Thomas Newcomen

Thomas Newcomen (1663-1729), English blacksmith and inventor, born in Dartmouth, Devonshire. In 1698 he went into partnership with the English engineer Thomas Savery, who had already built a steam engine and obtained several patents. Newcomen attempted to produce a reliable steam engine, and in 1712 he successfully devised an engine with another English inventor, John Calley. The engine, which used both atmospheric pressure and low-pressure steam, was widely adopted for water pumping in most of Europe and was further improved by Newcomen in 1725.

Newcomen's engine was exported to North America about 1755. It remained basically unchanged until 1769, when the Scottish engineer and inventor James Watt invented a steam condenser that vastly increased the efficiency of the engine. By 1790 the Newcomen engine had been almost completely replaced by the Watt engine.