanks to the mass investment of capital, made it
possible to replace or complement human effort
 Isabel Vela Sánchez – Carrión 3”C” 19/11/2020

5. Who was the inventor the first successful steam engine?

In 1769 it was Watt who patented the steam engine as such. This is why
some consider Watt to be the actual inventor of the steam engine. With his
machine, Watt made substantial improvements to earlier machines that
used the power of steam very poorly. The inventor of the steam engine
found that by moving the pistons in the Newcomen engine, a lot of heat
was lost.

6. When was constructed the first successful steam engine?

7. What problem was solved with this steam engine?

Air by steam and designs a very efficient boiler and steam generator ...
they indicate that it was erected near Wolverhampton and others say that
it was in the ... in the joints because the cylinder, was not supported
properly

8. What do we mean when we say that Newcomen Steam Engine (from

now on NSE) is not powerful nor efficient?
Air by steam and designs a very efficient boiler and steam generator ...
they indicate that it was erected near Wolverhampton and others say that
it was in the ... in the joints because the cylinder, was not supported
properly

9. Identify in a NSE picture, its hot source and its cold sink.
 Isabel Vela Sánchez – Carrión 3”C” 19/11/2020

10. What do we mean with this sentence: "The NSE was an atmospheric
engine"?
Most of the images show the motor side only, without giving information
about the pumps. The current opinion is that at least in early engines,
deadweight force pumps were used, the job of the engine being solely to
lift the side of the pump ready for the next pump down stroke. This is the
setup used for the Dudley Castle replica that operates effectively at the
original set speed of 12 strokes per minute / 10 gallons (54.6 liters) lifted
per stroke. The later Watt engines were powered by lift pumps driven by
the engine stroke and it is possible that later versions of the Newcomen
engine did as well.

11. How is produced a vacuum in the NSE?

Vacuum evaporators make it possible to treat an aqueous waste stream
efficiently, easily and without the use of reagents. They are efficient even
when conventional technologies are not viable. The fact of working in
vacuum conditions allows the boiling temperature to be reduced, thereby
reducing energy consumption. In addition, a residual effluent can be
concentrated as much as desired in an efficient and simple way, achieving
a zero discharge if required.

12. Why is important to produce a vacuum in the NSE? When is this

vacuum produced?
A steam engine is an external combustion engine that transforms the
thermal energy of a quantity of water into mechanical energy. Water vapor
is generated by heating in a hermetically sealed boiler, which produces the
expansion of the volume of a cylinder by pushing a piston.

13. In which moment do we obtain useful work with the NSE?

We obtain it once the pressure pulls the piston down and, through the
rocker, the plunger of the water pump rises. That’s when the machine is
coming in handy.
 Isabel Vela Sánchez – Carrión 3”C” 19/11/2020

14. Why is the counterweight so important in the NSE?

To list the improvements that Watt introduced in the system and
mechanism of steam engines, it would be necessary to describe them as
they are in general at the present time, for which reason we will specify
them and indicate them briefly. His first patent, which forms the so-called
single-effect machine, comprises the following essential innovations: 1st
the condenser, that is, the principle of carrying out the condensation in a
separate vessel from the cylinder in which the steam operates; 2nd the air
pump to extract the condensed vapor that accumulates at the bottom of
the condenser, and also the air; 3rd adjustment of the plunger in the air-
tight cylinder by means of an unctuous mixture of wax and tallow; 4th the
cylinder cover with gasket to prevent the cooling caused by the contact of
the air on the surface of the plunger inside the cylinder uncovered as it
was in the atmospheric machine.

15. Why do we consider the NSE as the starting point of the entire
industrial revolution?
The steam engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen (1663-1729), but
James Watt (1736-1819) revolutionized and perfected the technique.
The heating of water with induction of steam formation allows the release
of large aliquots of thermal energy, which is reconverted into mechanical
energy through a process that involves pistons, connecting rods and
cranks.
This event was a transcendent change in the Industrial Revolution, since
the creation of this machine replaced the use of human and animal energy
with steam energy. Over time, steam engines made of wood were replaced
by those made of iron.
 Isabel Vela Sánchez – Carrión 3”C” 19/11/2020

16. Explain the following concepts in relation with NSE: valve timing,
works automatically, with a perfect timing in relation with NSE