People were able to put steam to the service of humanity only at the very end of the 17th century. But even at the beginning of our era, the ancient Greek mathematician and mechanic Heron of Alexandria clearly showed that one can and should be friends with steam. A clear confirmation of this was the Geronovsky aeolipile, in fact, the first steam turbine - a ball that rotated with the power of jets of water vapor. Unfortunately, many amazing inventions of the ancient Greeks were firmly forgotten for many centuries. Only in the 17th century is there a description of something similar to a steam engine. The Frenchman Salomon de Caus, who was at one time a builder and engineer for Frederick V of the Palatinate, in his essay dated 1615, described a hollow iron ball with two tubes: one receiving and one releasing liquid. If you fill the ball with water and heat it up, then through the second tube the water will begin to rise to the top, obeying the influence of vapors. In 1663, the Englishman Edward Somerset, Marquess of Worchester, wrote a brochure in which he spoke about a machine that could lift water upward. At the same time, Somerset received a patent (“privilege”) for the described machine. As we see, all the thoughts of the inventors of the New Age revolved around pumping water from mines and mines, which, it should be noted, stemmed from an urgent task. It is therefore not surprising that the next three inventors, discussed below, were also primarily concerned with creating a steam engine for pumping water. Towards the very end of the 17th century, two people in Europe worked more effectively on taming steam - Denis Papin and Thomas Savery.

Savery's "fire" car.

On July 2, 1698, the Englishman Savery received a patent for a machine for pumping water from mines. The patent stated: “Privilege is claimed to Thomas Savery for having alone tested a new invention for raising water, turning all kinds of mills by the forces of fire, which will be very important for draining mines, supplying cities with water and turning all kinds of mills.” A prototype called the Fire Engine was exhibited at the Royal Scientific Society in London in 1699. Savery's machine operated in this way: a sealed tank was filled with steam, and then the outer surface of the tank was cooled with cold water, which caused the steam to condense, creating a partial vacuum in the tank. Then water from the bottom of the shaft was sucked into the tank through the intake pipe and, after a new portion of steam was introduced, it was pushed out through the outlet pipe. It is worth noting that Savery's invention was similar to Somerset's machine, and many believe that Savery was directly inspired by the latter. Unfortunately, Savery's "fiery" machine had its shortcomings. The most important of them is the inability to raise water from a depth of more than 15 meters, although at that time there were already mines whose depth exceeded 100 meters. In addition, the car consumed a lot of fuel, which was not justified even by the proximity of a large amount of coal at the mine. The Frenchman Denis Papin, a physician by training, moved to London in 1675. Papen made several discoveries that forever inscribed his name in history. To begin with, Papen invents a pressure cooker - “Papen's Cauldron”. The former physician was able to establish the relationship between pressure and boiling point of water. A sealed boiler with a safety valve, due to the increased pressure inside, brought the water to a boil much later, so the processing temperature of the products increased and the latter were cooked many times faster. In 1674, Papin created a gunpowder engine: gunpowder was ignited in a cylinder, causing the piston inside the cylinder to move. One “batch” of gases was released from the cylinder through a special valve, and the other was cooled. A vacuum (albeit weak) was formed in the cylinder, and atmospheric pressure pushed the piston down. In 1698, Papin invented a steam engine using water that was heated inside a vertical cylinder - the resulting steam moved the piston upward. The cylinder was then cooled with water, the steam condensed and a vacuum was created. The same atmospheric pressure forced the piston down. Despite the progressiveness of his machine (the presence of a piston), Papin was unable to extract any significant dividends from it, since Savery patented a steam pump, and there were no other applications for steam engines at that time (although Savery’s patent indicated the possibility of “rotation mills"). In 1714, in the capital of the British Empire, Papen died in poverty and loneliness. Another Englishman, Thomas Newcomen, born in 1663, turned out to be much more successful. Newcomen carefully read the work of both Savery and Papin, which is why he was able to understand the weak points of the previous machines, while at the same time taking the best from them. In 1712, together with glassmaker and plumber John Calley, he built his first steam engine. It used a vertical cylinder with a piston, like Papin's machine. However, the steam was generated in a separate steam boiler, which was similar to the operating principle of Savery's "fire" engine. The tightness inside the steam cylinder was increased by a skin that was secured around the piston. Newcomen's machine was also steam-atmospheric, i.e. the rise of water from the mine was carried out under the influence atmospheric pressure. It was quite bulky and “ate” a lot of coal. Nevertheless, Newcomen’s machine brought incomparably more practical benefits, which is why it was used in mines for almost half a century. In England, for example, it allowed the reopening of abandoned mines that were flooded with groundwater. And another striking example of the effectiveness of Newcomen’s machine - in 1722 in Kronstadt, in a dry dock, water was pumped out of a ship within two weeks, while with an outdated pumping system using windmills it would have taken a year. Despite all this, Thomas Newcomen did not receive a patent for his steam engine because of Savery's patent. The possibility of using Newcomen's steam engine to propel a vehicle was considered by designers, in particular, to drive a paddle wheel on a ship. However, the attempts were unsuccessful. James Watt had the opportunity to invent a compact but powerful steam engine. In 1763, Watt, a mechanic at the University of Glasgow, was given the task of repairing Newcomen's steam engine. During the repair process, Watt comes up with the following idea - the cylinder of the steam engine must be kept constantly heated, which will sharply reduce fuel consumption. All that remained was to understand how to condense the steam in this case. It dawned on Watt while he was taking his evening exercise near the laundries. Seeing clouds of steam trying to escape from under the boiler covers, the inventor suddenly realized that steam was a gas, and it must move into a cylinder with low blood pressure . Watt takes up the matter decisively. He uses a water pump and metal tubes, from which the pump will pump out water and steam, creating a reduced pressure in the latter, and this, from the tubes, will begin to be transferred to the working cylinder of the steam engine. For the power stroke, Watt uses steam pressure, thereby abandoning atmospheric pressure, which was a big step forward. For this purpose, to prevent steam from passing between the cylinder and the piston, a hemp rope soaked in oil was wrapped around the piston along special grooves. This method made it possible to achieve a fairly high tightness inside the steam cylinder. In 1769, Watt received a patent for "the creation of a steam engine in which the temperature of the engine will always be equal to the temperature of the steam, although the steam will be cooled to a temperature below one hundred degrees." In 1772, James Watt met industrialist Matthew Bolton. This rich gentleman bought and returned to Watt all his patents, which the unlucky inventor was forced to pawn for debts. With Bolton's support, Watt's work accelerated. Already in 1773, Watt was testing his steam engine; it performed the same function of a steam pump, but required much less coal. Seeing the obvious advantages of Watt's machine, Bolton opened a company with the inventor to produce steam engines, and in 1774 their production began in England. The sale of steam engines was going so well that Bolton wanted to build a new rolling shop, for which he asked Watt to create a special steam engine to drive rolling machines. Watt coped with the task brilliantly, and in 1781 he patented a steam engine “for moving around an axis for the purpose of driving other machines.” Thus, the first steam engine was born not to raise water from the bottom of mines, but to set machines in motion. Watt's new machine had a number of improvements. For example, a regulator for uniform rotation of the main shaft of a steam engine, as well as a planetary mechanism for creating circular motion. Watt invents the latter because the current patent does not allow him to use the crank mechanism. But in 1784, Watt still managed to obtain permission to use a crank mechanism in a steam engine. Thus, the world's first universal steam engine, created by Watt, began to drive industrial machines, heralding the advent of the era of steam engines. Very soon, steam will begin to move steamships and trains, thanks to which human life will radically change. The enormous merits of James Watt did not go unnoticed by posterity - in 1819, by order of the English Parliament, a marble monument was erected to the great inventor in Westminster Abbey. It is believed that the first steamboat was built by the American Robert Fulton in 1807 - his ship with a paddle wheel was called the Claremont. At first, Fulton tried to use steam to propel the oars, but then turned to the more successful idea of ​​a wheel. Fulton made his first voyage on the Claremont alone, since the residents of the surrounding area flatly refused to board the “devilishly” smoking vessel. But on the way back to Fulton, one brave man nevertheless got hooked, for which he received from the inventor the right to lifelong free travel on the Claremont. Then Fulton's ship's voyages became commonplace - the Claremont transported people along the Hudson River from New York to Albany, reaching a speed of about 5 knots (9 km/h). The first screw steamship was built in 1838 by the Englishman Francis Smith. The use of propellers instead of paddle wheels made it possible to significantly improve the performance of steamships. Auxiliary sails are gradually disappearing on steamships (remember that in 1819 the American steamship Savannah crossed the Atlantic Ocean mostly with the help of sails), and by the beginning of the 20th century, sailing ships themselves were becoming history. The first steam locomotive was built by Briton Richard Trevithick. It was a steam-powered carriage moving on rails at a speed of 7 km/h and carrying a train weighing 7 tons. In 1804, a small railway was built in London to test the Trevithick steam locomotive. In our time, both steamships and steam locomotives have long become a historical curiosity, which, however, can be found in the most different countries. Thus, in Norway, on Lake Mjøs, the oldest paddle steamer in the world, the Skibladner, built back in 1856, still operates. In turn, steam locomotives are actively used in third world countries, which means that steam still faithfully serves humanity.

