[In
the beginning...] [1600-1699]
[1700-1799]
[1800-1899] [1900-1999]
1800: Oliver Evans, an American, creates
the earliest successful non-condensing high pressure stationary
steam-engine.
1801: British engineer William Symington
develops a practical steamboat for towing barges on the Forth
and Clyde Canal in Scotland.
1801: Englishman Robert Trevithick
demonstrates a steam locomotive.
1803: The Louisiana Purchase allows
American flatboats, &c. to operate freely on the Mississippi
and Missouri Rivers.
1804: Oliver Evans builds his first
steam-powered boat, weight: 4,000 lbs.
1804: Englishman Matthew Murray invents
a steam locomotive which runs on timber rails. Is this the first
railroad locomotive?
1804: Englishman Richard Trevithick
builds 40 psi steam locomotive for the Welsh Penydarran Railroad
(after he sees Murray’s locomotive).
1805: Fulton Steam Works begins manufacturing
steam carriages.
1807: Robert Fulton’s steamboat
Clermont was launched and made a run from New York to Albany,
a distance of 150 miles.
1811: The first steamboat to descend
the Mississippi River was the New Orleans. By the 1830s,
steam ruled the Mississippi.
1812: The first commercially successful
steam locomotives, using a rack and pinion drive, commenced operation
on the English Middleton Railway. This was the world’s first
regular revenue-earning use of steam traction.
1804: The worlds first steam-powered
rock-boring machine was built by Harvey's of Hayle, Cornwall,
England.
1813: Congress authorizes steam boats
to carry mail.
1814: The first American steam-powered
warship, "Demologos," was launched in New York Harbor;
designed and built by Robert Fulton, the ship was officially
christened "Fulton the First."
1814: In England, a steam-powered rotary
press prints The Times.
1817: Fulton Motor Works patents a
process for vulcanizing rubber. It is primarily used in pneumatic
tires for steam carriages.
1820: The first American steamboat
to cross the Atlantic (from Savannah, George, to Liverpool, England)
makes the crossing in 25 days, all but 7 on steam power.
1823: First steamboat on the upper
Mississippi River.
1826: First steamboat on Lake Michigan.
1826: John H. Stevens completes a circular
track in Hoboken, New Jersey. He exhibits the first steam locomotive
to run on rails in the U.S. (In 1815, he had received a charter
from the State of New Jersey to build the first American rail).
1829: In England, Stephenson’s
“Rocket” wins a competition for locomotive power at
the Rainhill Trials on the Manchester-Liverpool Railway. Capable
of 30 mph with 30 passengers.
1829: In England, Goldsworthy Gurney
made the first long distance journey in a steam-powered vechile
from Bath to London at an average speed of 15 miles per hour.
1829: George Braithwaite built first
fire engine using steam to pump water.
1830: The first locomotive in the U.S.
to carry passengers, the "Tom Thumb," carried 26 passengers
13 miles over the tracks of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad;
the trip lasted 1 hour and 15 minutes.
1830: The “Best Friend” is
built at the West Point Foundry at Cold Spring, New York, for
the Charleston-Hamburg Railroad, South Carolina. It was the first
completely American-built steam engine to go into scheduled passenger
service. It did excellent work until 1831 when the boiler exploded
due to human error.
1832: First arrival of a steamboat
at Chicago.
1832: Officials in Fredericksburg,
Virginia, and Troy, New York, begin building improved roadways
for steam carriage use.
1831: The 3½ ton “De Witt
Clinton” hauls 5 stage coach bodies on railroad wheels at
25 mph on the Mohawk-Hudson Railroad between Albany and Schenectady.
This small engine was retired less than two years after going
into service.
1831: English locomotive “John
Bull” was shipped to the United States in unassembled form.
It was erected by mechanic Isaac Dripps for the Camden &
Amboy Railroad in New Jersey.
1835: First arrival of a steamboat
at Milwaukee.
1835: The famed "Teagle"
belt-driven, counterweighted, steam-driven lift was developed
in England by Frost and Stutt.
