Steam Application on Railroads and Locomotives-Final Product

Origins:

The development of steam engines started in the 1700s. With these engines there were various attempts to use them in railways and railroads. But the first successful creation of a railroad was made in 1804 by a British inventor called Richard Trevithick.

Since 1829 the production of steam locomotive railroads started to be more common, they were developed in several countries. Also in United States was made the first demonstration of the steam power on locomotives, but it wasn't made for a daily and production use. The first domestic locomotive manufacturing industry was established in 1830.

After this the production of steam locomotive railroads increased, the power and the speed was better and the creation of railroads was expanded to Europe and America, replacing the transportation and communication carried by horses.

First railroad made by Richard Trevithick

DeWitt Clinton domestic locomotive

Main parts of steam locomotives' structure:

Boiler: It is a device used to create steam by applying heat energy to water, using coal. It has two main components: firebox and the smokebox.

Steam circuit: This helps the locomotive to transport the steam through all the structure.

Chassis: This is what supports the structure of the locomotive and where it is mounted.

Running Gear: This is what helps to perform the motion system.

Fuel and Water: This is what propels the locomotive's structure.

Crew: Is the staff that controls and drives the locomotive.

Blueprints of a locomotive

Changes and progresses made by the Industrial Revolution:

The industrial revolution was a period that increased the human civilization and the technology. This caused a lot of positive changes in the production of steam locomotives and railroads. The power and the speed was increased, the system and functioning of them were performed, so they could be more efficient and help the people to transport in an easier and better way. These changes improved every part of the locomotive's structure, which was a great change and revolution for the means of transport.

Last steam locomotive to be built

This amazing work was done by: Julian Restrepo, David Rodríguez, Juan Pablo Zapata, Rafael Villegas, Nicolás Rodelo, Jaime Andrés Tamayo and Tomás Giraldo.

The Steam Application

The steam was started to be used in the first stage (1760-1840) of the industrial revolution. Before the application of the steam, many workers had to make the hard work of moving things and carrying heavy stuff. Also the water was one of the most important sources of power. The steam was used to pump water from mines but it wasn’t very efficient. But everything changed when James Watt a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer invented in 1765 the first efficient steam machine used in the industrial revolution.

This invention was so important and very efficient that four years later the textile industry started to use this type of machines. The steam machines were the first step to the industrial development because it can produce faster and it can do it without stopping because it was fuelled principally with coal.

Many of these ideas spread into North-America and Western-Europe and some years later to the whole word. The steam changed the society in an enormous way because it replaced the power of many workers making the production of cloth, machines, metals, etc. more economic, more efficient and faster.

Some years later the textile industry made more improvements to the steam machines; this made the inventors to think in different ways of using the steam. In the first years of the century XIX the steam was used in other industries and activities, such as the transportation industry where the locomotives started to use the steam as power for their engines. And another important activity where the steam was used, was in the furnace, this made more effective the production of metals and new machines that were taken to North-America and Western-Europe.

As a conclusion the steam was a very important step for the industrial revolution, it changed many things in society and the industry. But we have to remember that before James Watt many others inventors and engineers such as Thomas Savery and Thomas Newcomen contributed to the development of the steam engines.

A Watt steam engine, the steam engine that propelled the Industrial Revolution in Britain and the world

Steam engine designed by Newcomen

Steam engine invented by Boulton and Watt in 1784

American Invention of 19th century - Typewriter

I'm going to talk about the typewriter which is one of the greatest American inventions of the 1800s. It was extremely useful in those times, even until the computer appeared.

Cristopher Latham Sholes invented the typewriter with the help of Carlos Glidden and Samuel W. Soule. Although other important inventors had tried to make a typewriter, they weren't commercially successful. But Cristopher Shole's typewriter was certainly the first commercially successful one, invented in 1867.

The typewriter had a great impact on America's history because it increased the production of important literary pieces and written documents, the spreading of the knowledge, etc. It also helped America to becoome more popular and well kown between other countries, so their written documents became more important. But the typewriter also had a great impact all over the world. It facilitated writers and lots of people to make written compositions in an easier and faster way. It was more practical than writing with a pencil.

Bibliography

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typewriter
• http://images.google.com/images?q=sholes%20typewriter
• http://images.google.com/images?hl=es&sa=1&q=+typewriter&btnG=Buscar+im%C3%A1genes
• http://inventors.about.com/od/timelines/a/Nineteenth.htm