Newcomen, Thomas

Newcomen, Thomas (ny`kəmən, nykŭm`ən), 1663–1729, English inventor of an early atmospheric steam engine (c.1711). It was an improvement over an earlier engine patented (1698) by Thomas Savery, who shared the later patent with Newcomen. This improved engine was used successfully to pump water.

Bibliography

See study by L. Rolt (1965).

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Newcomen, Thomas

(born Feb. 28, 1663, Dartmouth, Devon, Eng.—died Aug. 5, 1729, London) British engineer. In 1712 he built his atmospheric steam engine, a precursor of James Watt's engine. In the Newcomen engine, atmospheric pressure pushed the piston down after the condensation of steam had created a vacuum in the cylinder. Newcomen engines were used for some years in the draining of mines and in raising water to power waterwheels.