STEAM ENGINE

The steam engine is a machine used for converting heat energy into mechanical energy, using steam as the conversion medium. When water is boiled into steam its volume increases about 1,600 times, producing a force that can be used to move a piston back and forth in a cylinder. The piston is attached to a crankshaft that converts the piston's back-and-forth motion into rotary motion for driving machinery. From the Greek inventor “hero of Alexandria” to …

…was designed by the Swedish engineer Carl Gustaf de Laval in 1882. A later American design had multiple impulse wheels mounted on the same shaft with nozzle sections located between each wheel. Subsequent advances in the design of steam turbines and boilers allowed for higher pressures and temperatures. These advances led to the huge and efficient modern machines, which are capable of converting more than 40 percent of the energy available in the fuel into useful work.