American Steam. The Growth of the American Engineer Through the

Olin College of Engineering

DigitalCommons@Olin 2011 AHS Capstone Projects

AHS Capstone Projects

10-1-2011

American Steam. The Growth of the American Engineer Through the Transfer and Development of Steam Engine Technology Nikolas Martelaro Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, [email protected]

Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.olin.edu/ahs_capstone_2011 Part of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons Recommended Citation Martelaro, Nikolas, "American Steam. The Growth of the American Engineer Through the Transfer and Development of Steam Engine Technology" (2011). 2011 AHS Capstone Projects. Paper 2. http://digitalcommons.olin.edu/ahs_capstone_2011/2

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Nikolas Martelaro 17 December 2011

American Steam The growth of the American engineer through the transfer and development of steam engine technology. Often regarded as one of the most important inventions of the eighteenth century, the steam engine was the driving force behind both the European and American industrial revolutions of the nineteenth century. The steam engine revolutionized American manufacturing and transportation and formed the foundation for America’s economic and technical dominance in later years. Originally developed in England in 1712, steam engine technology would make its way across the Atlantic for use in American industry in 1753. The migration of the steam engine to America was not, however, a simple transfer of technology from a developed nation to a developing one. Before the American Revolution, there was little need for steam engines due to their limited functionality. In addition, America’s small population and reliance on England for manufactured goods did not warrant the production capabilities of steam power. However, America was forced to become more self-reliant after the revolution. With a growing population and limited trade with England, the steam engine became a more attractive power source to be utilized for manufacturing. England chose this moment to place a ban on steam engine export, forcing America to develop and implement the technology independently. The young United States lacked the technological capabilities to immediately employ steam power, but its eventual development built up a capacity for American engineering that spanned far beyond the steam engine alone. The engineering knowledge and attitude gained through selfreliance gave rise to many American industries including centralized manufacturing, steamboats, and railways. Although each of these industries has its own unique and

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rich history, their origins all begin with steam engines and the engineers who made them. Invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712 and built to pump water from mines, the steam engine was not used in America until the 1750’s. During the forty years before it reached American shores, the steam engine was an indispensable tool for English miners. However, high fuel costs and physical speed limitations made it uneconomical to run outside the mining industry. Thus, it remained a relatively unmodified workhorse for over sixty years until the English inventor, James Watt, made a number of improvements to the engine, increasing its power, speed, and functionality. Watt’s improvements allowed for the proliferation of steam power across a variety of manufacturing industries. The story of the steam engine during much of the late 1700’s is primarily English, with both the invention and major improvements to the engine made by English mechanics and engineers. It was not until 1753 that the Newcomen steam engine made its way to American soil. Although the Newcomen steam engine did much to prepare the country for industrialization, by demanding improvements in metalworking and attracting emigrant engineers to the country, it was not until the transfer of the Watt steam engine that steam power was used to industrialize the nation. While industrialization was occurring quite rapidly in England with the new Watt engine, transfer of the technology to America took many years and was a slow process. Although this process was slow due to geographic, economic, and political reasons, it did not inhibit the development and growth of the American engineer. Rather, the unique process by which steam engine technology transferred from England to America

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helped to foster a spirit of entrepreneurial engineering throughout the country. By inhibiting the ability to simply purchase engines from England directly, Americans built up their capacity to design and build engines on their own. In developing these engines, many of the country’s basic manufacturing and metal working capabilities were improved. Through harnessing the power of steam, industrialists were able to automate, increase, and improve the production of many goods, from flour and sugar milling to iron and copper rolling. The improvement of these industries would lay the foundation for America’s technical and economic dominance in future years.

