How did the steam engine affect the industrial revolution?

Steam engines found many uses in a variety of industries, most notably mining and transportation, but its popularization shaped nearly every aspect of the industrial society, including where people could live, labor, and travel;  how goods were produced, marketed, and sold; and what technological innovations followed.

Learning Objective

Give examples of the industries powered by steam

Key Points

  • The steam engine was one of the most important technologies of the Industrial Revolution, inspiring other innovations and initiating further technological advancements. In 1775, James Watt formed an engine-building and engineering partnership with manufacturer Matthew Boulton. This served as a kind of creative technical center for much of the British economy. They supported talents and other companies, creating a culture where firms often shared information that they could use to create new techniques or products.
  • From mines to mills, steam engines found many uses in a variety of industries. The introduction of steam engines improved productivity and technology and allowed the creation of smaller and better engines. Around the start of the 19th century, Cornish engineer Richard Trevithick and American Oliver Evans began to construct higher-pressure non-condensing steam engines, exhausting against the atmosphere. After Trevithick’s development, transport applications became possible and steam engines found their way into boats, railways, farms, and road vehicles.
  • The steam engine was originally invented and perfected to be used in mines. The introduction of the steam pump by Savery in 1698 and the Newcomen steam engine in 1712 greatly facilitated the removal of water and enabled shafts to be made deeper, enabling more coal to be extracted. The adoption of John Smeaton’s improvements to the Newcomen engine followed by James Watt’s more efficient steam engines from the 1770s reduced the fuel costs of engines, making mines more profitable.
  • Steam locomotives were invented after the introduction of high pressure steam engines when the Boulton and Watt patent expired in 1800. Steam-hauled public railways began with the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825. The use of steam engines on railroads proved extraordinary since large amounts of goods and raw materials could now be delivered to cities and factories alike at a fraction of the cost traveling by wagon.
  • Following the advent of the steamboat, the United States saw an incredible growth in the transportation of goods and people, which was key in westward expansion. The steamboat dramatically reduced time used to transport goods and allowed for increased specialization. The steamboat was also critical to facilitating the internal slave trade. With the steamboat came the need for an improved river system and infrastructure along the rivers.
  • Steam engines are a particularly illustrative example of how changes brought by industrialization led to even more changes in other area.Water power, the world’s preceding supply of power, continued to be an essential source even during the height of steam engine popularity. The steam engine, however, provided many novel benefits. While many consider the potential for an increase in power generated o be the dominant benefit (with the average horsepower of steam powered mills producing four times the power of water powered mills), others favor the potential for agglomeration. Steam engines made it possible to easily work, live, produce, market, specialize, and viably expand without having to worry about the less abundant presence of waterways. Cities and towns were now built around factories, where steam engines served as the foundation for the livelihood of many of the citizens. By promoting the agglomeration of individuals, successful local markets were established. Cities quickly grew and the quality of living eventually increased as infrastructure was put in place. Finer goods could be produced as acquisition of materials became less difficult and expensive. Direct local competition led to higher degrees of specialization and labor and capital were in rich supply. The steam-powered towns encouraged growth both locally and on the national scale.

    Initiated by the growing need for raw materials, the development of steam power set off a chain reaction. In order to pump pit water out of mines, steam engines were built near mining sites. Because these steam engines were powered by coal, coal mining became profitable—a mutually beneficial system. Steam power became the energy source for many machines and vehicles, making it cheaper and easier to produce commodities in large amounts. This in turn increased the demand for raw materials used to build more machines that can produce even more commodities. This interdependency accelerated during the Industrial Revolution, and provides insight into the key factors that initiated the social process that today, in turn, gives rise to the Anthropocene revolution.

     

    How did the steam engine affect the industrial revolution?

    Steam Engine
    Marina Porras Chassignet

    Steam Engine
    Marina Porras Chassignet

    Drawn by Marina Porras Chassignet , 2014.

    How did the steam engine affect the industrial revolution?
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

    Lifting water with fire: The steam engine

    Text and images by Marina Porras Chassignet
    http://www.marinandarina.de/
    University of the Arts (UdK), Berlin

    How did the steam engine affect the industrial revolution?

