1664: Thomas Newcomen, creator of the first practical atmospheric steam engine, is born in Devon, England. Newcomen’s exact birth date is a matter of debate. Some sources say “before Feb. 24 ...

In 1712 Thomas Newcomen built an engine that made use of a piston, and, beginning in 1769, James Watt improved on steam engine design with a string of patents that included innovations such as ...

Fifty years before James Watt came on the scene Thomas Newcomen built practical steam engines to pump water out of mines. What is known of these engines and how did they influence later ones ...

AMONG the vast number of ingenious inventors whose work is the heritage of to-day, a prominent place must be accorded to Thomas Newcomen, who invented the atmospheric steam engine. Newcomen died ...