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Unfortunately, it consumed many many hours in the machine shop, and was one reason why I decided to write software - I could realize my ideas much faster!
"Age of Invention: Why wasn't the Steam Engine Invented Earlier? Part I" at https://www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-invention-why-wasnt-...
"Age of Invention: Why wasn't the Steam Engine Invented Earlier? Part II" at https://www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-invention-why-wasnt-...
"Age of Invention: Why wasn't the Steam Engine Invented Earlier? Part III" at https://www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-invention-why-wasnt-...
Part II has 304 HN comments from July 2022 at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32106467 .
The materials really matter. Early steam engines such as Newcomen's were insanely complicated and had terrible thermodynamic efficiency, because the parts couldn't stand any real pressure.
Consider a Diesel. A basic Diesel engine is a very simple machine. Here's a rural mechanic in China restoring one from junk status to running, using basic tools.[1] It's a brutally simple one-cylinder engine, widely used in Japan and India. No pollution controls. No water recycling; you have to add water as often as fuel. No electrical components. Started with a hand crank. Costs about US$200-$300 for a new one.[2]
Seems like someone would have been able to build one of those by 1700 or so. But no. You couldn't build that engine without reasonably good steel. Even if you had one to copy, you could not build that with the technology of 1870. You need a strong cylinder, a strong cylinder head, and good piston rings that precisely fit the cylinder, or you won't get the compression to ignite the fuel. The first Diesel engine that worked was built in 1897.
Steel is interesting, because it's thousands of years old, yet wasn't mass produced until the 1890s. A Bessemer converter is very simple. The Romans could have built one. But it took quite a bit of R&D to get the metallurgy right so that steel came out. Bessemer got his working, but others, with different ore sources, couldn't get theirs to work reliably. Robert Mushet did 10,000 trials over ten years of to get an understanding of exactly what ingredients do what. This debugged the Bessemer process, and the world changed.
The Romans had sword factories. They could make steel, but not in bulk. If that work had happened a centuries earlier...
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s--QjXbdnME
[2] https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Changchai-Diesel-Engi...
The amazing thing is that steam engines were made out of iron for most of the 19th century. Steel wasn't available in bulk until about 1880. The materials really matter. Early steam engines such as Newcomen's were insanely complicated and had terrible thermodynamic efficiency, because the parts couldn't stand any real pressure. Consider a Diesel. A basic Diesel engine is a very simple machine. Here's a rural mechanic…
I had fun designing and machining a simple steam engine with a one inch piston. It actually worked, though it was poorly balanced and vibrated too much. Unfortunately, it consumed many many hours in the machine shop, and was one reason why I decided to write software - I could realize my ideas much faster!
The amazing thing is that steam engines were made out of iron for most of the 19th century. Steel wasn't available in bulk until about 1880. The materials really matter. Early steam engines such as Newcomen's were insanely complicated and had terrible thermodynamic efficiency, because the parts couldn't stand any real pressure. Consider a Diesel. A basic Diesel engine is a very simple machine. Here's a rural mechanic…
would you not also require diesel fuel?
I had fun designing and machining a simple steam engine with a one inch piston. It actually worked, though it was poorly balanced and vibrated too much. Unfortunately, it consumed many many hours in the machine shop, and was one reason why I decided to write software - I could realize my ideas much faster!
in the uk, in the 60s you could get toy steam engines with i guess about a 3/4 inch piston. i had one, heated by a small methylated spirit burner. it had just about enough power to keep itself going, but whenever i tried to hook it up to one of my meccano constructs, it didn't have the juice.
I used to collect steam-engines, and had fun repairing them and maintaining them until a cross-country move meant I lost most of my collection.
I still have the Mamod Roadster, which is a cute little car powered by steam (not my video):
The amazing thing is that steam engines were made out of iron for most of the 19th century. Steel wasn't available in bulk until about 1880. The materials really matter. Early steam engines such as Newcomen's were insanely complicated and had terrible thermodynamic efficiency, because the parts couldn't stand any real pressure. Consider a Diesel. A basic Diesel engine is a very simple machine. Here's a rural mechanic…
Thank you for your succinct summation of this complex point. I've been fascinated by the history of technology for as long as I can remember, but as a kid, even a teenager, steel drove me nuts. On the one hand, there were lots of sources talking about the late 19th Century as the time when steel emerged, but there were equally as many references mentioning Chinese steel, Indian steel or Damascus steel thousands or hundreds of years ago. It took me a long time (until, in the pre-internet era, I had access to a college library) to get a good picture of steel's place over time.
The amazing thing is that steam engines were made out of iron for most of the 19th century. Steel wasn't available in bulk until about 1880. The materials really matter. Early steam engines such as Newcomen's were insanely complicated and had terrible thermodynamic efficiency, because the parts couldn't stand any real pressure. Consider a Diesel. A basic Diesel engine is a very simple machine. Here's a rural mechanic…
As a film photographer, if I ever find myself in possession of a time machine, the first thing I'll do is go back to ancient Minoa/Rome/Egypt/China/Tikal and show people how to make silver based emulsions to use with pinhole cameras.
In a similar vein, this article "Why did we wait so long for the bicycle?" is a nice read.
https://rootsofprogress.org/why-did-we-wait-so-long-for-the-...
related is the notion of "steam engine time". here's a nice blog post explaining the concept: https://kk.org/thetechnium/steam-engine-ti/