Enlightenment · Europe · Technology

1698

Savery Patents Steam Pump

1698

The English military engineer Thomas Savery patented a device for raising water by fire: a crude steam engine without a piston, intended to pump water out of Cornish tin mines. It worked poorly but worked. The age of steam had its first ungainly mechanical ancestor, and the principle of converting heat into motion would eventually power the Industrial Revolution.

More from 1698 Enlightenment

In context

Also in 1698 (4 other events on record)

Darien Scheme Launched by Scotland · North America · Exploration
Oman Expels the Portuguese from East Africa · Africa · War
Streltsy Revolt · Europe · Politics
Paris Academy of Sciences Reformed · Europe · Science

Before and after in Europe

Before and after in Technology

Before: 1690: Denis Papin Builds a Piston Engine
After: August 17, 1807: Fulton's Steamboat Clermont

Era

Enlightenment (1651–1800), one of 696 events from that era on Saeculum.