"Steam Cart" by Cugno.

A separate milestone in the history of steam is steam cars. The first working steam car ("steam cart") was built by the Frenchman Nicolas-Joseph Cugot (Cugot) in 1769. It was a very heavy cart, weighing more than a ton, which two people could barely handle. Aesthetically, the car did not look very beautiful - the boiler, like a pot on a handle, was placed in front of the vehicle. Cugno's "cart" developed a speed of about 2-4 km/h and could carry up to 3 tons of cargo. It was difficult to operate - to maintain the steam pressure, which was rapidly falling, it was necessary to stop and light the firebox every quarter of an hour. In the end, on the next test drive, Cugnot and the fireman (by the way, fireman in French sounds like “chauffeur,” which is where the word “chauffeur” came from) suffered an accident on a sharp turn, causing the boiler to explode, causing noise throughout Paris. Cunho built a new “cart”, but it did not reach the masses. In 1794 it was handed over to the museum. Another Frenchman, Leon Serpollet, made a significant contribution to the development of steam engines. In 1875, he created a small but powerful steam car. Leon decided that it was better to heat the water not in a boiler, but in heated tubes, where it turns into steam very quickly. Serpolle's first working vehicle was a two-seater, three-wheeled carriage made of wood. At first, the police forbade the Frenchman to travel even at night, but in 1888 they finally gave in and issued an official document with permission to travel. Serpollet did not stop there. Instead of coal, he begins to use liquid fuel, which is supplied to two burners. In 1900, he opened a company together with the American Frank Gardner - Gardner-Serpollet. In 1902, Serpollet created a racing steam car and set a world land speed record with it in Nice - 120.77 km/h. It is not surprising that at that time steam cars competed quite successfully with their gasoline and electric counterparts. The first ones flourished especially in the USA, where, for example, in 1900, 1690 steam, 1585 electric and only 936 gasoline cars were produced. Steam cars were used in the USA until the 1930s. In the first half of the 19th century, steam tractors were also built, in particular with caterpillar tracks. However, the efficiency of steam engines was only 5%. For this reason, at the beginning of the twentieth century, steam engines in cars were replaced by internal combustion engines. With their help, cars have become more economical, lighter and faster. It is impossible not to mention other, less successful uses of steam at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. The widespread use of steamships, steam locomotives and steam cars prompted inventors to think that steam could be used in aviation and the army. Alas, steam was not useful in these areas. Although by the middle of the 19th century there were several attempts to create airplanes with a steam engine. The Englishman William Henson built the Ariel Steam Carridge, which had a steam engine with a power of 25-30 hp, which drove propellers with a diameter of 3.05 m. To reduce the weight of the machine, the conventional boiler was replaced by a system of vessels conical shape using an air condenser. In 1844-1847, Henson tested his airplanes without success. They all ended unsuccessfully. But already in 1848, John Stringfellow finally built an airplane that took off from the ground, although not for long. The apotheosis of “ferry mania” in the aircraft industry was the Hayrem Stevens Maxim airplane, which had a steam engine with a power of 360 hp and could be compared in size to a two-story house. It is not surprising that Maxim’s airplane collapsed overnight, like all man’s dreams of conquering the air with the help of steam. Although, we note that in 1896, the American Samuel Pierpont Langley nevertheless built an airplane with a steam engine, which flew for about a kilometer without a pilot until it ran out of fuel. Langley called his creation an “airfield” (translated from ancient Greek as “running in the air”). However, by the beginning of the 20th century, it was clear to everyone that bulky steam engines were not suitable for aeronautics, especially since by this time gasoline engines had proven themselves excellent in airplanes - on December 17, 1903, the famous Wright Brothers airplane, equipped with a gasoline engine, appeared in the sky. Things were no better with steam in the army. But Leonardo da Vinci himself described a cannon that fired projectiles with the force of only fire and water. The great Florentine suggested that a long copper barrel with a core, placed in a furnace at one end, could eject a projectile if a little water was injected into the compartment behind the core when the tube became very hot. Leonardo believed that water at such a high temperature would evaporate very quickly and, becoming an analogue of gunpowder, would push the cannonball out at great speed. It is worth noting that the idea of ​​the steam gun is attributed to Archimedes. The ancient manuscripts mention that during the siege of Syracuse in 212 BC, Roman ships were fired from cannons. But there was no gunpowder in Europe then! And Leonardo da Vinci suggested that Archimedes, whose devices defended Syracuse, had steam cannons. The Greek engineer Ionis Sakkas decided to test this idea of ​​da Vinci. He built a wooden cannon, to the back of which was attached a boiler heated to 400°C. As suggested by Leonardo da Vinci, water was supplied to a special valve, which, evaporating instantly, burst into steam into the barrel, causing the concrete core in Sakkas’s experiments to fly away to a distance of 30-40 m. Students from MIT and participants in the television series “MythBusters,” although without the success of Sakkas. In the 19th century, steam was again used, but it was not possible to create a truly combat-ready weapon (a cannon or a machine gun). In 1826-1829, the Russian engineer-colonel of the Railway Corps A. Karelin manufactured a copper 7-line (17.5 mm) experimental steam gun. Shooting was carried out with ball bullets using water vapor, the rate of fire reached 50 rounds per minute. But the tests carried out in 1829 did not impress the “selection committee”, which considered the gun too complicated for use in the field. At the end of this article, it is impossible not to mention steampunk (English: "steampunk", from "steam" - "steam" and "punk" - "protest"). This direction of science fiction describes the era of steam from Victorian England (second half of the 19th century) and early capitalism (early 20th century). Cityscapes, characters, public moods, etc. are described accordingly. The term itself appeared in 1987. The steampunk genre gained popularity after the appearance of the novel “The Difference Engine” by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling (1990). The forerunners of steampunk can be called Jules Verne and Grigory Adamov. IN last years Many steampunk films have appeared, the most famous of which are “Wild Wild West” (1999), “The Time Machine” (2002), “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” (2003) and “Van Helsing” (2004). Dieselpunk is chronologically adjacent to steampunk - a genre that describes the technological world of the 20-50s of the 20th century, very close, it should be noted, to the technoworld of the early 20th century.

All global concerns are preparing to begin mass production of electric vehicles, which should replace smelly cars with internal combustion engines. But besides electric and gasoline engines, humanity knows steam engines and has known them for several centuries. Today we will talk about these undeservedly forgotten helpers of man.

19th century? Or maybe the first steam engine was created in the 18th century? Don't guess, you won't guess. In the first century BC, i.e. more than 2 thousand years ago, the first steam engine in human history was created by the Greek engineer Heron of Alexandria.

The engine was a ball that rotated around its axis under the influence of steam escaping from it. True, the ancient Greeks had difficulty understanding the essence of the process, so the development of this technology froze for almost 1500 years...

Emperor steam toy

Ferdinand Verbst, a member of the Jesuit community in China, built the first steam-powered automobile around 1672 as a toy for the Chinese Emperor. The car was small in size and could not carry a driver or passenger, but it may have been the first working steam-powered vehicle ("car"). But this was the first steam car in the history of mankind, albeit a toy one.

Newton's project

Famous scientists also considered the idea of ​​harnessing the power of steam and creating a self-propelled carriage. One of the famous such projects was the Isaac Newton crew project. The crew consisted of a cart equipped with a steam boiler with a nozzle through which the driver could release steam using a valve, thereby accelerating the cart. But the great scientist never realized his project; Newton’s steam car remained on paper.

Thomas Newkman and his groundwater pumping machine

The first device put into practice was the Newkman engine. Briton Thomas Newcomman designed a steam engine that was similar to modern engines. A cylinder and a piston that moved in it under the influence of steam pressure. The steam was generated in a huge boiler, which did not allow this machine to be used in any other way, as a machine for pumping groundwater.

