Harnessing Steam: Powering America through the

Industrial Revolution

We live in a society exclusively dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and

technology. -Carl Sagan

The water-tube boiler uses a water source to pump water through a

series of tubes in a chamber. The space outside the tubes contains a

fire. The hot environment heats the tubes, and therefore heats the

water to a boiling point.

The tubes in a water-tube boiler are filled with water, which is heated

into super-heated steam.

A water-tube boiler was usually heated from a combustion

chamber, which includes a fire and air

and fuel intake.

Water-tube Boiler

The fire-tube boiler has the same general idea as the water-tube boiler, as it utilizes tubing and isolated heat sources. However, the materials are flipped. Instead of water a hot gas is pumped through the tubes, and the outlying space is filled with water.

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In a fire-tube boiler, a fire is built in the compartment

leading to the tubes.

In a fire-tube boiler, the compartment outside the tube

is filled with water, which is heated by the fire tubes.

Fire-tube Boiler

Motion of the Steam Engine

Motion of the Steam EngineLet’s slow it down a bit…

Motion of the Steam EngineLet’s slow it down a bit…

Motion of the Steam EngineLet’s slow it down a bit…

Motion of the Steam EngineLet’s slow it down a bit…

Motion of the Steam EngineLet’s slow it down a bit…

Flywheel• The flywheel is used to transfer the energy generated by the engine into other

forms of movement.• The flywheel is connected to the piston by a connecting rod that uses the forward

and backward motion of the piston to turn a wheel. • The motion of the wheel turning is transferred to other machines by use of belts.

The three main components I detailed in my presentation work together to initiate the advanced processes required to convert thermal energy to mechanical energy. The boiler creates the super-heated steam required to power the main motor, while the main motor drives the flywheel.