Talk:Timeline of steam power
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John Smeaton published information about designing steam engines in 1774. This is not quite true. He did indeed experiment then, but never published it. The information was summarised by John Farey jr in the article Steam Engines in Rees's Cyclopaedia,(pub 1816) and he used it in his Treatise on the Steam Engine of 1827. Whilst some of Smeaton's papers survived the fire in Farey's office in 1844 these have not so far been traced. See my paper 'John Farey and the Smeaton Manuscripts', in History of Technology vol 10. I have amended the Smeaton reference accordingly Apwoolrich 07:02, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)
No mention of Stirling engines?
When did superheating become practical? Paulc206 09:50, 12 November 2006 (UTC)
Steam is still used in many (as far as I know, all) nuclear-powered ships, where the reactor is used to heat water which then powers the ship and its eletrical systems using steam-driven turbines. Most people associated steam with the distant past but as late as the 1980s (and, as far as I know, still today) Navy midshipment still study "elements of steam propulsion." Paulc206 09:50, 12 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Savery influence on Newcomen?
I have a bit of a problem with the description of Newcomen's engine as an "unmodified Savery-like engine to pump a piston instead of water"(?!). I just do not see the link and think it more likely that Newcomen would have heard of Papin's experiment described in Acta Eruditorum published in Leipzig in 1690 in which he describes the action of condensed steam creating a vacuum in a cylinder causing atmospheric pressure to push down a piston. Moreover Savery's engine alternately used vacuum then pressure, whereas Newcomen only used the vacuum for the power stroke - or rather, atmospheric pressure, which is why his engines were called "atmospheric". The priciples involved had been well known since Heron of Alexandria, or so it seems to me. The confusion probably comes from the common name of "fire engine" for which Savery obtained a royal patent and which meant that Newcomen had to do a deal with him. --John of Paris 19:04, 8 March 2007 (UTC)