James Watt

Scotsman James Watt undertook to improve Newxman's machine. He noticed that in order to reduce coal consumption, it was necessary to constantly maintain a high temperature in the cylinder, and also attached a condenser to the machine, where waste steam was collected, which was subsequently turned into water and, using a pump, was again sent to the boiler. All this would have made it possible to install the engine on a frame and create the first steam car, but Watt considered this type of transport dangerous and did not engage in further development. Moreover, the designer received a patent for his car, which became an obstacle for other designers in working on the first steam car.

Not yet a car, but already a cart

The creator of the first self-propelled vehicle was the Frenchman Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot. In 1769, the inventor created a three-wheeled cart - the “small cart of Cugno”, which was also called the “Fardier”. According to the author's idea, this strange vehicle was supposed to be used to transport guns. Not yet a car, but already a self-propelled cart.

Only Cugno's cart had a lot of shortcomings. The engine weighed about a ton, so the cart could hardly be controlled by two people. Another disadvantage of Cugno's small cart was its low range - only one kilometer. Refueling in the form of water in the boiler and making a fire on the road where the boiler was transferred were too long and complicated procedures. The speed also wanted to be better, only 4 km/h.

But the cart also had its advantages. The carrying capacity was two tons, which greatly pleased the generals of the French headquarters, who allocated 20 thousand francs to Cunya for further work on the cart.

The designer put the funds he received to good use and the second version of the cart was already moving at speeds of up to 5-7 kilometers per hour, and the firebox installed under the boiler made it possible to maintain the temperature while moving, rather than stopping every 15 minutes to light a fire.

This embryo of the future car caused the first accident in history. The cart's wheel jammed and it rammed into the wall of the house.

Despite Cugno's successes, work was suspended for a banal reason: the money ran out. But to our delight, the cart of the French designer has still been preserved and we can see it with our own eyes.

Roper's steam bicycle

Inventors were in a constant state of search. If Cugno moved along the path of creating a car, then the American Sylvester Howard Roper undertook to create the future motorcycle. It would be more correct to say steam bicycle.

Roper placed the steam engine under the seat, with steam exiting directly behind the saddle. Speed ​​control was carried out using a handle on the steering wheel. By turning it away from himself, the driver increased the speed, turning in the opposite direction, braking was carried out.

Roper's rides on the first bike caused shock and indignation among others, just like we are now outraged by noisy motorcycles. They even complained to the police about Roper. The inventor was saved from prison and a fine only by the absence of a law that would prohibit riding a right-handed bicycle.

And just like modern bikers, Roper, riding his steam bike, crashed.

Steam amphibian

The Oruktor Amphibolos, the first amphibious vehicle, was developed in 1804 by American inventor Oliver Evans. The boat-shaped hull had 4 wheels and a paddle wheel at the stern. It was a giant machine: nine meters long and weighing 15 tons.

Omnibus Enterprise

The disadvantage of all the first steam engines was their low load capacity and low speed. Horse-drawn carriages (omnibuses) were faster than the fastest steam engine. Engineers entered into a battle with horsepower.

The first car for eight people was designed by Richard Trevithick. But Richard's car did not interest investors. Thirty years later, Walter Hancock took up the baton and created the first steam omnibus, called the Enterprise. A ton of water, a two-cylinder engine, a speed of 32 kilometers per hour and a range of up to 32 kilometers. This even allowed the Enterprise to be used as a commercial vehicle. And this was already a success for the inventors - the first bus drove through the streets.

First car

The first steam engine, which looked not like a pan cart, but like a regular car, was designed by the brothers Abner and John Doblow. The Doblov machine already had many components familiar to us, but more on that later.

While still a student, Abner began developing steam engines in his own workshop in 1910. What the brothers managed to do was reduce the volume of water. As you may recall, Enterprise used a ton of water. The 90-liter Doblov model had a power reserve of up to one and a half thousand kilometers. The brothers-inventors equipped their cars with an automatic ignition system. Today we turn the key to strike a spark in the engine. The Doblow ignition system injected kerosene into the carburetor, where it was ignited and fed into a chamber under the boiler. The required water vapor pressure was created in a record time of 90 seconds. 1.5 minutes and you can get underway. You may say it takes a long time, but steam engines of other designers started moving in 10 and even 30 minutes.

The exhibited sample of the Dolbov car at an exhibition in New York caused a sensation. During the exhibition alone, the brothers collected orders for 5,500 cars. But then the First began World War, which caused a crisis and a shortage of metal in the country, and production had to be forgotten for a while.

After the war, the Dobles presented a new, improved model of a steam car to the public. The required pressure in the boiler was achieved in 23 seconds, the speed was 160 kilometers per hour, and in 10 seconds the car accelerated to 120 kilometers per hour. Probably the only drawback of the car was its price. Unreal for those times, 18 thousand dollars. The greatest steam car in the history of mankind was produced in only 50 copies.

Faster than steam

Again the brothers-inventors, this time the Stanley brothers, set about creating a car using boiling water. Their racing car was ready for arrival in 1906. On a Florida beach, the car accelerated to 205.4 kilometers per hour. At that time, this was an absolute record, even for a car with a gasoline engine. Here's a pan on wheels.

The brothers were only stopped by the injury of one of them, received as a result of a parabolic accident. The speed record for the Stanley brothers' car was unsurpassed for more than a century.

Inspiration

The next speed record was set on August 26, 2009 in an Inspiration car. The car, more like a fighter jet, was driven by two turbines, which rotated thanks to steam supplied at 40 bar pressure from twelve highly efficient boilers. Under the hood of this device is hidden 360 horsepower, which allowed it to accelerate to 225 kilometers per hour.

ParoRussia

Steam cars, of course, could not pass by Russia. The first domestic model running on coal and water in 1830 could have been the “Bystrokat” by Kazimir Yankevich. According to the designer's calculations, this ferry could accelerate to a speed of 32 kilometers per hour. But the car remained on paper.

The first steam engine was created by the talented Russian peasant Fyodor Blinov. In 1879, he received a patent “for a special design of a carriage with endless rails for transporting goods on highways and country roads.” Later, this car turned into a caterpillar steam tractor, which Blinov also taught to turn due to the difference in torque on each of the tracks. But the inventor’s brainchild was not appreciated, only a small bonus was given.

The first Russian steam cars began to be produced at the Moscow Dux plant. Those who collect retro models know this elegant car “Locomobile”.

“The cars make no noise at all, which still cannot be said about gasoline cars. Even electric cars, driven by electricity, this power of the future, make more noise (or rather, buzz) than Dux steam cars. Its entire mechanism is so simple and compact that it fits under the seat and does not require any protruding parts for its placement, such as, for example, the nose of gasoline cars; it does not have gear changes, electric batteries, magnetos, easily broken spark plugs, in a word, everything that which is the cause of most breakdowns and troubles in gasoline cars,” wrote Avtomobil magazine at the beginning of the last century.

The rapidly developing internal combustion engines running on gasoline marked the end of the development of steam cars. Inventors tried to revive this technology, but their ideas did not find support.

Steam engines were used as drive engines in pumping stations, locomotives, steam ships, tractors, steam cars and other vehicles. Steam engines contributed to the widespread commercial use of machines in enterprises and were the energy basis of the industrial revolution of the 18th century. Later, steam engines were replaced by internal combustion engines, steam turbines, electric motors and nuclear reactors, which are more efficient.

Steam engine in action

Invention and development

The first known device driven by steam was described by Heron of Alexandria in the first century - this is the so-called “Heron's bath”, or “aeolipil”. Steam escaping tangentially from the nozzles attached to the ball caused the latter to rotate. It is assumed that the conversion of steam into mechanical movement was known in Egypt during the period of Roman rule and was used in simple devices.

First industrial engines

None of the devices described have actually been used as a means of solving useful problems. The first steam engine used in production was the “fire engine”, designed by the English military engineer Thomas Savery in 1698. Savery received a patent for his device in 1698. It was a piston steam pump, and obviously not very efficient, since the heat of the steam was lost each time during cooling of the container, and quite dangerous to operate, since due to the high steam pressure, the containers and engine pipelines sometimes exploded. Since this device could be used both to rotate the wheels of a water mill and to pump water out of mines, the inventor called it “the miner’s friend.”

Then English blacksmith Thomas Newcomen demonstrated his "atmospheric engine" in 1712, which was the first steam engine for which there could be a commercial demand. This was Savery's improved steam engine, in which Newcomen significantly reduced the operating steam pressure. Newcomen may have been based on descriptions of Papin's experiments held at the Royal Society of London, to which he may have had access through society member Robert Hooke, who had worked with Papen.

