Invention of the steam engine and railroad.
In the 16th century, wagon ways were being used in Germany. These railed roads were made of wooden rails over horse-drawn carts, which made it easier for the houses to pull on rails than the dirt road. These wagon ways are considered modern railroads.
In 1776. iron replaced the wooden rails and the wheels on the carts. Wagon ways turned into tramways, which horses pulled with all their power, which spread of through Europe. The first wagon was designed in 1789, which had flanged wheels, which means the wheels will get a better grip with the flanged wheels.
The reason they developed the railroad was so they could develop the steam engine. The development of the steam engine was a very long process. It took about one hundred years and three different British inventors to develop the steam engine as we know it today.
Thomas Savery was the first to build the first crude steam power machine in 1698. Savery built this machine so it was easier and more inefficient to pump water out of coal mines. His machine used up a lot of coal just to pump very little amounts of water but there where no moving parts so it was easier to control. Savery didn’t want to call his invention the “steam engine” because it stretched the meaning of the words. But Savery’s machine was the first person to find a way to use steam in useful work.
Thomas Newcomen developed the next stage of the steam engine. He knew there was a way to improve Savery’s steam powered pump. Newcomen built a machine that took the place of Savery’s machine.
James Watts came to improve Newcomen’s in 1763. He came up with a way to develop a “crankshaft” and how to create a circular motion with the steam. Watt didn’t have the money to develop his improved steam engine, so he started a business. Watt and his partners started a company and built steam engines. He wanted the other factories to find many uses of the new invention, but he didn’t think it would change the world.
After the development of the steam engine came the railroad.
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