Researched
Steam Engine
Heat from coal becomes motion - work is no longer tied to rivers, wind or muscle.
Open in the interactive tree →Thomas Newcomen built the first commercially used steam engine in 1712 to pump water out of mines; from 1769 James Watt's separate condenser made it efficient enough for factories, ships and locomotives. For the first time mechanical work could be obtained anywhere from fuel. The machine triggered the Industrial Revolution and posed the questions from which thermodynamics grew.
Prerequisites
- Blast Furnace & Cast Iron~1400
- Scientific Method~1600-1620
- Vacuum Pumps & Gas Laws1643-1662Early steam engines worked by condensing steam to make the atmosphere push the piston
- Wood, Charcoal & Coal~1709
Unlocks
- Machine Tools1775
- Puddling & Rolling Mills1783-84
- Centrifugal Governor1788
- Steamship1807
- Thermodynamics1824
- Railway1825
- Grain Elevator1842
- Bessemer Steel1856
- Sewers and clean water1858
- Oil & Natural Gas1859
- Electrification1882
- Social Insurance1883
- Steam Turbine1884