Diagram of the operation of Newcomen's steam engine.
– Steam is shown in purple, water is shown in blue.
– Open valves are shown in green, closed valves are shown in red

The first use of the Newcomen engine was to pump water from a deep mine. In a mine pump, the rocker arm was connected to a rod that went down into the shaft to the pump chamber. The reciprocating movements of the thrust were transmitted to the pump piston, which supplied water upward. The valves of early Newcomen engines were opened and closed manually. The first improvement was the automation of the valves, which were driven by the machine itself. Legend tells that this improvement was made in 1713 by the boy Humphrey Potter, who was supposed to open and close the valves; when he got tired of it, he tied the valve handles with ropes and went to play with the children. By 1715, a lever control system had already been created, driven by the mechanism of the engine itself.

Russia's first two-cylinder vacuum steam engine was designed by mechanic I. I. Polzunov in 1763 and built in 1764 to drive blowers at the Barnaul Kolyvano-Voskresensk factories.

Humphrey Gainsborough built a model of a steam engine with a condenser in the 1760s. In 1769, Scottish mechanic James Watt (possibly using Gainsborough's ideas) patented the first significant improvements to the Newcomen vacuum engine, which made it significantly more fuel efficient. Watt's contribution was to separate the condensation phase of the vacuum engine in a separate chamber while the piston and cylinder were at steam temperature. Watt added a few more important details to Newcomen's engine: he placed a piston inside the cylinder to push out steam and converted the reciprocating motion of the piston into the rotational motion of a drive wheel.

Based on these patents, Watt built a steam engine in Birmingham. By 1782, Watt's steam engine was more than 3 times more productive than Newcomen's engine. The improvement in the efficiency of Watt's engine led to the use of steam power in industry. In addition, unlike Newcomen's engine, Watt's engine allowed rotational motion to be transmitted, while in early models of steam engines the piston was connected to a rocker arm rather than directly to a connecting rod. This engine already had the basic features of modern steam engines.

A further increase in efficiency was the use of high-pressure steam (American Oliver Evans and Englishman Richard Trevithick). R. Trevithick successfully built industrial high-pressure single-stroke engines known as "Cornish engines". They operated at a pressure of 50 psi, or 345 kPa (3.405 atmospheres). However, with increasing pressure, there was also a greater danger of explosions in machines and boilers, which initially led to numerous accidents. From this point of view, the most important element The high pressure machine had a safety valve that released excess pressure. Reliable and safe operation began only with the accumulation of experience and standardization of procedures for the construction, operation and maintenance of equipment.

French inventor Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot demonstrated the first working self-propelled steam vehicle in 1769: the "fardier à vapeur" (steam cart). Perhaps his invention can be considered the first automobile. The self-propelled steam tractor turned out to be very useful as a mobile source of mechanical energy that drove other agricultural machines: threshers, presses, etc. In 1788, a steamboat built by John Fitch was already providing regular service along the Delaware River between Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) and Burlington (New York State). It carried 30 passengers and traveled at a speed of 7-8 miles per hour. J. Fitch's steamship was not commercially successful because its route was competing with a good overland road. In 1802, Scottish engineer William Symington built a competitive steamboat, and in 1807, American engineer Robert Fulton used Watt's steam engine to power the first commercially successful steamship. On 21 February 1804, the first self-propelled railway steam locomotive, built by Richard Trevithick, was on display at the Penydarren Ironworks at Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales.

Reciprocating steam engines

Reciprocating engines use steam power to move a piston in a sealed chamber or cylinder. The reciprocating action of the piston can be mechanically converted into linear motion of piston pumps or into rotary motion to drive rotating parts of machine tools or vehicle wheels.

Vacuum machines

Early steam engines were initially called "fire engines" and also Watt's "atmospheric" or "condensing" engines. They worked on the vacuum principle and are therefore also known as “vacuum engines”. Such machines worked to drive piston pumps, in any case, there is no evidence that they were used for other purposes. When a vacuum-type steam engine operates, at the beginning of the stroke, low-pressure steam is admitted into the working chamber or cylinder. The inlet valve then closes and the steam cools by condensing. In a Newcomen engine, cooling water is sprayed directly into the cylinder and the condensate drains into a condensate collector. This creates a vacuum in the cylinder. Atmospheric pressure at the top of the cylinder presses on the piston and causes it to move downward, that is, the working stroke.

Constantly cooling and reheating the working cylinder of the machine was very wasteful and inefficient, however, these steam engines made it possible to pump water from greater depths than was possible before their introduction. In the year a version of the steam engine appeared, created by Watt in collaboration with Matthew Boulton, the main innovation of which was the removal of the condensation process into a special separate chamber (condenser). This chamber was placed in a bath of cold water, and was connected to the cylinder by a tube closed by a valve. A special small vacuum pump (a prototype of a condensate pump) was attached to the condensation chamber, driven by a rocker arm and used to remove condensate from the condenser. The resulting hot water was supplied by a special pump (a prototype of the feed pump) back to the boiler. Another radical innovation was the closing of the upper end of the working cylinder, which now contained low pressure steam at the top. The same steam was present in the double jacket of the cylinder, maintaining its constant temperature. As the piston moved upward, this steam was transferred through special tubes to the lower part of the cylinder in order to undergo condensation during the next stroke. The machine, in fact, ceased to be “atmospheric”, and its power now depended on the pressure difference between the low-pressure steam and the vacuum that could be obtained. In Newcomen's steam engine, the piston was lubricated with a small amount of water poured on top of it; in Watt's machine, this became impossible, since there was now steam in the upper part of the cylinder; it was necessary to switch to lubrication with a mixture of grease and oil. The same lubricant was used in the cylinder rod seal.

Vacuum steam engines, despite the obvious limitations of their efficiency, were relatively safe and used low-pressure steam, which was quite consistent with the general low level of boiler technology in the 18th century. The power of the machine was limited by low steam pressure, the size of the cylinder, the rate of fuel combustion and evaporation of water in the boiler, as well as the size of the condenser. The maximum theoretical efficiency was limited by the relatively small temperature difference on both sides of the piston; this made vacuum machines intended for industrial use too large and expensive.

Compression

The outlet window of the steam engine cylinder closes slightly earlier than the piston reaches its extreme position, which leaves a certain amount of waste steam in the cylinder. This means that in the work cycle there is a compression phase, which forms a so-called “steam cushion”, slowing down the movement of the piston in its extreme positions. In addition, this eliminates the sudden pressure drop at the very beginning of the intake phase when fresh steam enters the cylinder.

Advance

The described “steam cushion” effect is also enhanced by the fact that the intake of fresh steam into the cylinder begins somewhat earlier than the piston reaches its extreme position, that is, there is some advance of the intake. This advance is necessary so that before the piston begins its working stroke under the influence of fresh steam, the steam would have time to fill the dead space that arose as a result of the previous phase, that is, the intake-exhaust channels and the cylinder volume unused for the movement of the piston.

Simple extension

Simple expansion assumes that the steam only works when it is expanded in the cylinder, and the exhaust steam is released directly into the atmosphere or enters a special condenser. The residual heat of the steam can be used, for example, to heat a room or vehicle, as well as to preheat the water entering the boiler.

Compound

During the process of expansion in the cylinder of a high-pressure machine, the temperature of the steam drops in proportion to its expansion. Since there is no heat exchange (adiabatic process), it turns out that the steam enters the cylinder at a higher temperature than it leaves it. Such temperature changes in the cylinder lead to a decrease in the efficiency of the process.

One of the methods of dealing with this temperature difference was proposed in 1804 by the English engineer Arthur Woolf, who patented Wulf high pressure compound steam engine. In this machine, high-temperature steam from a steam boiler entered a high-pressure cylinder, and then the steam exhausted from it at a lower temperature and pressure entered the low-pressure cylinder (or cylinders). This reduced the temperature difference in each cylinder, which overall reduced temperature losses and improved the overall efficiency of the steam engine. Low pressure steam had a larger volume and therefore required a larger cylinder volume. Therefore, in compound machines, low-pressure cylinders had a larger diameter (and sometimes longer) than high-pressure cylinders.

This arrangement is also known as “double expansion” because the expansion of the steam occurs in two stages. Sometimes one high-pressure cylinder was connected to two low-pressure cylinders, resulting in three cylinders of approximately equal size. This scheme was easier to balance.

Double cylinder compounding machines can be classified as:

• Cross compound- The cylinders are located nearby, their steam-conducting channels are crossed.
• Tandem compound- The cylinders are arranged in series and use one rod.
• Angular compound- The cylinders are located at an angle to each other, usually 90 degrees, and work on one crank.

