Energy · c. 1800

High-pressure steam engine

Trevithick drops the condenser and uses strong steam for compact, mobile engines.

Richard Trevithick in Cornwall and Oliver Evans in the US built engines around 1800 working at several atmospheres. High power in a small package made locomotives and steamboats possible, and Cornish engines later set efficiency records for mine pumping.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 1

Watt steam engine 1776

What it led to 5

Steam locomotive 1804
Oil drilling 1859
Electric power grid 1882
Geothermal power 1904
Solar thermal engine 1913

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

UK coal production since 1700 Latest: 2.17M tonnes (2019) Source: Our World in Data

Selected milestones in human travel speed Latest: 39.9k km/h (1969) Source: Wikipedia: Horse gait (gallop 40-48 km/h); Wikipedia: List of speed records in rail transport

UK railway network length Latest: 16.5k km (1993) Source: Our World in Data