A Dream Too Lofty: Why the Steam Engine Failed in the 18th Century
Most people are at least aware of the steam engine. Popular culture frequently associates them with the Victorian era, firmly rooted in the Industrial Revolution so commonly associated with the 19th century. But what about the 18th century? After all, the first steam engine put to any widespread industrial use was Thomas Newcomen’s atmospheric engine which was invented as early as 1710, and improved upon by James Watt in the latter half of the same century, many of his improvements being crucial to their future development.
So why don’t we associate the steam engine with it’s birth in the 18th century? If one looks into the history of its development, the reasons are clear: until the 19th century (when it really took off), the steam engine was inefficient and very costly to build and maintain. In addition, even when the steam engine would be improved, it did not have a significant enough effect (at least in the beginning) to make it widespread in a broad variety of industries. Finally, there were advancements that could have been made in the 18th century, but because of the reluctance of the engineers of the time (specifically, James Watt) they would not be pursued until the 19th. All of these factors combined meant that the steam engine would not rise to its well-known prowess until the 19th century and the broader Industrial Revolution.
Newcomen Atmospheric Engine. Source: Public Domain.
Firstly, there were several mechanical and physical problems with the Newcomen engine that would not be addressed until the later decades of the 18th century. A publication from 1789 by William Blakely makes the following statement (note: the author here refers to the Newcomen engine as a “Leaver Engine” and the more modern engines as “Fire-engines”):
And other implements, cause such impediments to the active powers, that they shew another loss of power, and the want of understanding the laws of the resistance in matter, and forgetting the simplicity of Newcomen and Cawley’s common Leaver Engine, which points out, so well, the amendments its authors had not time to bring to perfection; it is easy to come at, in a much cheaper manner, than any of the roundabout and expensive Leaver engines, now so much in vogue.
What does the author mean by “roundabout and expensive” with regards to the Newcomen engine? In a later paragraph, they elaborate:
As to the new Fire-engines, they consume less fuel than any other hitherto invented, and work without destructive shocks, as Leaver-engines do, in consequence of the number of mechanical implements they are composed of, which clog up half the acting powers, and may be seen by the many Engines of that kind, which work in London, and which are so expensive in construction, and consumption of fuel, that an infinite number of Manufacturers cannot make use of them, from the great expense of keeping them in good repair; which is quite different with what is of a simple kind; and where the implements to make the Engine work itself, must be cheap as well as lasting.
Watt-type Beam Engine. Note the crankshaft and attached flywheel, as well as the valve gear for the management of the double-acting cylinder. Source: Science Museum Group.
These are a short list of problems found with the Newcomen engine. They were uneven in their motion due to a lack of proper uniform motion that would not be implemented until the development of the new “Fire-engines” which possessed “flies” (flywheels) which permitted uniform circular motion, which is far more even and causes less wear and tear on the components. In addition, they were very expensive to build and maintain and consumed very large amounts of coal. The concerns of large costs and fuel consumption are corroborated by Thomas Crump’s claims in A Brief History of the Age of Steam:
In practice, however, the vast rate at which the engines burned coal meant that it was hardly economical to operate them except at coal mines, where, a fortiori, coal was abundant… The bottom line did require, however, a gain in productivity sufficient to cover the substantial maintenance fees paid to the engineers, to say nothing of capital costs and patent rights.
Later, on the reciprocity of the engine, as well as the fuel consumption:
The decisive shortcoming was that the engine was purely reciprocal: if it could move a beam up and down, it could not - in any efficient way - make a wheel rotate… the Newcomen engine was so wasteful of fuel that it was hardly economical to install it at Cornish tin mines, where the problem of flooding was just as acute as coal mines along the Tyne and Wear.
To more describe the many physical obstacles presented by the Newcomen engine would require a great deal of knowledge in physics, but this evidence is enough to get the general point across: that the Newcomen engine was hardly efficient. Despite all this, however, even as late as 1789 when the previous source was published, the Newcomen “Leaver Engine” was still “in vogue”. Crump also makes this apparent: “Even so, the rapid spread of the Newcomen engine in the coal-mining world testifies to the way they transformed it.”
