GEOS 24705 / ENST 24705 / ENSC 21100 Lecture 5
History of Energy Use II
The heat to work barrier the 18th century technological impasse
All technology involved only two energy conversions • Mechanical mo on à mechanical mo on • Chemical energy à heat
There was no way to convert chemical energy to mo on 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 mo on for pumps.
First commercial use of steam: the Savery engine
“A new Inven on for Raiseing of Water and occasioning Mo on 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 benefi of Water nor constant Windes.”
Thomas Savery, patent applica on, 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 sha s, 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% 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 inven on which human ingenuity had yet produced – the Newcomen steam-engine.. a machine capable of draining with ease the deepest mines; applicable anywhere; requiring li le or no a en on; 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 s ll 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 reciproca ng engine: linear mo on of piston that transmits force
Steps 1 Fill chamber with steam 2 Cool the chamber to condense steam 3 Low chamber pressure pulls piston down 4 Open valve at bo om of piston, let gravity pull pump side down again ..... Steam fills chamber as piston rises
Issues: Very low efficiency: 0.5% Intermi ent force transmission
Newcomen’s design is state of the art for 60+ years First true steam engine:
Thomas Newcomen, 1712, blacksmith
First reciproca ng engine: linear mo on of piston that transmits force
Steps 1 Fill chamber with steam 2 Cool the chamber to condense steam 3 Low chamber pressure pulls piston down 4 Open valve at bo om of piston, let gravity pull pump side down again ..... Steam fills chamber as piston rises
Issues: Very low efficiency: 0.5% Intermi ent force transmission
Newcomen’s design is state of the art for 60+ years
First Newcomen engine (1712, Dudley Castle)
(reproduc on) video: h ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC6LUWSBXjk video: h ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QltRwiu4U2Q
Last Newcomen engine (1810 – 1923, Farme Colliery) manually operated valves used for li ing coal, not pumping What is a “heat engine”?
A device that generates converts thermal energy to mechanical work by exploi ng a temperature gradient
• Makes something more ordered: random mo ons of molecules à ordered mo on of en re body
• Makes something less ordered: degrades a temperature gradient (transfers heat from hot to cold) All heat engines involve heat flow No heat engine has perfect efficiency All heat engines involve waste heat
Cooling towers (from nuclear power plant?) heat from reactor drives a steam turbine First Wa steam engine:
James Wa , 1769 patent (1774 produc on 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 Wa steam engine:
James Wa , 1783 model Albion Mill, London
As before: Separate condenser
Improvements: • “Double-ac ng”: force on both up- and down-stroke • Rota onal mo on • Engine speed regulator • à Higher efficiency: ~3%
Engineers cared about efficiency: coal = money
video of 1788 engine
Once you have an engine to pump the mines, you envision other uses...
Little Eaton Gangway, Derbyshire, working til 1908
Coal and ore from mines have been carried by “tramways” since the 1500’s First locomo ves – conversions of sta onary steam engines built by Richard Trevithick, mining engineer Experimented with “high-pressure” steam (50 psi), double-ac ng cylinders. 1804 Pen-y-Darren locomo ve, carrying iron in Wales, replacing horse- drawn tramway. Ran ~10 miles at ~2 mph but destroyed track.
Image: 1804 Coalbrookdale locomo ve, which failed. No images of Pen-y-Darren survive First prac cal locomo ves begin 1814 “Puffing Billy”, designed by William Hedley, (mine manager), built by the mine’s blacksmith and enginewright Coal hauler, 9” x 36” cylinders
S ll basically a sta onary steam engine placed on wheels
Image: source unknown First passenger locomo ve, 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
Stephenson was a mine engineman and brakeman, then enginewright. Illiterate til age 18. Built first locomotive in 1814.
Image: source unknown Double-ac on steam engine
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-ac on steam engine
slide valve alternates input & exhaust Double-ac on steam engine
primary use: transportation Double-ac on steam engine
What are benefits?
What are drawbacks?
Double-ac on steam engine
What are benefits?
Faster cycle – no need to wait for condensa on. 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 – ven ng hot steam means you are was ng energy.
High water usage – since lose steam, have to keep replacing the water Double-ac on steam engine:
Images top, le : Sandia So ware Image bo om: Ivan S. Abrams
water-intensive, fuel-intensive – requires many stops to take on water and fuel.
Where and what period is this locomo ve from?
1846 London & Birmingham locomotive Where and what period is this locomo ve from?
1855 “Pony” locomotive, built in Paterson NJ note single pair of driving wheels: 4-2-4 Where and what period is this locomo ve from Where and what period is this locomo ve 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 inven on to dominance
What period is this locomo ve from?
1893, “Engine 999” of the New York Central Railroad, 4-4-0 “World’s Fastest Locomotive”: 1893 land speed record of 112.5 mph A modern picture of the same locomo ve
What period is this locomo ve from?
Wabash Railway (Chicago), steam locomo ve #2024, 1948 2-8-2?
Image: Postcard (Chuckman’s collec on of Chicago postcards)