Energy · 1913

Solar thermal engine

Parabolic troughs raise steam to pump Nile water in Egypt.

Frank Shuman's 1913 plant at Maadi used long parabolic troughs to run a steam pump of about 50 hp. Cheap oil ended the venture, but its trough geometry returned in modern concentrated solar plants.

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

High-pressure steam engine 1800

What it led to 1

Concentrated solar power 1982