The Introduction of Steam Power to America (1753 – 1800) The first steam engine used in America was a Newcomen engine bought by Phillip Schuyler, the owner of a New Jersey copper mine. Originally ordered in 1748 from the Hornblower family in England, it took five years for Josiha Hornblower to have parts made and transported to America. Hornblower arrived with many parts in triplicate as there was no one in America with the engineering knowledge or manufacturing capability to build the components. Two years after Hornblower’s arrival the engine was complete and operational. The engine was used at the mine over the course of the next 40 years until the early 1800’s when the mine was converted to a machine works and the engine was replaced with a more efficient Watt engine.1 The foresight of Josiah Hornblower speaks greatly to the limited capabilities of colonial America during the mid

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Pursell, pg. 4

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1700’s. Even so, the simple transfer of the Newcomen engine sowed the seeds for American engineering to develop through technology and knowledge transfer. The Schuyler copper mine engine was not the only Newcomen engine operating in America. It was however, possibly the only English made engine. Other engines were American made and based on the principles seen from the Schuyler engine. For example, a Newcomen engine was employed in New York in 1776 to help supply the city with water. The engine was quite useful and the builder, Christopher Colles, was regarded as a “mechanical genius.” Another Newcomen engine was erected in Rhode Island in 1780 by Brown and Colles for the use of mine clearing. While all three Newcomen engines were functional, they were all costly to run and maintain. To understand the high running costs requires an understanding of the engine technology itself. The basic design of the engine is that of a solid wood beam rotating around a pivot as shown in Figure 1. One end of the beam is attached to a water pump via a chain, while the other end of the beam is attached directly to a piston and cylinder assembly. The engine’s neutral position is with the pump end of the beam down and the cylinder fully open. Steam is created in a boiler and then released into the cylinder, expunging all of the air from the cylinder and creating a positive pressure of roughly 15 psi. Water is then sprayed into the steam filled cylinder, which causes the steam to condense. This causes a partial vacuum to form and allows for atmospheric pressure to push down on the top of the cylinder, rotating the beam about its axis and raising the pump. Since the linkage between the pump and beam and cylinder and beam is made with chains, the engine only works in tension. Thus, it is a single acting engine, only

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doing work on the down stroke of the cylinder. After the stroke is complete, a valve is opened letting air fill the cylinder, pushing the piston upward. The engine then returns to the neutral state and the process is repeated. This process is highly inefficient as the entire cylinder is cooled when the steam condenses. The cylinder is the reheated when new steam enters the system. This means that extra energy must go into heating the cylinder to so that the steam does not condense on its own when entering the system. This extra energy required to heat the cylinder ultimately leads to more fuel consumption and subsequently a higher operational cost.2 This limitation is speculated to be one of the factors for the Newcomen engines limited use in America. Historians pose a number of other reasons for why the Newcomen engine was not widely used in America. Steven Lubar of the Smithsonian Institute states that the country was simply not able to make quality engines. It was true that the young America was primarily an agricultural economy and had limited manufacturing capabilities. 3 However, by the time of the Revolution, manufacturers were rapidly improving their capabilities and many of the techniques involved with canon casting and boring transferred directly to making high quality cylinders. Historian Carroll Pursell claims that there was simply little economic need for steam power. On top of the high amount of fuel required, the Newcomen engine had limited functionality. Although useful for pumping water, the single action engine not useful to run machines such as mills and lathes. Pursell uses Brown and Colles engine as example of engine with little economic need. Pursell states that ‘Brown and Colles engines were constructed to provide for rather marginal needs; only the Schuyler engine provided an indispensable solution to a