After the 1880s, compound steam engines became widespread in manufacturing and transportation and became virtually the only type used on steamships. Their use on steam locomotives did not become so widespread because they turned out to be too complex, partly due to the difficult operating conditions of steam engines in railway transport. Although compound steam locomotives never became a widespread phenomenon (especially in the UK, where they were very little common and were not used at all after the 1930s), they gained some popularity in several countries.

Multiple expansion

Simplified diagram of a triple expansion steam engine.
High pressure steam (red) from the boiler passes through the machine, exiting to the condenser at low pressure (blue).

A logical development of the compound scheme was the addition of additional expansion stages to it, which increased the efficiency of work. The result was a multiple expansion scheme known as triple or even quadruple expansion machines. Such steam engines used a series of double-acting cylinders, the volume of which increased with each stage. Sometimes, instead of increasing the volume of low-pressure cylinders, increasing their number was used, just as on some compound machines.

The image on the right shows the operation of a triple expansion steam engine. Steam passes through the machine from left to right. The valve block of each cylinder is located to the left of the corresponding cylinder.

The emergence of this type of steam engine became especially relevant for the fleet, since the size and weight requirements for ship engines were not very strict, and most importantly, this design made it easy to use a condenser that returns waste steam in the form of fresh water back to the boiler (use salted sea water it was impossible to power the boilers). Land-based steam engines usually did not have problems with water supply and therefore could release waste steam into the atmosphere. Therefore, such a scheme was less relevant for them, especially taking into account its complexity, size and weight. The dominance of multiple expansion steam engines only ended with the advent and widespread use of steam turbines. However, modern steam turbines use the same principle of dividing the flow into high, medium and low pressure cylinders.

Direct flow steam engines

Once-through steam engines arose as a result of an attempt to overcome one drawback inherent in steam engines with traditional steam distribution. The fact is that steam in a conventional steam engine constantly changes the direction of its movement, since the same window on each side of the cylinder is used for both the intake and exhaust of steam. When the exhaust steam leaves the cylinder, it cools its walls and steam distribution channels. Fresh steam, accordingly, spends a certain amount of energy on heating them, which leads to a drop in efficiency. Once-through steam engines have an additional window, which is opened by the piston at the end of each phase, and through which the steam leaves the cylinder. This increases the efficiency of the machine because the steam moves in one direction and the temperature gradient of the cylinder walls remains more or less constant. Direct-flow single expansion machines show approximately the same efficiency as compound machines with conventional steam distribution. In addition, they can operate at higher speeds, and therefore, before the advent of steam turbines, they were often used to drive electric generators that required high rotation speeds.

Direct-flow steam engines come in both single- and double-acting types.

Steam turbines

A steam turbine consists of a series of rotating discs mounted on a single axis, called a turbine rotor, and a series of alternating stationary discs mounted on a base, called a stator. The rotor disks have blades on the outside; steam is supplied to these blades and spins the disks. The stator disks have similar blades mounted at opposite angles, which serve to redirect the flow of steam to the following rotor disks. Each rotor disk and its corresponding stator disk are called a turbine stage. The number and size of stages of each turbine are selected in such a way as to maximize the useful energy of the steam of the speed and pressure that is supplied to it. The exhaust steam leaving the turbine enters the condenser. Turbines rotate at very high speeds, and therefore special reduction transmissions are usually used when transferring the rotation to other equipment. In addition, turbines cannot change the direction of their rotation, and often require additional reversing mechanisms (sometimes additional reverse rotation stages are used).

Turbines convert steam energy directly into rotation and do not require additional mechanisms to convert reciprocating motion into rotation. In addition, turbines are more compact than reciprocating machines and have a constant force on the output shaft. Because turbines are simpler in design, they generally require less maintenance.

Other types of steam engines

Application

Steam engines can be classified according to their application as follows:

Stationary machines

Steam hammer

Steam engine in an old sugar factory, Cuba

Stationary steam engines can be divided into two types according to their mode of use:

• Variable-mode machines, which include rolling mill machines, steam winches and similar devices, which must frequently stop and change direction of rotation.
• Power machines that rarely stop and should not change direction of rotation. These include energy motors in power plants, as well as industrial motors used in factories, factories, and cable railroads before the widespread adoption of electric traction. Low power engines are used on marine models and in special devices.

A steam winch is essentially a stationary engine, but is mounted on a support frame so that it can be moved. It can be secured with a cable to an anchor and moved by its own traction to a new location.

Transport vehicles

Steam engines were used to power various types of vehicles, among them:

• Land vehicles:
  • Steam car
  • Steam tractor
  • Steam shovel, and even
• Steam plane.

In Russia, the first operating steam locomotive was built by E. A. and M. E. Cherepanov at the Nizhny Tagil plant in 1834 to transport ore. It reached a speed of 13 versts per hour and carried more than 200 poods (3.2 tons) of cargo. The length of the first railway was 850 m.

Advantages of steam engines

The main advantage of steam engines is that they can use almost any source of heat to convert it into mechanical work. This distinguishes them from internal combustion engines, each type of which requires the use of a specific type of fuel. This advantage is most noticeable in the use of nuclear energy, since a nuclear reactor is unable to generate mechanical energy, but only produces heat, which is used to generate steam to drive steam engines (usually steam turbines). In addition, there are other heat sources that cannot be used in internal combustion engines, such as solar energy. An interesting direction is the use of energy from temperature differences in the World Ocean at different depths.

Similar properties are also possessed by other types of external combustion engines, such as the Stirling engine, which can provide very high efficiency, but have significantly greater weight and size than modern types of steam engines.

Steam locomotives perform well in high altitudes, since their efficiency does not decrease due to low atmospheric pressure. Steam locomotives are still used in mountainous areas Latin America, despite the fact that in flat areas they were long ago replaced by more modern types locomotives.

In Switzerland (Brienz Rothorn) and Austria (Schafberg Bahn), new steam locomotives using dry steam have proven their efficiency. This type of locomotive was developed based on the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works (SLM) models, with many modern improvements such as the use of roller bearings, modern thermal insulation, burning of light petroleum fractions as fuel, improved steam lines, etc. . As a result, such locomotives have 60% lower fuel consumption and significantly lower maintenance requirements. The economic qualities of such locomotives are comparable to modern diesel and electric locomotives.

In addition, steam locomotives are much lighter than diesel and electric ones, which is especially important for mountain railways. A special feature of steam engines is that they do not require a transmission, transmitting power directly to the wheels.

Efficiency

The coefficient of performance (efficiency) of a heat engine can be defined as the ratio of useful mechanical work to the expended amount of heat contained in the fuel. The rest of the energy is released in environment in the form of heat. The efficiency of a heat engine is

,

The accumulation of new practical knowledge in the 16th–17th centuries led to unprecedented advances in human thought. Water and wind wheels rotate machine tools, set blacksmith bellows in motion, help metallurgists lift ore from mines, i.e., where human hands cannot cope with hard work, water and wind energy come to their aid. The main technological achievements of that time owed not so much to scientists and science, but to the painstaking work of skilled inventors. Achievements in mining technology and in the extraction of various ores and minerals were especially great. It was necessary to lift the mined ore or coal from the mine, constantly pump out the groundwater that was flooding the mine, constantly supply air into the mine, and a variety of other labor-intensive works were required in order for production not to stop. Thus, developing industry imperiously demanded more and more energy, and at that time it could be provided mainly by water wheels. They have already learned how to build them quite powerful. Due to the increase in wheel power, metal began to be used more and more widely for shafts and some other parts. In France, on the Seine River in 1682, master R. Salem, under the leadership of A. de Ville, built the largest installation for that time, consisting of 13 wheels with a diameter of 8 m, which served to drive more than 200 pumps that supplied water to a height of over 160 m , and provided water for fountains in Versailles and Marly. The first cotton mills used a hydraulic motor. Arkwright's spinning machines were powered by water from the very beginning. However, water wheels could only be installed on a river, preferably deep and fast. And if a textile or metalworking factory could still be built on the banks of the river, then ore deposits or coal seams had to be developed only in their localities. And to pump out the underground water that flooded the mine and lift the mined ore or coal to the surface, energy was also needed. Therefore, in mines far from rivers, only animal power had to be used.

The owner of an English mine in 1702 was forced to keep 500 horses to operate pumps pumping water out of the mine, which was very unprofitable.

