Industrial Revolution : Steam engines

Untitled photo of the Industrial Revolution. [n.d]. Retrieved August 14, 2013 from http://www.docstoc.com/docs/82864876/Industrial-Revolution---PowerPoint

So, steam engines. What are they? Steam engines are basically external combustion engines, as opposed to internal combustion engines, where the working fluid is separated from the combustion products.  These engines use boiling water to produce steam, which is pressurised and then used to produce mechanical power/rotational motion to power machinery, tools and/or vehicles. The usage of these engines date back as early as 2000 years ago, when they were used to remove water from coal mines and diamond mines.

Untitled picture of the Watt steam engine [n.d.]. Retrieved August 15, 2013 from  http://www.humanthermodynamics.com/ht-history.html

Shown above is one of the earliest and most popular examples of the steam engine, the Watt engine, made famous by its designer James Watt. A steam engine basically works in this way : Water is boiled to make steam in a boiler until it reaches extremely high pressures. The high pressured steam is then forced through pipes to pistons inside cylinders or turbines, where the high pressure drives the piston or turbine, thus converting heat and pressure into  mechanical work. The excess steam is then either released into the air, or condensed and pumped back into the boiler.

Steam engines were one of the main drivers of the Industrial Revolution as it was used in almost all industrial applications such as driving large machinery, locomotives, pumps, ships and farmyard vehicles.

One of the types of steam engines which are in use are called beam engines. Beam engines basically use a beam to transfer force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. These engines were mainly used to pump water out of mines or into canals, but in New Zealand they were used to pump fresh, clean water to reservoirs. One such example of a beam engine was first assembled in Western Springs, Auckland, and used to pump water to Mt Eden, Ponsonby and Khyber Pass.

As seen in the photo, the engine was built by John Key and Son, Engineers and Shipbuilders, in the year 1877. In the year 1879 it started its work pumping water and was officially decommissioned in the year 1928. When running at maximum capacity, it used to pump about 2 million gallons of water from Western Springs each day, until the water dam at Waitakere took over as the main water supply for the supply areas.
In the year 2008, the restoration project was completed and the engine was brought back to life where it now regularly runs at MOTAT, as a feature show for visitors and a reminder of the immense working history it once had. Below is a video of the actual running of the restored engine at the pump house :

No doubt these works of engineering are a marvel, and they were a boon to those who lived during the time of the Industrial Revolution, but what were some of the actual societal impacts of the development of this technology?

The development of this technology had a massive impact on society in many ways, ranging from transport, shipping, mining, farming, politics, economics and etc.

One of the main impacts was that production was hugely improved, and the development of these powerful engines in industrial use paved the way for mass production. Goods could now be produced cheaper and in mass quantities, and also with better quality.

Transportation costs were also improved, and people could travel cheaper with the improvement of locomotives and ships/boats. Goods also could be transported over long distances in shorter times, resulting in better and faster supply to meet demands, and increased input of work. Roads and canals were built, resulting in shorter travelling times and increased network of travellers and road users.

Before the steam engine was developed, there were factories and manufacturing plants, but those were slow and cumbersome as most of the work was done by humans or beasts of burden such as horses, mules, and buffaloes (in farming). More and more factories were built as a result of the usage of steam power, as a result more and more jobs were offered, and cities became more populated and popular as the quality of life improved. Coal also replaced wood as the fuel of choice.

The impact of this led to the first automobile, and sometime after that also led to the invention of the first airplane.

There are negative impacts which resulted from the advancement in technology, such as pollution, the depletion of fossil fuels, global warming, child labor and division of the different social classes, but it cannot be denied that the positives outweighed the negatives, and the advancement of the technology developed in those times are directly responsible for the technologically advanced and modern world we have today.

:)


References :

All Sands. (n.d.). Retrieved August 16, 2013 from
http://www.allsands.com/potluck1/potluck1/steamenginehi_uvb_gn.htm


NZ Herald. (2008). Beam Engine Springs to Life. Retrieved August 15, 2013 from
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/auckland-city-harbour-news/325451/Beam-engine-springs-to-life

Wikipedia. (2007). Steam Engine. Retrieved August 15, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_engine

Whipps, H. (June 16, 2008). Retrieved August 14, 2013 from
http://www.livescience.com/2612-steam-engine-changed-world.html