1712

Thomas Newcomen's steam engine

In 1712, Thomas Newcomen, from Dartmouth in Devon, with his business partner Thomas Savery, built an atmospheric steam engine for pumping water out of mines.

The Newcomen engine was first used near at the Conygree coalworks near Dudley in the West Midlands in 1712. A working replica is on display at the Black Country Living Museum.

Further engines were installed in mines in the Midlands, North Wales and Cumbria. More than 100 were built before the patent expired in 1733. The original design was eventually improved by James Watt.