2 3

Pursell, pg. 4 & Furguson, pgs 77-78 Lubar, pg 43

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serious problem.’ 4 Although Brown and Colles’ engines were not economical to run, they did spread the use of steam around the country and aided in building the nation’s manufacturing capabilities. Like many future steam engineers, Brown and Colles’ work may not have been financially successful, but the knowledge and capabilities that they developed would prove invaluable to developing the foundation for future American engineers. In addition to improving the nation’s manufacturing capabilities, the use of Newcomen steam engines marked the start of both technology transfer and engineering knowledge transfer from England to America. Schuyler, along with Jacob Mark, and Nicholas I. Roosevelt formed a collective in 1793 as the ‘New Jersey Copper Mine Association.’ They contracted Hornblower to rebuild the original engine and set up a variety of other industrial works such as a machine shop and foundry. The works were later renamed ‘Soho’ in honor of the Soho Works of Watt and Boulton in England.5 During this time, Watt and Boulton were regarded as the world’s premiere engine makers. Imitating its English counterpart, the American Soho most likely utilized this name to market that its engines and industrial works were comparable to highly regarded English technology. This imitation suggests that engineering quality and capability was becoming increasingly important in America. With this growing need for engineering capability, the American Soho became a center for engine building and acted as direct link for technology and knowledge transfer from England. For example, one of Soho’s most respected engine builders, James Smallman, was trained at Boulton and Watt’s Soho Works in England before arriving in

4 5

Pursell, pg. 10 Pursell, pg. 6

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America.6 This transfer of knowledge was utilized in training many American engineers in engine design and fabrication. From Soho, a number of engineers such as Stoudinger and Rhodes would later go on to build engines for endeavors such as millworks and steamboats.

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Utilizing the improvements made by Watt and the

knowledge built in shops such as Soho, American engineers would begin to drastically change the industrial landscape of America, employing steam power in almost every branch of manufacturing and transportation. The Proliferation and Expansion of Steam Power (1800 – 1850) The introduction of the Watt steam engine brought about a surge of steam power. With increased speeds and power due to the increased efficiency of the engine, more machines were able to be run with higher fuel efficiency and lower costs. After the revolution, the economic state of the United States of America was also in demand for manufacturing. Without the strong ties to English manufacturing during the colonial era, the United States needed to be more self-reliant in its production of both agricultural and manufactured products. The young and expanding republic also needed better methods for transportation to deliver goods around the country. The introduction of the Watt engine into the United States helped to improve all aspects of industrialization. All of these industrial gains stem directly from the technical improvements Watt made to the steam engine.

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[B. Henry Latrobe], An answer to the Select and Common Councils of Philadelphia, on the subject of the Subject of a Plan for Supplying the City with Water, &c. (no place, 2 March 1799), page 3; Proposals for Establishing a Company, For the purpose of employing the surplus power of the STEAM-ENGINE Erected near the river Schuykill: Under the Title and Firm of the PHILIADELPHIA ROLLING COMPANY (no place, [about 1800]), page 3. The assertion that Smallman was associated with Boulton and Watt has never been questioned although it rests only on the statements of Latrobe and Roosevelt. From Pursell, pg. 30 7 Pursell, pg 33

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Watt conducted his experiments to improve the steam engine in 1776. His first improvement came about while experimenting with a Newcomen engine. To improve the engine initially, he created a separate condenser, which allowed the steam to condense back to liquid water in a separate chamber instead of the main cylinder. Because the main cylinder was not heated and cooled with every stroke, the engine could run significantly faster and did not require as much fuel. Watt continued to improve the engine over the next ten years and in 1786 had made a number of changes to the engine, shown in Figure 2. Watt’s second major improvement was fully enclosing the main cylinder. This allowed steam to be let in on both sides of the piston head, powering the motion of the engine during both the up stroke and the down stroke. This improvement gave need for the parallel motion Watt linkage, which allowed for the use of rigid rods (instead of chains) to move the engine’s piston and crank. These rigid rods could transmit power in both tension and compression and helped, along with the double action of the engine, to increase the speed of the engines. In addition to speed and power increases, the double acting motion allowed for the transformation of linear beam motion to rotary output shaft motion. Watt also improved the engine by adding a flyball governor to control engine speed.8 These improvements allowed for the use of stationary engines in a much more cost effective. By not heating and cooling the working cylinder, less fuel was needed to operate the engine. This decreased the operational costs and made the engine more economically accessible for different works. In addition, the increased speed and power along with rotary motion allowed for the engine to be used as power sourced for mills, lathes, and gins. Overall, these improvements made the Watt engine the new workhorse for English manufacturing. 8