1837: Great Western, the first ocean-going
steamship, is launched.
1838: The steamship Sirius is the first
ship to cross the Atlantic on steam power alone, taking 18 days
and very nearly running out of coal before reaching New York.
1840: Henry R. Worthington invented
an independent, direct-acting steam pump.
1841: Paul Hodge builds the first steam-powered
fire engine in America. He is scorned by the volunteer firefighters
of New York.
1843: Great Britain, the first large,
iron, screw-propelled steamship, is launched.
1843: Joseph Dart of Buffalo, New York,
invents the world's first steam transfer and storage elevator.
1845: British engineer William M'Naught
developed the first compound steam engine.
1849: A patent was issued for the first
percussion rock drill. The drill was driven by steam power.
1851: Forced-draft boilers come into
use in high-performance steam engines.
1852: Elisha Otis invented the "Improvement
in Hoisting Apparatus" - a safety-elevator powered by steam.
1853: Alexander Bonner Latta invented
the first practical fire engine, a "steam" engine.
Built and tested in Cincinnati, Ohio, it's chief feature was
a boiler made of two square chambers: the inner one (a fire box)
and the outer one (a space for water and steam). Cincinnati became
the first American city to replace volunteers with the horse-drawn
steam fire engine and to form a paid fire department.
1854: John Elder developed the compound
steam engine. This new engine allowed the use of an additional
cylinder. Greater fuel economies were achived with this new engine.
1855: Joshua C. Stoddard patents the
steam calliope.
1857: Benjamin Isherwood, patents the
steam turbine engine.
1857: St. Louis forms the second fully
paid steam fire department in America.
1857: The first elevator for public
use was a steam-driven type installed by Otis Brothers in the
five-story department store on Broadway for E.W Haughtwhat &
Company.
1862: Otis Brothers developed a new
"Patent Hoisting Engine" having two vertical steam-fed
cylinders situated below a crankshaft upon which was keyed a
pulley. A belt from this sheave drove the winding drum located
on the same bedplate.
1869: Alexander Carnagie Kirk redesigned
John Elder’ compound steam engine into a triple expansion
engine. The engine was fitted to Robert Napier & Sons’
ship, the Aberdeen.
1870: The nine-story Equitable Life
Assurance Society Building, tallest in New York City, became
the first to have passenger elevators specifically designed by
the architect for office building use. Otis Tufts' two steam
elevators cost a bit less than $30,000. Almost 2,500 people used
the elevators the first day!
1879: Anglican Reverend George W. Garrett
tested the steam-powered subarine, "Resurgam" steam
for a boiler for surface operations, steam stored in pressurized
tanks for submerged operations. [See the World
Submarine History Timeline*]
1881: Werner von Siemens connected
a steam engine to a dynamo.
1881: Thomas Edison displayed a 300
hp steam-driven dynamo at the Paris Exhibition.
1882: A 1,000 hp direct-connected steam-driven
dynamo was installed by Siemens in the West Berlin Power Station.
1885: "Nordenfeldt I" –
a 64-foot-long steam-powered submarine – was launched. [See
the World
Submarine History Timeline*]
1887: The U.S. Navy an open competition
for a submarine torpedo boat, with a $2 million incentive. The
specifications were based onpresumed Nordenfeldt-level capabilities
and presumed a steam-powerplant of 1000 horsepower. [See the
World
Submarine History Timeline*]
1889: At the Paris Universal Exhibition,
the Gustave Eiffel Tower contained five steam-driven hydraulic
elevators -- two by Roux-Combaluzier, two inclined Otis elevators
and one Edoux with one car balancing another.
1892: Rudolph Diesel patented the “diesel”
engine in 1892; by 1897, he had a fully working engine.
1895: On March 3, the John P. Holland
Torpedo Boat Company was awarded $200,000 to build an 85-foot,
15 knot, steam-powered submarine to be called "Plunger."
[In
the beginning...] [1600-1699]
[1700-1799]
[1800-1899] [1900-1999]