The developing industry required powerful new types of engines that would allow production to be created anywhere. The first impetus for the creation of new engines that could work anywhere, regardless of whether there was a river nearby or not, was precisely the need for pumps and lifts in metallurgy and mining.

The ability of steam to produce mechanical work has long been known to man. The first traces of the actual intelligent use of steam in mechanics are mentioned in 1545 in Spain, when a naval captain

Blasco de Garay constructed a machine with the help of which he set in motion the side paddle wheels of a ship and which, by order of Charles V, was first tested in Barcelona harbor when transporting 4,000 quintals of cargo by ship three nautical miles in two hours. The inventor was rewarded, but the machine itself remained unused and fell into oblivion.

At the end of the 17th century, in countries with the most developed manufacturing production, elements of new machine technology using the properties and power of water vapor were born.

Early attempts to create a heat engine were associated with the need to pump water from mines where fuel was extracted. In 1698, the Englishman Thomas Savery, a former miner and then captain of the merchant marine, first proposed pumping water using a steam water lift. The patent obtained by Severi read: “This is a new invention for raising water and obtaining movement for all types of production by means of driving force fire has great importance for draining mines, supplying water to cities, and producing motive power for factories of all kinds, which cannot use water power or the constant work of wind.” The Severi water lift worked on the principle of sucking water due to atmospheric pressure into a chamber where a vacuum was created when steam condensed with cold water. Severi's steam engines were extremely uneconomical and inconvenient to operate, they could not be adapted to drive machine tools, they consumed huge amounts of fuel, and their efficiency was no higher than 0.3%. However, the need for pumping water from mines was so great that even these bulky pump-type steam engines gained some popularity.

Thomas Newcomen (1663–1729) - English inventor, blacksmith by profession. Together with tinker J. Cowley, he built a steam pump, experiments to improve which continued for about 10 years until it began to work properly. Newcomen's steam engine was not a universal engine. Newcomen's merit is that he was one of the first to realize the idea of ​​using steam to produce mechanical work. The Society of Historians of Technology of Great Britain bears his name. In 1711, Newcomen, Cowley and Severy formed the Company of the Rights Holders of the Invention of an Apparatus for Raising Water by Fire. While these inventors held a patent for the “use of the power of fire,” all their work on the manufacture of steam engines was carried out in the strictest confidence. The Swede Triewald, who was involved in setting up Newcomen’s machines, wrote: “... the inventors Newcomen and Cowley were very suspicious and careful in keeping for themselves and their children the secret of the construction and use of their invention. The Spanish envoy to the English court, who came from London with a large retinue of foreigners to look at the new invention, was not even allowed into the room in which the machines were located.” But in the 20s of the 18th century, the patent expired and many engineers began manufacturing water-lifting installations. Literature has emerged that describes these attitudes.

The process of distribution of universal steam engines in England by the beginning of the 19th century. confirms the enormous significance of the new invention. If in the decade from 1775 to 1785. 66 double-action machines were built with a total power of 1288 hp, then from 1785 to 1795. 144 double-acting machines with a total power of 2009 hp were already created, and in the next five years - from 1795 to 1800. – 79 vehicles with a total power of 1296 hp.

In fact, the use of the steam engine in industry began in 1710, when the English workers Newcomen and Cowley first built a steam engine that drove a pump installed in a mine to pump water out of it.

However, Newcomen's machine was not a steam engine in the modern sense of the word, since the driving force in it was still not water vapor, but atmospheric air pressure. Therefore, this car was called “atmospheric”. Although in the machine water vapor served, as in the Severi machine, mainly to create a vacuum in the cylinder, a movable piston was already proposed here - the main part of a modern steam engine.

In Fig. Figure 4.1 shows the Newcomen–Cowley steam water lift. When the pump rod 1 and load 2 were lowered, the piston 4 rose and steam entered the cylinder 5 through the open valve 7 from the boiler 8, the pressure of which was slightly higher than atmospheric. The steam served to partially lift the piston in a cylinder open at the top, but its main role was to create a vacuum in it. For this purpose, when the piston of the machine reached its upper position, tap 7 was closed, and cold water was injected from container 3 through tap 6 into the cylinder. The water vapor quickly condensed, and atmospheric pressure returned the piston to the bottom of the cylinder, causing the sucker rod to rise. The condensate was released from the cylinder by a tube9, the piston was raised again due to the supply of steam, and the process described above was repeated. The Newcomen machine is a periodic engine.

Newcomen's steam engine was more advanced than Severi's, easier to operate, more economical and productive. However, the machines of the first production worked very uneconomically; to create a power of one horsepower per hour, up to 25 kg of coal was burned, that is, the efficiency was about 0.5%. The introduction of automatic distribution of steam and water flows simplified the maintenance of the machine; the piston stroke time was reduced to 12–16 minutes, which reduced the size of the machine and reduced the cost of the design. Despite the high fuel consumption, this type of machine quickly became widespread. Already in the twenties of the 18th century, these machines worked not only in England, but also in many European countries - in Austria, Belgium, France, Hungary, Sweden, and were used for almost a century in the coal industry and for supplying water to cities. In Russia, Newcomen's first steam-atmospheric engine was installed in 1772 in Kronstadt to pump water from the dock. The prevalence of Newcomen machines is evidenced by the fact that the last machine of this type in England was dismantled only in 1934.

Ivan Ivanovich Polzunov (1728–1766) is a talented Russian inventor, born into a soldier’s family. In 1742, Nikita Bakharev, a mechanic at the Yekaterinburg plant, needed sharp students. The choice fell on fourteen-year-old I. Polzunov and S. Cheremisinov, who were still studying at the Arithmetic School. Theoretical training at school gave way to practical familiarization with the operation of the most modern machines and installations of the Yekaterinburg plant in Russia at that time. In 1748, Polzunov was transferred to Barnaul to work at the Kolyvano-Voskresensk factories. After independently studying books on metallurgy and mineralogy, in April 1763, Polzunov proposed a project for a completely original steam engine, which differed from all machines known at that time in that it was designed to drive blowing bellows and was a continuous operating unit. In his memorandum on the “fire-acting machine” dated April 26, 1763, Polzunov, in his own words, wanted “ ...building a fiery machine water management should be stopped and, in these cases, completely destroyed, and instead of dams for the movable foundation of the plant, it should be established so that it would be able to bear and, at will, all the burdens imposed on itself, which are usually required for fanning the fire ours, whatever needs to be corrected.” And further he wrote: “In order to achieve this glory (if the forces allow) for the Fatherland and so that it is for the benefit of the whole people, due to the great knowledge about the use of things that are still not very familiar (following the example of other sciences), to introduce into the custom.” Later, the inventor dreamed of adapting the machine for other needs. Project I.I. Polzunov was presented to the royal office in St. Petersburg. Catherine II’s decision was as follows: “Her Imperial Majesty is not only mercifully pleased with them, the Polzunovs, but for greater encouragement she deigned to command: welcome him, Polzunov, to the mechanicus with the rank and salary of captain-lieutenant, and give him 400 rubles as a reward.” .

Newcomen's machines, which worked excellently as water-lifting devices, could not satisfy the urgent need for a universal engine. They only paved the way for the creation of universal continuous steam engines.

At the initial stage of development of steam engines, it is necessary to highlight the “fire engine” of the Russian mining master Polzunov. The engine was intended to drive the mechanisms of one of the smelting furnaces of the Barnaul plant.

According to Polzunov's project (Fig. 4.2), steam from the boiler (1) was supplied to one, say, left cylinder (2), where it raised the piston (3) to its highest position. Then a jet was injected from the reservoir into the cylinder cold water(4), which led to steam condensation. As a result of atmospheric pressure on the piston, it lowered, while in the right cylinder, as a result of steam pressure, the piston rose. Water and steam distribution in Polzunov’s machine was carried out by a special automatic device (5). The continuous working force from the pistons of the machine was transmitted to a pulley (6), mounted on a shaft, from which the movement was transmitted to the water-steam distribution device, the feed pump, as well as the working shaft, from which the blowers were driven.

Polzunov’s engine was of the “atmospheric” type, but in it the inventor was the first to introduce the summation of the work of two cylinders with pistons on one common shaft, which ensured a more uniform engine stroke. When one of the cylinders was idling, the other was running. The engine had automatic steam distribution and for the first time was not directly connected to the working machine. I.I. Polzunov created his machine in extremely difficult conditions, with his own hands, without the necessary funds and special machines. He did not have skilled craftsmen at his disposal: the plant management assigned four students to Polzunov and allocated two retired workers. An ax and other simple tools used in the manufacture of then conventional machines were of little use here. Polzunov had to independently design and build new equipment for his invention. The construction of a large machine, about 11 meters high, right from the sheet, not even tested on a model, without specialists, required enormous effort. The car was built, but on May 27, 1766 I.I. Polzunov died of transient consumption, a week before testing the “big machine.” The machine itself, tested by Polzunov’s students, not only paid for itself, but also brought profit, worked for 2 months, did not receive further improvement, and after a breakdown was abandoned and forgotten. After the Polzunov engine, half a century passed before steam engines began to be used in Russia.

