ABSTRACT
Thomas Newcomen, the inventor and begetter of the atmospheric engine, whence the steam engine of the present day can be traced in uninterrupted descent—the man who made the first and greatest step in its development, and “it is the first step that costs”. Newcomen’s apparatus consisted of a cylinder provided with a piston, below which there was access of steam from a separate boiler, and a cock by which a jet of cold water could be turned on to condense the steam. To condense the steam it is quite probable that, in the early stages as John Theophilus Desaguliers states, cold water was poured over the outside of the cylinder. The story that the method of condensation was discovered by the accident of a hole occurring in the cylinder or in the piston is inherently improbable, as such a hole would let in water or air continuously and thus effectively prevent any vacuum at all being formed.