Pursell, pg 13 & Furguson, pg. 79-80

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While it would seem that the technology would find its way across the Atlantic quickly due to its usefulness, it would take many years for America to utilize the improvements made by Watt. During the time that Watt was making his improvements on the steam engine, America was fighting for its independence from England. Although there was an increased need for metalworking and manufacturing to support the war, the use of steam engines was still not economical or reasonable with the Newcomen engine. This war-effort manufacturing was directly useful in the years after the war for developing Watt engines in the United States. Improved cannon boring technology resulted in better and more accurate cylinders to be made for new engines. Also, the buildup of metal works and foundries resulted in the supply of raw materials needed to construct the engines. In the years following the war, however, the main challenge for the country was adequate transportation.9 With a growing population, there was a need for more centralized manufacturing. This in turn meant that goods needed to be transported around the country to reach customers. Thus, many inventors attempted to build functioning steamboats equipped with Watt engines. However, in 1785, a ban disallowed the sale of steam engines outside of England. This embargo enabled England to slow the transfer of steam engine technology and knowledge. The slow diffusion of technological knowledge from England along with the trade embargo limited the production and spread of steam engine technology for about twenty years within the United States. Without the ability to import an English engine, Americans needed to design and build the engines themselves. While this would slow United States economic growth and time to industrialization, it would allow for American engineers to build a 9

Pursell, 18

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foundation on self-reliance rather than simple technology transfer. With the ability to engineer technological systems, American engineers would apply steam engine technology to a number of different industries. The Watt engine was employed in a number of uses from automated grist mills, rice mills, and sugar cane mills to iron and copper rolling mills. It was also employed in the use of cutting stone and running cotton gins. As the United States became more industrialized due to a growing population and expansion westward, the steam engine began to replace animal and human powered machines. The increasing number of goods desired in the market also caused a shift from goods made in the home to larger manufacturing sites which could produce goods at a much higher rate. The increased rate of production required more power than natural power sources such as rivers and streams could provide. As manufacturing expanded, mills began to crowd and line the shores of rivers and streams. By the early 1800's there was little real estate left to build new mills unless the mill was intended to be built many miles upstream. The steam engine afforded power to be supplied in locations away from water sources and allowed for the expansion of manufacturing into both the west, which had limited access to water power, and urban areas such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. In many urban cities, steam power could be utilized on relatively small pieces of real estate to run machinery for the production of goods.10 This compact utility gave freedom from rivers and streams and allowed American cities to become manufacturing hubs that would foster American engineering. These cities increased the concentration of engineers in an area and thus increased the exchange of ideas and innovations. These exchanges would lead to faster development and greater expansion of steam power during the 1800’s. 10

Pursell, pg. 132

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The Rise of the American Engineer Although most steam engine technology was invented and developed in England, there were still some individuals in the United States who made significant improvements and developments to the engine. These individuals became the first American engineers to lay the foundation for the development of future engineering. A number of factors contributed to the development of the American engineer. The ban on engine export from England in 1785 was one of the biggest factors in the development of the American engineer. 11 After the Revolution, America focused on building a self-sustaining nation, independent from England. However, given the political relationship between the United States and England, transfer of technology and technological knowledge was quite slow. Due to the ban on technology transfer, Americans were left to develop the technology on their own. This self-driven development is evident in the story of John Fitch, the inventor of the first American steamboat. In 1785, Fitch wrote to the American Philosophical Society, an investor in science and technology during the era, requesting to buy a steam engine from England to install in his steamboat. However, due to the ban on exportation, Fitch was unable to purchase an engine from England. Undeterred, Fitch decided to build his own engine for the boat. Having secured monopolies from a number of states to build an engine, Fitch set out to form a company that would aid in the development of the engine and boat. Using knowledge of Watt’s steam engine improvements, Fitch designed his own engine. He then corresponded with prominent engine builders in the United States at the time, Hornblower and Colles, to check the plans of his engine. Hornblower replied to Fitch 11