James Watt - English inventor, creator of the universal steam engine, member of the Royal Society of London - was born in the city of Greenock in Scotland. From 1757 he worked as a mechanic at the University of Glasgow, where he became acquainted with the properties of water vapor and conducted research on the dependence of the temperature of saturated steam on pressure. In 1763–1764, while setting up a model of Newcomen's steam engine, he proposed reducing steam consumption by separating the steam condenser from the cylinder. From that time on, his work began on improving steam engines, studying the properties of steam, building new machines, etc., which continued throughout his life. On the monument to Watt in Westminster Abbey, the inscription is carved: “... having applied the power of creative genius to the improvement of the steam engine, he expanded the productivity of his country, increased the power of man over nature, and took a prominent place among the most famous men of science and true benefactors of mankind.” In search of funds to build his engine, Watt began to dream of a profitable job outside of England. In the early 70s, he told friends that “he was tired of his fatherland,” and seriously started talking about moving to Russia. The Russian government offered the English engineer “an occupation consistent with his taste and knowledge” and an annual salary of 1000 pounds sterling. Watt's departure to Russia was prevented by a contract that he concluded in 1772 with the capitalist Bolton, the owner of an engineering enterprise in Soho near Birmingham. Bolton had long known about the invention of a new, “fiery” machine, but hesitated to subsidize its construction, doubting the practical value of the machine. He hurried to conclude an agreement with Watt only when there was a real threat of the inventor leaving for Russia. The agreement connecting Watt with Bolton turned out to be very effective. Bolton showed himself to be an intelligent and far-sighted person. He did not skimp on the costs of building the machine. Bolton realized that Watt's genius, freed from the petty, exhausting care of a piece of bread, would unfold in full power and enrich the enterprising capitalist. In addition, Bolton himself was a major mechanical engineer. Watt's technical ideas also fascinated him. The Soho plant was famous for its first-class equipment at that time and had qualified workers. Therefore, Watt enthusiastically accepted Bolton’s offer to start production of new steam engines at the plant. From the early 70s until the end of his life, Watt remained the plant's chief mechanic. At the Soho plant at the end of 1774, the first double-acting machine was built.

Newcomen's machine was greatly improved over the century of its existence, but remained “atmospheric” and did not meet the needs of the rapidly growing manufacturing technology, which required the organization of rotational motion at high speed.

The searches of many inventors were aimed at achieving this goal. In England alone, over the last quarter of the 18th century, over a dozen patents were issued for universal engines of various systems. However, only James Watt managed to offer industry a universal steam engine.

Watt began his work on the steam engine almost simultaneously with Polzunov, but under different conditions. In England at this time industry was rapidly developing. Watt was actively supported by Bolton, the owner of several factories in England, who later became his partner, parliament, and had the opportunity to use highly qualified engineering personnel. In 1769, Watt patented a steam engine with a separate condenser, and then the use of excess steam pressure in the engine, which significantly reduced fuel consumption. Watt rightly became the creator of the steam piston engine.

In Fig. 4.3 shows a diagram of one of Watt's first steam engines. A steam boiler1 with a piston cylinder3 is connected by a steam line2, through which steam is periodically admitted into the upper cavity of the cylinder above the piston4 and into the lower cavity below the piston. These cavities are connected to the condenser by a pipe5, where the exhaust steam is condensed with cold water and a vacuum is created. The machine has a balancer6, which, using a connecting rod7, connects the piston with the shaft crank, at the end of which a flywheel8 is mounted.

The machine is the first to use the principle of double action of steam, which consists in the fact that fresh steam is introduced into the cylinder of the machine alternately into the chambers on both sides of the piston. Watt's introduction of the principle of steam expansion consisted in the fact that fresh steam was admitted into the cylinder only for part of the piston stroke, then the steam was cut off, and further movement of the piston was carried out due to the expansion of steam and a drop in its pressure.

Thus, in Watt's machine the decisive driving force was not atmospheric pressure, but the elasticity of the high-pressure steam driving the piston. The new principle of steam operation required complete change in the design of the machine, especially the cylinder and steam distribution. To eliminate steam condensation in the cylinder, Watt first introduced a steam jacket for the cylinder, with which he began to heat its working walls with steam, and insulated the outer side of the steam jacket. Since Watt could not use a connecting rod-crank mechanism in his machine to create a uniform rotational motion (a protective patent was taken for such a transmission by the French inventor Picard), in 1781 he took out a patent for five methods of converting a rocking motion into a continuous rotational one. At first, for this purpose he used a planetary, or solar, wheel. Finally, Watt introduced a centrifugal speed controller to vary the amount of steam supplied to the machine's cylinder as the speed changed. Thus, Watt in his steam engine laid down the basic principles of the design and operation of a modern steam engine.

Watt's steam engines operated on low-pressure saturated steam of 0.2–0.3 MPa, at a low number of revolutions per minute. Steam engines, modified in this way, gave excellent results, reducing the coal consumption per hp/h (horsepower per hour) several times compared to Newcomen's machines, and replaced the water wheel from the mining industry. In the mid-80s of the 18th century. The design of the steam engine was finally developed, and the double-acting steam engine became a universal heat engine, which has found wide application in almost all sectors of the economy of many countries. In the 19th century, mine lifting steam power plants, steam power blowers, rolling steam power plants, steam hammers, steam pumps, etc. became widespread.

Further increase in efficiency steam power plant was achieved by Watt's contemporary Arthur Wolf in England by introducing multiple expansion of steam successively in 2, 3 and even 4 steps, while the steam passed from one cylinder of the machine to another.

The abandonment of the balancer and the use of multiple expansion of steam led to the creation of new structural forms of machines. Double expansion engines began to be designed in the form of two cylinders—a high-pressure cylinder (HPC) and a low-pressure cylinder (LPC), into which exhaust steam was supplied after the HPC. The cylinders were located either horizontally (compound machine, Fig. 4.4, a), or sequentially, when both pistons were mounted on a common rod (tandem machine, Fig. 4.4, b).

Great value for increasing efficiency. Steam engines began to use superheated steam with temperatures up to 350°C in the mid-19th century, which made it possible to reduce fuel consumption to 4.5 kg per hp/hour. The use of superheated steam was first proposed by the French scientist G.A. Girn.

George Stephenson (1781–1848) was born into a working-class family and worked in the Newcastle coal mines, where his father and grandfather also worked. He did a lot of self-education, studied physics, mechanics and other sciences, and was interested in inventive activities. Stephenson's outstanding abilities led him to the position of mechanic, and in 1823 he was appointed chief engineer of the company for the construction of the first public railroad, Stockton and Darlington; this opened up great opportunities for him in design and inventive work.

In Russia, the first steam locomotives were built by Russian mechanics and inventors Cherepanovs - Efim Alekseevich (father, 1774–1842) and Miron Efimovich (son, 1803–1849), who worked at the Nizhny Tagil factories and were former serfs of the Demidov factory owners. The Cherepanovs, through self-education, became educated people; they visited factories in St. Petersburg and Moscow, England and Sweden. For their inventive activities, Miron Cherepanov and his wife were given freedom in 1833. Efim Cherepanov and his wife were given freedom in 1836. The Cherepanovs created about 20 different steam engines that worked at the Nizhny Tagil factories.

High steam pressure for steam engines was first used by Oliver Evans in America. This led to a reduction in fuel consumption of up to 3 kg per hp/h. Later, steam locomotive designers began to use multi-cylinder steam engines, excess pressure steam, and reversing devices.

In the 18th century There was a completely understandable desire to use the steam engine in land and water transport. In the development of steam engines, locomotives - mobile steam power units - formed an independent direction. The first installation of this type was developed by the English builder John Smith. In fact, the development of steam transport began with the installation of smoke tubes in fire-tube boilers, which significantly increased their steam production.

Many attempts have been made to develop steam locomotives - steam locomotives, and working models have been built (Fig. 4.5, 4.6). Of these, the steam locomotive “Rocket”, built by the talented English inventor George Stephenson (1781–1848) in 1825, stands out (see Fig. 4.6, a, b).

