You’re reading Age of Invention, my newsletter on the causes of the British Industrial Revolution and the history of innovation. This edition went out to over 14,000 free subscribers. To support my work, you can upgrade your subscription here: We know surprisingly little about Thomas Savery — the inventor of the first widely-used steam engine. Unfortunately, his achievements were almost immediately overshadowed by the engine of Thomas Newcomen, and so he’s often only mentioned as a sort of afterthought — a loose and rather odd-seeming pebble before the firmer stepping stones of Newcomen, Watt, Trevithick, and other steam engine pioneers in the standard and simple narratives of technological progress that people like to tell. I’ve often seen Savery’s name omitted entirely.
Given the paucity of online information on the Savery pump I never figured out how he delt with the high pressure steam needed to push the water out. Wikipedia says that the steam was at 8-10 atmospheres which was a pressure beyond of what they could deal with at the time but still some Savary pumps were allegedly actually used.
Your amazing series on the steam engine has started to make me think that Watt is a bit overrated. He perfected Newcomen's atmospheric steam engine but they were soon replaced by high pressure engines like the ones of Trevithick. A sort of Zeppelin situation.
Given the paucity of online information on the Savery pump I never figured out how he delt with the high pressure steam needed to push the water out. Wikipedia says that the steam was at 8-10 atmospheres which was a pressure beyond of what they could deal with at the time but still some Savary pumps were allegedly actually used.
Your amazing series on the steam engine has started to make me think that Watt is a bit overrated. He perfected Newcomen's atmospheric steam engine but they were soon replaced by high pressure engines like the ones of Trevithick. A sort of Zeppelin situation.