Pursell, pg. 13

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stating that the design was too complicated to work in practice. Given that Fitch did not have the experience or technological knowledge behind building steam engines, he deferred to the judgment of Hornblower. However, Hornblower, a builder of Newcomen engines, was limited by his own knowledge of engine building. The advice would prove to lead down a “path of tradition rather than innovation – a tradition more irrelevant than hostile.” 12 Fitch ultimately built an obsolete Newcomen engine to power his boat. Despite numerous setbacks and multiple, unsuccessful engine builds, Fitch successfully built a functioning steamboat in 1787 named Perseverance. The boat, propelled by linked canoe paddles as shown in Figure 5, traveled up the Delaware River at four miles per hour and proved the viability of steam as a locomotive force.13 Fitch continued to build steamboats, and a year later successfully built a passenger boat that ran between Trenton and Philadelphia. Although technically successful, his venture was never financially viable. The development of the steamboats had cost a significant amount of money and the boats were not of the highest quality. One of Fitch’s main disadvantages was his inexperienced team. American manufacturing capabilities had improved in some ways since the Revolution; however they were nowhere near that of English quality. Fitch was never able to build a financially successful steam boat during his career and after a year of unsuccessfully seeking funding, he retired to Kentucky where he died by his own hand in 1798.14 The story of John Fitch is a sad tale of a man ahead of his time. Although unable to become financially successful, Fitch was able to prove the viability of steam power as a locomotive force. More importantly, Fitch’s venture built engineering knowledge from 12

Pursell, pg. 20 http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi14.htm 14 Pursell, pg. 22 13

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the ground up. One of Fitch’s associates, William Thornton recognized this and stated, “we made the whole Engine, & even formed the Engineers out of common Black Smiths not one of whom had ever seen an Engine.” 15 Due to his inability to simply buy an engine from England, Fitch and his steamboat venture were forced to train and educate mechanics and workers to become engineers. Although the work of Robert Fulton years later would achieve financial success, it would not have been possible without the work of Fitch. As Fitch stated, “We have by this means introduced Engineers into our Country, and Consequently, one of the first powers of Nature into our Empire, which may be useful in most great works.”16 The demand for engineering knowledge created by the desire to utilize steam for transportation helped build a network of engineers and manufacturing processes that would later aid in the proliferation of steam power in the United States. The ban placed on steam engine export from England was implemented with the purpose of protecting English engineering knowledge. Though it may have slowed transfer of knowledge to America, it did not prevent it. More so, it put into motion the need for Americans to build their own engineering knowledge. This “Do-it-yourself” attitude characterized many future inventors and engineers and spurred then to improve and develop new technologies. This entrepreneurial attitude was exhibited by another of the first American engineers, Oliver Evans. Unlike other engineers of the time, Evans was born and raised his entire life in America. In 1782 he developed a water-powered automatic flourmill, capable of taking raw material and producing a finished product

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William Thornton to John Stevens, 8 July 1809, Thornton papers, volume 3, LC. From Pursell, pg. 21 – capitalization in the original 16 Quoted in Westcott, Fitch, page 201 – From Pursell, pg. 21

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without human intervention.17 When Evans applied for his patent on the automatic mill, he also applied for patents on steam powered carriages. Although his automatic mill was regarded as genius, his drawings and representations for steam powered transportation were written off as “insane” by the Pennsylvania patent committee. 18 however, this did not discourage Evans and he continued to develop his ideas for steam power throughout the following years. In 1802, Evans erected his first high-pressure steam engine, which he called the Columbian type engine. He made significant changes to Watt’s steam engine design that allowed his to run at much higher pressures and speeds. The two main differences with the Columbian steam engine, shown in Figure 4, and the Watt engine were the noncondensing action and the grasshopper beam. Unlike the engines of Newcomen and Watt, the Evans engine did not condense steam. Rather, the engine simply used the expansive force of steam to push the piston head in each direction. At the end of a stroke, the steam was exhausted. This increased the speed and efficiency of the engine as it did not heat and cool a separate condensing chamber and did not require time for the steam to condense during operation. The engine’s other improvement was the grasshopper beam mechanism, which simplified the linkage that translated the piston’s linear motion into rotary motion.19 This linkage removed Watt’s costly and complicated rod assembly and exchanged it for a simpler rocker assembly. This first Columbian engine was utilized in part to grind plaster of Paris at Evans’ workshop, but also as a promotional engine for spectators and potential customers. Shortly after building this first engine for 3,700 dollars, Evans began work on his first commercial steam engine. From this point until 1819 Evans made and sold high17

