GEOS / ENST / ENSC Lecture 5 History of Energy Use II

The heat to work barrier the 18 th century technological impasse All technology involved only two energy conversions Mechanical motion  mechanical motion Chemical energy  heat There was no way to convert chemical energy to motion other than muscles (human or animal) – no engine other than flesh The only means out of the energy crisis was coal – but to mine the coal required motion for pumps.

First commercial use of steam: the Savery engine “A new Invention for Raiseing of Water and occasioning Motion to all Sorts of Mill Work by the Impellent Force of Fire which will be of great vse and Advantage for Drayning Mines, serveing Towns with Water, and for the Working of all Sorts of Mills where they have not the benefitt of Water nor constant Windes.” Thomas Savery, patent application, filed 1698

Savery engine is not a commercial success “.. Savery’s engine was wholly unsuited for draining mines, and he failed to induce the miners to take it up. The greatest height to which it could raise water was.. not more than sixty or eighty feet...Moreover the miners [were]...afraid to introduce furnaces into their shafts, on account of...their giving rise to explosions... ” Robert Galloway, “A History of Coal Mining in Great Britain” Issues: Good only for pumping liquids. Efficiency below 0.1%

Newcomen’s design is state of the art for 60+ years First true steam engine: Thomas Newcomen, 1712, blacksmith (copy of Papin 1690 design) “It was at this juncture that the miners had put into their hands the most wonderful invention which human ingenuity had yet produced – the Newcomen steam-engine.. a machine capable of draining with ease the deepest mines; applicable anywhere; requiring little or no attention; so docile that its movements might be governed by the strength of a child; so powerful that it could put forth the strength of hundreds of horses; so safe that... the utmost damage that can come to it, is its standing still for want of fire.” Robert Galloway, “A History of Coal Mining in Great Britain”

Newcomen’s design is state of the art for 60+ years First true steam engine: Thomas Newcomen, 1712, blacksmith First reciprocating engine: linear motion of piston that transmits force Steps 1Fill chamber with steam 2Cool the chamber to condense steam 3Low chamber pressure pulls piston down 4Open valve at bottom of piston, let gravity pull pump side down again..... Steam fills chamber as piston rises Issues: Very low efficiency: 0.5% Intermittent force transmission

Newcomen’s design is state of the art for 60+ years First true steam engine: Thomas Newcomen, 1712, blacksmith First reciprocating engine: linear motion of piston that transmits force Steps 1Fill chamber with steam 2Cool the chamber to condense steam 3Low chamber pressure pulls piston down 4Open valve at bottom of piston, let gravity pull pump side down again..... Steam fills chamber as piston rises Issues: Very low efficiency: 0.5% Intermittent force transmission

First Newcomen engine (1712, Dudley Castle) (reproduction) video: video: Last Newcomen engine (1810 – 1923, Farme Colliery) manually operated valves used for lifting coal, not pumping

What is a “heat engine”? A device that generates converts thermal energy to mechanical work by exploiting a temperature gradient Makes something more ordered: random motions of molecules  ordered motion of entire body Makes something less ordered: degrades a temperature gradient (transfers heat from hot to cold)

Cooling towers (from nuclear power plant?) heat from reactor drives a steam turbine All heat engines involve heat flow No heat engine has perfect efficiency All heat engines involve waste heat

First Watt steam engine: James Watt, 1769 patent (1774 production model) Higher efficiency than Newcomen by introducing separate condenser Reduces wasted heat: cylinder stays always hot, condenser stays always cold. In Newcomen’s engine, the single metal cylinder alternately heats and cools Net: ¼ fuel usage of Newcomen’s engine

Improved Watt steam engine: James Watt, 1783 model Albion Mill, London As before: Separate condenser Improvements: “Double-acting”: force on both up- and down-stroke Rotational motion Engine speed regulator  Higher efficiency: ~3% Engineers cared about efficiency: coal = money video of 1788 engine

Coal and ore from mines have been carried by “tramways” since the 1500’s Once you have an engine to pump the mines, you envision other uses... Little Eaton Gangway, Derbyshire, working til 1908

First locomotives – conversions of stationary steam engines built by Richard Trevithick, mining engineer Experimented with “high-pressure” steam (50 psi), double-acting cylinders Pen-y-Darren locomotive, carrying iron in Wales, replacing horse-drawn tramway. Ran ~10 miles at ~2 mph but destroyed track. Image: 1804 Coalbrookdale locomotive, which failed. No images of Pen-y-Darren survive

Image: source unknown First practical locomotives begin 1814 “Puffing Billy”, designed by William Hedley, (mine manager), built by the mine’s blacksmith and enginewright Coal hauler, 9” x 36” cylinders Still basically a stationary steam engine placed on wheels

First passenger locomotive, 1829 George Stephenson’s “Rocket”, built for Liverpool and Manchester Railway won the Rainhill trials at 29 mph (unloaded), 14 mph loaded first example of single pair of drive wheels Image: source unknown Stephenson was a mine engineman and brakeman, then enginewright. Illiterate til age 18. Built first locomotive in 1814.

Piston pushed by steam on both up- and down-stroke. No more need for a condenser. Steam is simply vented at high temperature slide valve alternates input & exhaust Double-action steam engine

slide valve alternates input & exhaust

primary use: transportation Double-action steam engine

What are benefits? What are drawbacks?

Double-action steam engine What are benefits? Faster cycle – no need to wait for condensation. Can get more power, higher rate of doing mechanical work. Also lighter and smaller – no need to carry a condenser around. What are drawbacks? Inefficiency – venting hot steam means you are wasting energy. High water usage – since lose steam, have to keep replacing the water

Double-action steam engine: Images top, left: Sandia Software Image bottom: Ivan S. Abrams water-intensive, fuel-intensive – requires many stops to take on water and fuel.

Where and what period is this locomotive from? 1846 London & Birmingham locomotive

Where and what period is this locomotive from? 1855 “Pony” locomotive, built in Paterson NJ note single pair of driving wheels: 4-2-4

Where and what period is this locomotive from

Where and what period is this locomotive from? Houston and Texas Central Locomotive, ~1868, 4-4-0

What event is this picture showing? “golden spike”, Promontory Summit, 1869 transcontinental railway connection

1885 map of railways in U.S. West: 50 years from invention to dominance

What period is this locomotive from? 1893, “Engine 999” of the New York Central Railroad, “World’s Fastest Locomotive”: 1893 land speed record of mph

A modern picture of the same locomotive

Wabash Railway (Chicago), steam locomotive #2024, ? Image: Postcard (Chuckman’s collection of Chicago postcards) What period is this locomotive from?