The term steam engine may also refer to an entire steam locomotive.

A steam engine is an external combustion heat engine that makes use of the thermal energy that exists in steam, converting it to mechanical work. Steam engines were used as the prime mover in pumps, locomotives, steam ships and steam tractors, and were essential to the Industrial Revolution. Steam turbines, technically a type of steam engine, are still widely used for generating electricity, but older types have been almost entirely replaced by internal combustion engines and electric motors.

A steam engine requires a boiler to boil water to produce steam. The expansion—or contraction—of steam exerts force upon a piston or turbine blade, whose motion can be harnessed for the work of turning wheels or driving other machinery. One of the advantages of the steam engine is that any heat source can be used to raise steam in the boiler; but the most common is a fire fueled by wood, coal or oil or the utilisation of the heat energy generated in a nuclear reactor.

Invention and development

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The first recorded steam device, the aeolipile, was invented by Hero of Alexandria, a Greek, in the 1st century AD, but used only as a toy. In 1663, Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester published designs for, and may have installed, a steam-powered engine for pumping water at Vauxhall House. In about 1687 the French physicist Denis Papin, with the help of Gottfried Leibniz, built a steam digester for softening bones, i.e. he invented the world's first-ever pressure cooker. Later designs implemented a steam-release valve to keep the device from exploding. By watching the valve rhythmically move up and down Papin conceived of the idea of a piston and cylinder engine. Papin wrote up the designs for such a device (as pictured adjacent), however he never built an actual steam engine. Engineer Thomas Savery later used Papin's designs to build the world's first operational steam engine.

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Toy Steam Engines (Shire Library) - by Bob Gordon. http://tinyurl.com/y85dbdp
home_book (New Home Books) Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:32:59 -0000
Toy Steam Engines (Shire Library) - by Bob Gordon. http://tinyurl.com/y85dbdp
Floppy disk for "save" is like steam engines on level crossing signs. Any other archaic image used as icons? #archaicicon @LittleLaura
pigsonthewing (Andy Mabbett) Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:50:15 -0000
Floppy disk for "save" is like steam engines on level crossing signs. Any other archaic image used as icons? #archaicicon @LittleLaura
Steam Engines: S2 in Dull Weather. http://bit.ly/2sWYsc
mushirkhan (mushir khan) Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:13:50 -0000
Steam Engines: S2 in Dull Weather. http://bit.ly/2sWYsc
@CharlieCurve Does sound nice. Lots o' maintenance to keep historic steam engines running 4 just a few days, but I'll mention it.
thehenryford (The Henry Ford) Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:28:26 -0000
@CharlieCurve Does sound nice. Lots o' maintenance to keep historic steam engines running 4 just a few days, but I'll mention it.
So fun! RT @Colorado In Colorado, whistle stops, steam engines and train cabooses are not just a thing of the past: http://bit.ly/3ShxV2
travelkiddy (Jennifer Untermeyer) Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:06:47 -0000
So fun! RT @Colorado In Colorado, whistle stops, steam engines and train cabooses are not just a thing of the past: http://bit.ly/3ShxV2
Six Greenpeace activists boarding a ship carrying steam engines to OL3 in Fehmarn Belt
GreenpeaceSuomi (Greenpeace Suomi) Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:30:16 -0000
Six Greenpeace activists boarding a ship carrying steam engines to OL3 in Fehmarn Belt

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