Pursell, pg. 44 Kirby et.al, pgs. 172-173 19 Pursell pg. 44 & Kirby et. al. pg. 173 18

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pressure steam engines for industrial use through his Mars ironworks industrial shop in Philiadelphia. He believed “that this invention will, when applied to all the useful purposes, yield ten times more benefit to my country than my improvements on the manufacture of flour.” 20 Indeed, Evans’ high-pressure steam engines did make a significant impact on American manufacturing; however, he was unable to see the impact during his lifetime. While Evans was more successful than Fitch in his engineering endeavors, he was never fully appreciated during his time. Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the most prominent consultant steam engineer of the time, actively discredited Evans on his high pressure engines. Latrobe stated that “the high pressure engine was too sensitive to the pressure of steam in the boiler, thus moving ‘unequally & precariously.’” Latrobe, whose financial success was built around Watt engines, insisted that Watt engines were ‘as safe as a clock.’ Even in later years, when the usage of high-pressure steam engines became widespread and replaced Watt engines, Latrobe still dismissed Evans, and instead promoted other engine designs.21 Due to lack of recognition, Evan became quite discouraged in his later years. He wrote in his work, The Abortion of the Young Steam Engineer’s Guide, “He that studies and writes on the improvements of the arts and sciences labours to benefit generations yet unborn, For it is improbable that his Contemporaries will pay any attention to him.”22 Most of Evans’ work has been lost, as he felt so disheartened over the years by his lack of recognition that “in order to remove from his sons the temptation the follow him as an inventor, he proposed to burn his 20

[Oliver Evans], Oliver Evans and His Counsel, Who Are Engaged in Defense of His Patent Rights… (no place, [1816], page 33 n.) – From Pursell, pg. 45 21 Pursell, pg. 114 22 Niles’ Weekly Register, volume 46 (5 July 1834), page 351 from Pursell, Pg. 50 (capitalization from original)

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papers.” 23 In 1819, Evans’ Mars ironworks burned as well, leaving him poor and heartbroken. It is speculated that this heartbreak eventually lead to his death the next day. Although all of Evans’ work was eventually destroyed, his legacy lived on in high pressure steam engines across the United States. Just as Fitch had developed his own engines and helped to develop American engineering, Evans’ self-developed engines aided in establishing engineering in America. The development of high-pressure steam engines pushed American engineering not only to compete with English engineering, but also laid the foundation for American engineering dominance. Regarded as the ‘Watt of the west’ by many of his contemporaries, Evans proved that Americans could not only implement technology, but could also innovate on the state of the art. It is at this point that American engineering begins to develop more on its own. At the time of Evans’ death in 1819, America was on the verge of proliferating locomotive transportation. High-pressure engines, with their speed, power, and compact design, ran these trains across the continent. Although the designs for rail engines were more sophisticated than Evans’ engine design, they relied on the same principles of operation. Due to Evans’ early work on high-pressure engines, America was able to match the level of English technology by about 1830. This suggests that without Evans’ work, America may have continued to remain 20 years behind England in terms of technological and industrial development. However, with the propagation of railways, America would soon rise to become a dominant technological and economic nation. Technology Transfer

