The Power of Steam

The Industrial Revolution was a period of time known for many changes. It can be known for the birth of the factory, redefining how we as a people act, work and view the working world even today. It can be known for the redefinition of the role of women in the working role and in society as general, changing not only the role of women in the work place but, up until recently, changing the view of women in society to that of the matron and caregiver that we’ve known until now. It can even be known as a time of revolutionary thought, such as the idea of self improvement for the sake of success as coined in Samuel Smiles, or Adam Smith’s “Invisible Hand”. The revolution is more prominently known for it’s exponential growth in the field of machines and industrial engineering. The most important product of this engineering and of the Industrial Revolution was undoubtedly the Steam Engine. The steam engine, created by Thomas Savery and Thomas Newcomen, later perfected by James Watt, the steam engine was not only an advancement in energy production and use itself, but also led to the advancement in other fields through the use of this powerful engine.

The steam engine, for 150+ years, solved the energy crisis by providing an efficient engine that allowed the coal to be turned into a previously unseen amount of energy. Using this energy provided by the engine, factories and manufacturer’s were able to create machines that were able to produce products more efficiently and on a grander scale. Also, the machines themselves were able to perform bigger tasks and bigger and better machines could be built due to this previously unseen energy limit. But what I find most interesting is the way that the steam engine revolutionized transportation. Up until the Industrial revolution, land travel was done by horse and buggy, and land travel by boat. But when the steam engine was created, the transportation field now had a new energy source to run on. Using this engine, trains and steamboats were invented, revolutionizing not only the duration of travel and travel itself, but also effecting trade and the world in ways probably not unforeseen.

On a smaller note, the steam engine is even effecting the modern world today, a sub-culture of fashion aptly named after the world that this engine provided.