    Lifting Water with Fire
    “Wow, what power this steam has!”

    Lifting Water with Fire
    “Wow, what power this steam has!”

    Drawn by Marina Porras Chassignet , 2014.

    How did the steam engine affect the industrial revolution?
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

     

    How did the steam engine affect the industrial revolution?

    Now we’re going to put big water pumps into the mines!

    Now we’re going to put big water pumps into the mines!

    Drawn by Marina Porras Chassignet , 2014.

    How did the steam engine affect the industrial revolution?
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

     

    How did the steam engine affect the industrial revolution?

    We’ll finally be able to dig deeper into the ground and get more coal and iron out of the Earth!

    We’ll finally be able to dig deeper into the ground and get more coal and iron out of the Earth!

    Drawn by Marina Porras Chassignet , 2014.

    How did the steam engine affect the industrial revolution?
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

     

    How did the steam engine affect the industrial revolution?

    And, by doing that, we’ll be able to build new and improved steam engines!

    And, by doing that, we’ll be able to build new and improved steam engines!

    Drawn by Marina Porras Chassignet , 2014.

    How did the steam engine affect the industrial revolution?
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

     

    How did the steam engine affect the industrial revolution?

    That will power our factories and cities!

    That will power our factories and cities!

    Drawn by Marina Porras Chassignet , 2014.

    How did the steam engine affect the industrial revolution?
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

     

    How did the steam engine affect the industrial revolution?

    And will transport goods and people all over the world on wheels!

    And will transport goods and people all over the world on wheels!

    Drawn by Marina Porras Chassignet , 2014.

    How did the steam engine affect the industrial revolution?
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

     

    How did the steam engine affect the industrial revolution?

    And get raw materials from far-away lands using ships!

    And get raw materials from far-away lands using ships!

    Drawn by Marina Porras Chassignet , 2014.

    How did the steam engine affect the industrial revolution?
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

     

    How did the steam engine affect the industrial revolution?

    That is the Industrial Revolution!
    The first World Fair, London 1851

    That is the Industrial Revolution!
    The first World Fair, London 1851

    Drawn by Marina Porras Chassignet , 2014.

    How did the steam engine affect the industrial revolution?
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

     

    Artist’s comment:

    I used to think that steam engines were only used in trains, so I was suprised to learn of the importance of this machine. Humans created something very powerful from something as simple as steam. The steam engine is a good example for how humanity’s constant striving for innovation and development has changed the world. It opened up new dimensions of possibility.


     How to cite

    Chassignet, Marina Porras. “The Steam Engine.” Environment & Society Portal, Multimedia Library, 2014. http://www.environmentandsociety.org/node/6627/.

    The comic also appears in Alexandra Hamann, Reinhold Leinfelder, Helmuth Trischler, and Henning Wagenbreth, eds., Anthropozän – 30 Meilensteine auf dem Weg in ein neues Erdzeitalter. Eine Comic-Anthologie (Munich: Deutsches Museum, 2014).

    How did the steam engine impact society?

    Steam engines made it possible to easily work, live, produce, market, specialize, and viably expand without having to worry about the less abundant presence of waterways. Cities and towns were now built around factories, where steam engines served as the foundation for the livelihood of many of the citizens.

    Why is steam so important Industrial Revolution?

    The introduction of steam engines improved productivity and technology, and allowed the creation of smaller and better engines. After Richard Trevithick's development of the high-pressure engine, transport applications became possible, and steam engines found their way to boats, railways, farms and road vehicles.

    Why the steam engine was so important?

    The significance of the steam engine is that it was a way to turn heat into motion. With this ingenious device, we could now use fuel instead of wind, water or muscle power. In fact, the Newcomen engine was originally called a “fire engine”. Fuel can be transported, so engines can operate anywhere.

    What industry did the steam engine impact?

    Water and steam power became even in 1820, and by 1830 steam was well ahead, producing a large increase in the productivity of the textile industry as new factories were created.