Notice that this chart is per head, not total

Improvement of the steam engine:

In the industrial revolution

• The first need for steam engines was to pump water out of mines
  
• Thomas Savery built the first workable engine, using an odd design without a cylinder and piston--using the steam directly to pull up the water
  
• Newcomen Engine (about 1712) filled a cylinder with steam and then condensed it to draw the piston down.  1/2% efficient, but widely used to pump water out of coal mines.  video and Burke (starting at about 2:30)
• some scientific knowledge about atmospheric pressure/vacuum was necessary, but it was only one part of building an engine
• Watt Engine (1774) had had a separate condenser, making the engine much more efficient
• Textile mills at first used water power--the steam engine was not smooth enough
• James Watt later added:
• sun and planet gear converted reciprocating (up and down) motion into rotary motion to power machines
• automatic control mechanism--flyball governor--to keep the engine running at a fairly constant speed, making it useful for textile machines
• double-acting engine made for much smoother power--close the cylinder above the piston and put steam into the top part of the cylinder while condensing steam in the bottom part and then vice versa
• more efficient engine using a separate condenser  --efficient enough to use away from coal mines
  

 Watt Engine

• Watt's improved engines could be used to run factory machines--efficient enough and motion was smooth enough
  
• high pressure engines developed after 1800 were needed for transportation applications (the Watt engine was too heavy)
•  significance of steam power
• a whole new science, thermodynamics, was invented by scientists trying to understand how steam engines worked
• the steam engine made it possible for exponential growth to continue without running out of energy

We already discussed road transportation, but note that roads (and canals and railroads) were built by private investors, not by the government

The railroad in England:

• Rails are a much earlier innovation than locomotives: horsedrawn carts on wooden rails used in germany since 16th century, in England since 17th century.  Iron rails about 1770
• mostly these were mine railroads, but by end of 1825 there were 300-400 miles of iron public railroad
• the idea of a moving steam engine was obvious, but there were problems.
• need for high pressure steam engines
• widespread belief that there would not be enough friction, that rise would have to be less than 1 foot per 100
• experiments with steam carriages--eg. Cugnot in France in 1770--had led to English laws to keep steam carriages from scaring horses by requiring a man walking in front of it with a flag or lantern
• early experiments on mine railways

• First experimental locomotive built by Richard Trevithick in 1803-4 for the 10 mile Penydarren colliery railway .  One cylinder, 8 1/2 inches in diamter, 4 1/2 foot stroke, probably 30-50 lb/sq in. working pressure.  It was too heavy for the track so the owners used it as a stationary engine.
• Trevithick tried again in 1805 with no more success, went to South American in disgust
• by 1812 similar locomotives started to be used on colliery railroads (in the north of England--Leeds and on Tyneside) between mine and warf.  Economical because Napoleonic wars increased price of animal feed.
• Locomotives on common carriers
• 1825 Stockton & Darlington RR--built by George Stephenson using colliery railway technology.  25 miles long, first public railroad built to use steam, but horses were often substituted.  Not a convincing trial.
• Builders of Liverpool-Manchester railroad were locked in a debate over whether to use horses or locomotives.  Decided to sponsor a contest to see if locomotives were practical at all and pick the best design
•  held Oct. 1829.  Contest was to pull 20 tons at 10 mph and make 40 trips over a 1 1/2 mile course.
• 10 entries were expected but only three appeared--Timoth Hackworth, engineer of the Stockton and Darlington RR entered the Sans Pareil, John Braithwaite and John Ericsson entered the Novelty (which had the advantage of being a particularly light weight design), and Robert Stephenson entered the Rocket.

• Sans Pareil failed to complete the course, Novelty also broke down, but Rocket not only completed the course but averaged 15 mph, winning the 500 pound prize
• More important this convinced people of the practicality of locomotives.  It was a major spectator sport--more than 10,000 people saw the trials
• Liverpool-Manchester builders ordered seven locomotives.  They built their rails to the gauge of Stephenson's locomotive--the 4 ft. 8 1/2 inch gauge of the Killingworth Colliery Wagonway.  That is still the standard gauge today.
• This competed for the first time with canals, since it connected an industrial center with its port.  Canal investers tried to block its building in Pariament.  Speed was the key advantage--unexpectedly 1/2 of revenue came from passengers.
• England saw a railway boom 1831-37.  400-500 miles opened to traffic for a total of 1331 miles by 1840.  After a lull from 1839 to 1843 the boom turned into a mania--2000 miles opened to traffic 1844-1847.  In 1847 more than 1/4 million men were employed in constructing 6,455 miles of railways, with a total expenditure on railways about 10% of national income

Sea transportation improved as well, with larger ships carrying coal from the north of England to London

Reliable low cost transportation using inorganic energy was essential to the continued growth of the industrial revolution
Enthusiasm for technology and the idea that new technology is the way to make money