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Pursell, pg. 48

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The transfer of the steam engine from England to America took many decades. While the English were quick to innovate and implement the Watt engine in a number of industries in the 1780s, it was not until the early 1800s that America fully realized the power of steam. While the slow adoption of the steam engine in America delayed the industrialization of the country, the mode of technology transfer, or rather, the limited form of technology transfer bred the need for engineering knowledge in the growing America. Technological historian Thomas Hughes developed a simple yet descriptive model for describing the evolution and development or technology systems. These technological systems are defined as having five components: physical components, organizations, scientific components, legislative artifacts, and natural resources. In the case of the steam engine, the engine itself was the physical component. Organizations included ironworks such as Soho or Mars. Technical engineering knowledge brought from Europe and developed in America was the scientific component. Both the English and American governments, through trade bans and laws made up the legislative artifacts. Lastly, metal sources and coal mines were some the natural resources used during the development of the steam engine. These system components each interconnected and affected each other. For example, trade bans caused limitations of the transfer of engine technology. This in turn slowed the development of physical steam engine manufacturing in the United States. Hughes describes the evolution of a technological system through five phases: 1) Invention, 2) Development, 3) Innovation, 4) Transfer, and 5) Growth, Competition, and Consolidation. Invention is defined as either radical or conservative development. This

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entails creating new physical artifacts or expanding and improving existing physical artifacts. These inventions are realized through inventor-entrepreneurs, defined as individuals who build new physical artifacts by leveraging all technical and non-technical system components. Development is process by which an invention become useful and accepted by society. It is at this point that the new technology begins to make an impact on much of the non-technical system components, such as organizations and legislature. Innovation is the stage when the system has grown enough to begin function using all components of technological systems. It is at this stage that the technology grows in use. Transfer occurs during many stages of technological system development. It is the process by which physical artifacts and scientific knowledge spread to different locations. Lastly, the stage of growth, competition, and consolidation is where a technology becomes more widely used and competes with other technologies for use in the market. This development process leads to a technology’s success when all interrelated components reach a stable and optimized state. The story of the steam engine in America resides within the final three components of the model, Innovation, Transfer, and Growth. The invention of the steam engine occurred in Europe and was almost exclusively done in England. The work of Newcomen realized the useful power of steam to empty mines. However, due to the physical limitations of the machine it would not be useful outside of mining until Watt redesigned it in 1776. Watt’s developments of the steam engine initially stemmed from his academic work at Edinburgh University, where he modified and improved a Newcomen engine by separating the condenser from the working cylinder. Watt furthered his development of the engine when he began a

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partnership with Matthew Boulton. Boulton, through financial support and a successful career in manufacturing, aided Watt in building numerous engines for industrial use.24 As Hughes states, the inventor-entrepreneur (in this case Watt & Boulton) acted as the driving force behind producing steam engines for industrial use. However, along with the technical developments of the Watt engine, the economic environment in England was also ready to support widespread usage of the engine for mining and factory works. At this point in history, it would have been quite advantageous to have England as a technological partner. With new manufacturing needs, the steam engine technology developed by Watt would have been readily accepted by the United States. Additionally, the transfer would have been made simply through the importation of engines from England to the United States. However, due to the political tension between the two countries following the Revolution and England’s desire to retain its technical dominance, a ban was placed on the export of steam engines, engine builders, and general information on engine technology. While this could not stall the migration of steam engine technology, it did not allow for the simple transfer of the machine from one country to the other until many years later, when Watt’s patent expired and the ban on steam engine export was lifted. Instead, American inventorentrepreneurs were forced to exist in both the development and innovation stages of Hughes systems model. For example, John Fitch originally intended only to innovate with the steam engine by using it as a propulsion force for boats. He was forced into developing steam engine technology in the United States due to his inability to obtain an English engine. Developing and innovating engine technology appears to have been too much for Fitch to accomplish given the lack of scientific and technical knowledge. 24

