Steam engine

A machine that converts steam’s thermal energy into mechanical work, typically by moving a piston or turning a turbine. Its development powered industrial machinery, transport, and electricity generation.

Steam: Water in its gaseous state, produced by evaporation or boiling. Its pressure and thermal energy provide the working fluid that drives an engine.
Aeolipile: An ancient device in which escaping steam spins a sphere around an axis. It demonstrated steam-driven rotation long before steam engines became useful machines.
Steam locomotive: A railway locomotive powered by a steam engine that drives its wheels. It brought steam power to rail transport and became a defining engine type.
Internal combustion engine: An engine that burns fuel inside its working cylinders or combustion chambers to produce mechanical power. It generates hot gases internally rather than receiving pressurized steam from a boiler.
Piston: A sliding component that moves within a cylinder and transmits force through a connecting mechanism. In reciprocating engines, steam pressure moves the piston back and forth.
Thomas Savery: An English inventor whose 1698 patent described a steam-powered device for raising water. His pumping device was an early commercial application of steam power.
Steamboat: A boat propelled by a steam engine driving a paddlewheel or propeller. It made scheduled water transport less dependent on wind and currents.
Gas turbine: A rotary engine in which expanding hot gas drives a turbine and compressor. It uses continuous combustion and hot gas flow instead of a steam working cycle.
Steam valve: A device that controls steam flow through pipes or engine passages. Valve timing directs steam into and out of the cylinder to sustain piston motion.
Thomas Newcomen: An English ironmonger who developed an atmospheric steam engine for pumping water from mines. His engine became a practical mine pump and established an early industrial design.

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