Thomas Savery Research Paper

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In the late 1600’s, coal miners faced many different problems while attempting to complete their task of mining as much coal as possible. Perhaps the most threatening problem to the miners was water that would enter the mines while the miners were digging. A man by the name of Thomas Savery was especially drawn to the problem of water in coal mines, and he set out to look for an efficient and effective way to help remove the water from the mines to allow the miners to continue working. Savery drew inspiration from Denis Papin, and through using the principles of thermodynamics, and also by drawing from Papin’s idea for a steam engine (“Denis Papin”), Savery began working on his own steam engine. His machine worked by introducing pressurized steam to a tall tube with water at the base. The water would come from the coal mines that the tube has been inserted into. The steam would cause the water to move up through the tube towards the top, at which point the steam in the tube would be …show more content…

Newcomen discovered that since Savery’s steam pump engine only had one chamber that was used for all of the heating and cooling, much of the energy involved in creating steam was lost. After 10 years of experimenting on Savery’s pump, he had came up with a new, more efficient model of Thomas Savery’s steam engine. Unlike Savery’s steam engine, Newcomen’s steam engine was not limited by high atmospheric pressure. This allowed for there to be more steam in the engine, thus making the process go by much faster. However, Newcomen couldn’t patent or sell his product since Savery had obtained such a broad patent regarding steam engines. To overcome this setback, Newcomen entered into a partnership with Savery, and the two men began selling the new and improved version of Savery’s steam engine commercially (“Thomas

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