The Rocket was not the first steam locomotive designed and built by Stephenson, but it was superior to the others in many respects and was voted the best locomotive at a special exhibition in Raehill and recommended for the new Liverpool and Manchester railway, which at that time became a model. In 1823, Stephenson organized the first steam locomotive plant in Newcastle. In 1829, a competition was organized in England for the best steam locomotive, the winner of which was J. Stephenson's machine. His steam locomotive "Raketa", developed on the basis of a smoke-fired boiler, with a train mass of 17 tons, reached a speed of 21 km/h. Later, the speed of the “Rocket” was increased to 45 km/h.

Railways began to play in the 18th century. huge role. The first passenger railway in Russia, 27 km long, by decision of the tsarist government, was built by foreign entrepreneurs in 1837 between St. Petersburg and Pavlovsk. The St. Petersburg-Moscow double-track railway began operating in 1851.

In 1834, father and son Cherepanovs built the first Russian steam locomotive (see Fig. 4.6, c, d), transporting a load weighing 3.5 tons at a speed of 15 km/h. Their subsequent locomotives transported cargo weighing 17 tons.

Attempts to use the steam engine in water transport have been made since the beginning of the 18th century. It is known, for example, that the French physicist D. Papin (1647–1714) built a boat driven by a steam engine. True, Papen did not achieve success in this matter.

The problem was solved by the American inventor Robert Fulton (1765–1815), born in Little Briton (now Fulton) in Pennsylvania. It is interesting to note that the first great successes in the creation of steam engines for industry, railway and water transport fell to the lot of talented people who acquired knowledge through self-education. In this regard, Fulton was no exception. Fulton, who later became a mechanical engineer, who came from a poor family, initially did a lot of self-education. Fulton lived in England, where he was engaged in the construction of hydraulic structures and solving a number of other technical problems. While in France (Paris), he built the Nautilus submarine and a steam ship, which was tested on the Seine River. But all this was just the beginning.

Real success came to Fulton in 1807: returning to America, he built the paddle steamer "Clermont" with a lifting capacity of 15 tons, driven by a steam engine with a power of 20 hp. s., which in August 1807 made the first flight from New York to Albany with a length of about 280 km.

The further development of shipping, both river and sea, proceeded quite quickly. This was facilitated by the transition from wooden to steel ship structures, an increase in the power and speed of steam engines, the introduction of a propeller and a number of other factors.

With the invention of the steam engine, man learned to convert energy concentrated in fuel into movement, into work.

The steam engine is one of the very few inventions in history that dramatically changed the picture of the world, revolutionized industry, transport, and gave impetus to a new rise in scientific knowledge. It was a universal engine for industry and transport throughout the 19th century, but its capabilities no longer met the engine requirements that arose in connection with the construction of power plants and the use of high-speed mechanisms at the end of the 19th century.

Instead of a low-speed steam engine, a high-speed turbine with higher efficiency is entering the technical arena as a new heat engine.

Interest in water vapor as an accessible source of energy appeared along with the first scientific knowledge of the ancients. People have been trying to tame this energy for three thousand years. What are the main stages of this path? Whose thoughts and projects have taught mankind to make the most of it?

Prerequisites for the emergence of steam engines

The need for mechanisms that can facilitate labor-intensive processes has always existed. Until about the middle of the 18th century, windmills and water wheels were used for this purpose. The possibility of using wind energy directly depends on the vagaries of the weather. And to use water wheels, factories had to be built along the banks of rivers, which is not always convenient or practical. And the effectiveness of both was extremely low. A fundamentally new engine was needed, easily manageable and devoid of these disadvantages.

History of the invention and improvement of steam engines

The creation of a steam engine is the result of much thought, success and disappointment of many scientists.

The beginning of the way

The first, isolated projects were just interesting curiosities. For example, Archimedes designed a steam gun, Heron of Alexandria used steam power to open doors ancient temples. And researchers find notes on the practical use of steam energy to drive other mechanisms in the works Leonardo da Vinci.

Let's look at the most significant projects on this topic.

In the 16th century, the Arab engineer Taghi al Din developed a design for a primitive steam turbine. However practical application it did not receive due to the strong dispersion of the steam jet supplied to the turbine wheel blades.

Let's go back to medieval France. Physicist and talented inventor Denis Papin, after many unsuccessful projects, settled on the following design: a vertical cylinder was filled with water, above which a piston was installed.

The cylinder was heated, the water boiled and evaporated. The expanding steam lifted the piston. It was fixed at the top point of the rise and the cylinder was waited for to cool and the steam to condense. After the steam condensed, a vacuum formed in the cylinder. The piston, freed from its fastening, rushed into the vacuum under the influence of atmospheric pressure. It was this fall of the piston that was supposed to be used as a working stroke.

So, the useful stroke of the piston was caused by the formation of a vacuum due to steam condensation and external (atmospheric) pressure.

Because Papen's steam engine like most subsequent projects, they were called steam-atmospheric machines.

This design had a very significant drawback - repeatability of the cycle was not provided. Denis comes up with the idea of ​​producing steam not in a cylinder, but separately in a steam boiler.

Denis Papin entered the history of the creation of steam engines as the inventor of a very important part - the steam boiler.

And since steam began to be produced outside the cylinder, the engine itself became an external combustion engine. But due to the lack of a distribution mechanism to ensure uninterrupted operation, these projects found almost no practical application.

A new stage in the development of steam engines

For about 50 years, it was used to pump water in coal mines. Thomas Newcomen steam pump. It largely repeated previous designs, but contained very important new items - a pipe for removing condensed steam and a safety valve for releasing excess steam.

Its significant disadvantage was that the cylinder had to be either heated before steam injection, or cooled before it condensed. But the need for such engines was so high that, despite their obvious inefficiency, the last copies of these machines served until 1930.

In 1765 English mechanic James Watt, having started improving Newcomen's machine, separated the condenser from the steam cylinder.

It became possible to keep the cylinder constantly heated. The efficiency of the machine immediately increased. In subsequent years, Watt would significantly improve his model, equipping it with a device for supplying steam on one side or the other.

It became possible to use this machine not only as a pump, but also to drive various machines. Watt received a patent for his invention - a continuous steam engine. Mass production of these machines begins.

By the beginning of the 19th century, more than 320 Watt steam engines were operating in England. Other European countries began to purchase them. This contributed to a significant increase in industrial production in many industries both in England itself and in neighboring countries.

Twenty years earlier than Watt, the Altai mechanic Ivan Ivanovich Polzunov was working on a steam engine project in Russia.

The factory management invited him to build a unit that would drive the blower of the smelting furnace.

The machine he built was two-cylinder and ensured continuous operation of the device connected to it.

After successfully operating for more than a month and a half, the boiler leaked. Polzunov himself was no longer alive by this time. The car was not repaired. And the wonderful creation of the lone Russian inventor was forgotten.

Due to the backwardness of Russia at that time the world learned about the invention of I. I. Polzunov with a great delay...

So, to operate a steam engine, it is necessary that the steam produced by the steam boiler expands and presses on the piston or turbine blades. And then their movement was transmitted to other mechanical parts.

The use of steam engines in transport

Despite the fact that the efficiency of steam engines of that time did not exceed 5%, by the end of the 18th century they began to be actively used in agriculture and on transport:

• a steam-powered car appears in France;
• in the USA, a ship begins to operate between the cities of Philadelphia and Burlington;
• a steam-powered railway locomotive was demonstrated in England;
• A Russian peasant from the Saratov province patented a 20-horsepower caterpillar tractor he built. With.;
• Attempts have been made repeatedly to build an aircraft with a steam engine, but, unfortunately, the low power of these units with heavy weight the aircraft made these attempts unsuccessful.

Already by end of the 19th century centuries, steam engines, having played their role in the technical progress of society, give way to electric motors.

Steam devices in the 21st century

With the advent of new energy sources in the 20th and 21st centuries, the need to use steam energy again arises. Steam turbines become an integral part of the nuclear power plant. The steam that powers them is obtained from nuclear fuel.

These turbines are also widely used in condensing thermal power plants.

In a number of countries, experiments are being conducted to produce steam using solar energy.

Piston steam engines have not been forgotten either. In mountainous areas as a locomotive Steam locomotives are still used.

These reliable workers are both safer and cheaper. They do not need power lines, and fuel - wood and cheap coal - are always at hand.

Modern technologies make it possible to capture up to 95% of atmospheric emissions and increase efficiency to 21%, so that people have decided not to part with them for now and are working on a new generation of steam locomotives.

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