Pursell, pg. 13

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Through perseverance, Fitch was able to succeed on a technical front, developing both a functioning engine and boat. However, his financial success was limited due to the high cost of development and the limited need for steamboat technology in the late the early 1790s. In contrast, by the time that Fulton began development of his steamboat, steam engines could be purchased from England. Thus, Fulton could forego the development phase, utilizing both scientific knowledge and technically able workers to innovate and commercialize the steamboat. In the early 1800s, western expansion, increased population, and a growing selfreliance due to a bustling industrial economy created an ideal atmosphere for the steam engine to gain dominance as the major industrial power source. With smaller new improvements made by both English and American engineers, the steam engine was able to provide power to the Western territories with limited or non-existent water based power sources. Even the rivers and streams of New England, the main power source in the region for decades, were not able to match the power output of steam. By 1857, the town of Wilmington, Massachusetts had approximately forty-nine steam engines producing sixteen hundred horsepower, while the local Red Clay Creek could only produce seven hundred horsepower before mechanical loses.25 These numbers speak to the huge differential that engineers had developed in power from what was possible from the natural world. The growth of steam engines had taken such a hold on the country that many water based mills were converted to steam power by the 1830s. This in turn increased manufacturing output and allowed for manufacturing to occur in urban centers. Through the use of steam power, these urban centers would grow to foster

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Pursell, pg. 174

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American engineering and would increase development rate of new technologies in all industries. The growth of the engine and associated industrial technologies allowed for the United States to catch up to England in manufacturing and engineering capabilities. Although the United States consistently lagged behind England in development of the steam engine, the sheer demand and production of steam engines to power new industry pushed American engineers to quickly develop and implement new technologies. The proliferation of steam not only allowed for manufacturing industries such as food and wood production to thrive, it also spurred the improvement and expansion of the coal and metal industries. This increase in the harnessing of natural resources would provide the required resources to effectively develop the American locomotive industry.26 Although many of the era’s technological advances are now lost in the annals of the patent record, the inventors who produced steam power innovations represent the origin of American engineers. With the desire to constantly improve and push existing technology to more economical utility, these engineers built the foundation for America’s technical dominance in the next century. Conclusion There is no doubt that the steam engine was the driving force behind the American Industrial Revolution. More importantly, the migration and adoption of steam engine technology gave birth to the American engineer and built up the mental and physical capacity that allowed the growing United States to claim economic and technical dominance in later years. However, it was not through simple technology

26

Pursell, pg. 133

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transfer that America gained its engineering authority. While the financially successful endeavors of Fulton may speak to the benefits of the “buy, don’t build” mentality, the disregarded innovations of engineers such as Fitch and Evans represent the true American spirit of innovation and invention. These engineers took to their own means to develop and implement steam engine technology without the assurance of financial success. Amidst criticism and slander, they forged on to develop technologies that they knew would produce a more efficient America. On this quest, they built up the spirit of American innovation, training blacksmiths to be mechanics and building the manufacturing capacity which would allow future engineers in the 1800s to rapidly meet the growing demand for the ever expanding nation. It is this spirit for engineering innovation, created by steam engine development, which has continued to secure America’s technical dominance through the present and will be critical in carrying this dominance forward into the future.

Bibliography Ferguson, E. S. (1964). The Origins of the Steam Engine. Scientific American, 98-107. Kirby, R. S., Withington, S., Darling, A. B., & Kilgour, F. G. (1990). Engineering in History. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. Leinhard, J. H. (2000). The Engines of Our Ingenuity. New York: Oxford University Press. Lubar, S. (1986). Engines of Change. Washington D.C.: National Museum of American Historian. Pursell, C. W. (1964). Early Stationary Steam Engines in America. Washington: Smithsonian Institute Press.

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Figure 1 - Newcomen steam engine27

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Image source: http://192.197.62.35/staff/mcsele/images/newcdiag.jpg

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Figure 2 - Watt steam engine28

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Image source: http://www.uh.edu/engines/watt2.gif

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Figure 3 - Fitch's first steamboat, Perseverance

Figure 4 - Evans' Columbian high pressure steam engine29

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http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27106/27106-h/images/fig-15.jpg

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Figure 5 - John Fitch's first steamboat, "Perseverance"

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