Thus, the commonality of the Newcomen engine coupled with its many faults meant that, logically, and as stated by both Blakely and Crump, it could not be applied to a wide number of industries outside of coal mining, the only industry that could sufficiently feed and make use of them. Not until the better editions of the steam engine were readily available could it have the opportunity to take off, but this was, as shown, not the case even into the late 18th century.
Portrait of James Watt by Cark Frederik von Breda. Source: Public Domain.
The only way that the steam engine could ever be made applicable to more industries and purposes was to improve upon its design. A great deal of this work can be attributed to James Watt. Watt would make significant contributions to the improvement of the steam engine in his lifetime, including the useful and effective application of the crankshaft and flywheel to the engine and the separate condenser, greatly improving the engine’s efficiency, among numerous other improvements. The improved Watt engine was first patented in 1769, number 913, referred to as “Fire Engines”, the very same name referred to by Blakely in his publication.
Yet despite all these incredible improvements, even in 1789 (two whole decades after the first patent of the Watt engine), the older, far less versatile Newcomen engine was still very much “in vogue”. So even after the vast improvements brought about by the Watt engine, it was not enough to dethrone the old Newcomen engine that had been in use for almost a hundred years. Significant upheaval would not occur until the life and time of Richard Trevithick. Trevithick himself is said to have invented the high-pressure steam engine himself, though the actual inventor is not certainly known, and it remains merely an undocumented rumor. What is known, however, is that he would apply a (possibly his) high pressure steam engine to a set of tracks in 1804 and would invent the steam locomotive, with the high-pressure engine having been invented shortly before. All of these achievements, however, which brought the steam engine into the limelight, would not occur until the 19th century (ironically, Watt would retire from his steam engine business in 1800). So although the steam engine would become a celebrity in its own right during the 19th century, it was not so at all during the 18th.
On a curious concluding note, one other factor that may have hampered the development of the steam engine was the timidity of James Watt himself. The concept of high-pressure steam engines did exist in the 18th century and was known to Watt, but he was too afraid to pursue the concept, believing that it was too dangerous. Crump corroborates this, saying of the matter:
Watt himself had long known of their potential, but - cautious as ever - was inhibited by the danger in working with high-pressure steam. History was often to prove him right: in the new age of locomotion, boiler explosions were an ever-present hazard.
Perhaps if Watt had attempted to bring this concept into reality, things may have progressed at a faster pace, but alas, he did not, and so the honor of inventing the high-pressure steam engine lay with someone else, and its implementation would have to wait until the 19th century.
A depiction of Richard Trevithick’s Catch Me Who Can steam locomotive, shown at a circus in London where it was demonstrated for a few weeks. Source: Public Domain.
In conclusion, one can plainly see the setbacks that prevented the steam engine from becoming what we know it to be during the 19th century. A combination of mechanical and physical limitations, untapped potential, and delays in the adoption of the new technology, meant that the steam engine could not perform all it was capable of until the expansive age of the 19th century. When it did, however, it would revolutionize the world of industry, giving humanity more power than it ever had before, and its effects would be far-reaching. The steam turbines that generate electricity in nuclear power plants and the internal combustion engine both owe their existence to the pioneers who first harnessed the power of steam. Though the age of steam is long dead, its legacy lives on forever. But although the steam engine may be an item representing the glory of the Industrial Revolution now, this was not the case in the 18th century. Although the steam engine was popular enough in the coal mining industry during that time as previously discussed, it failed to gain the kind of traction it would have in the 19th century. But off the hard work and tribulations of Newcomen and Watt, pioneers like Trevithick, Stephenson, and Brunel, would propel it as far as it could go, and no doubt contributed significantly to the progress of the Industrial Revolution.
A product of centuries of development in steam technology, Great Western Railway 37xx class ‘City of Truro’ speeds past Hellen Beagle in this painting by Don Breckon. Legend has it that on the 4th of May, 1904, this engine would be the first steam locomotive, and thus land vehicle, to reach 100 miles per hour on the Ocean Mails special from Plymouth to London Paddington. Though there is some debate as to the accuracy of this speed, it no doubt at least got very close, and is a testament to hundreds of years of hard work on the parts of many engineers, and reflects the golden time in the age of steam that so many railway enthusiasts look back on with wonder. Source: artuk.org.