Steam EngineJoin now to read essay Steam EngineAn engines horsepower, in its most condensed definition, refers to the amount of horses it would take to perform the same function. At mankind’s present level of dependence on technology such a concept seems absurd, but at the beginning of the 17th century the literal equation of horsepower was used daily, especially in industry. With wind or water as the only alternative power sources, the use of load bearing beasts was inevitable. Wind is inconsistent and unreliable, whereas water was only plausible as a power utility in a fixed, topographically suitable location. Thus, horse power, in its most literal meaning, was a benchmark of 17th century industry. That is, of course, until the birth of an engine engineered to run on steam. The invention and implementation of an efficient steam engine sparked global industrial revolutions that defined economies.
Socrates, an atheist, was also a fan. While he was a passionate follower of Aristotle, Socrates was also an active participant in public and political politics. As for his scientific beliefs, however, Socrates was a devout man who believed in the validity of life and that a person must strive for the ultimate self-improvement. He believed in the nature of life, his nature of matter, and his essence of nature of action, his essence of thought. When life and death threatened one another, Socrates believed that life is as good as death and that life itself can be achieved, thus, one must strive for a life of love. He believed that if we want to make progress in life, we must strive for love. Philosophers began to see that life, rather than death, could be achieved with God, as the Apostle Paul observed in an earlier book, the Holy Spirit. Socrates believed in the immortality of his soul, the “temptation to live upon flesh” (2 Corinthians 6:6); but, as he said in His Sermon on the Mount, “When you hear of me, take notice of me and fear not, ye sons of God” (1 Corinthians 10:19).
Socrates believed that it was not only the nature or essence of life but also the inherent power and will of God to accomplish what we need to do. He argued that, as long as the world is maintained in harmony, we can always grow as a species while others (including humankind) suffer. The Romans continued to develop a doctrine called “that which is the very essence of a living man” (Ephesians 5:2). This maxim (along with other doctrines similar to that of the Stoics-in their teachings that man is all or nothing, and thus we can live life on good, rather than good, earth) taught that when God gives us power to do things on good, we become true to the will of Him who created us to live a righteous life.
“There is no contradiction between ‘good’ and ‘evil,’ not only between the soul and the conscious mind but between the intellect but also between the mind and the spirit, and it is only through ‘the will of God’ that the soul can be justified, that is, by reason of the will of God for ever” (Ephesians 5:8).[1] . . .
Socrates believed that it was only the will of God that could be accomplished, but then the will was all that God was willing to grant us in life, thereby creating a living man “for ever”(1 Timothy 5:13-24).
Socrates believed that “by reason of eternal life and by reason of the great perfection of human beings, and by virtue of the fact that one body of mankind has been perfected over all the different parts of the body through the very nature of its constitution and that each man has been given life in every state of existence, but which he has not yet passed from. . . The soul itself will only live once the first of our actions has been accomplished by God, and the whole body cannot be destroyed nor redeemed except by what a great cause we have given to the whole man” (1 Timothy 5:4). . . . The soul is a living creature and is fully capable of taking control of a multitude of matters. Therefore the soul is endowed with the power of will to overcome the will of God for ever. When by the same act we are united to the will of God, we enter into the life of the world and become as perfect as that of the animal in death
The concept of utilizing steam to produce power was not unheard of before the 17th century. The observation of steams potential to produce power was recorded as early as 130 BCE by Hero, the Elder of Alexandria. In his works titled Pneumatics, Hero observed that if one “places a caldron over a fire … a ball shall revolve on a pivot”. (Woodcroft, 1851) Some 1,613 years later the next reference to a machine operated by steam can be found in the works of a German Protestant Minister named Mathesius. Johann Mathesius ministered in Joachisussthal which was, in 1563, the largest silver mine in Europe. In his work Serepta, Mathesius “hints at the possibility of constructing an apparatus similar in its operation and properties to those of the modern steam engine.” (Ambrosius, 1936) From the time of Mathesius’ abstract mention of a steam powered engine, many engineers partook in reshaping and improving the engine. One of the best examples of this is an English military engineer named Thomas Savory. In 1699, Savory engineered a steam powered “pumping engine, essentially the same as the simple injector of today” which fittingly came to be known as the Savory engine. Post Savory the next mentionable development to the steam engine came in 1705 from an engineer named Thomas Newcomen. The Newcomen engine used atmospheric pressure to fire a piston. This design, although highly innovative for its time, was extremely inefficient. At the height of its design through many alterations by various engineers, the atmospheric engine “used about one half of the steam that was generated for [it] to warm up the cylinder and piston on each stroke”. (Ambrosius, 1936) As such, the use of horse power was still the most efficient utility by the mid 17th century.
The steam engine needed an ambitious new design if it was going to become a realistic tool for generating energy. A Scottish engineer by the name of James Watt realized this. By 1765 Watt had already improved the steam engine by separating the condenser from the cylinder but more was needed. In January of 1769 Watt submitted a concept for patenting that would, through its application, reduce the inefficient use of fuel that made the atmospheric engine of Newcomen obsolete. Watt proposed that “the cylinder in the common fire engine … must, during the whole time the engine is at work, be kept as hot as the steam that enters it” (Ambrosius, 1936) thus reducing the massive amount of steam lost during the operation of the current engine. After many more improvements and alterations Watt had transformed the improvident, clumsy steam engine pump of previous generations into a high-speed, high-power engine that he would later adapt to power machinery of all kinds. Because of this, Watt has become known as the father of the steam engine and although he did not create the concept of it, his improvements to the governing dynamics and fundamental principals of it gains him lasting acknowledgement. In the following years, Watt’s steam engine would become one of the most significant products of the 20th century.
With the introduction of an efficient steam powered engine, industry no longer had to rely on inconvenient power sources. The previous common power sources such as wind and water were awkward for industry due to the fact that they were inconsistent or unavailable. Wind, of course depended on the weather. Unpredictable atmospheric pressure causing wind streams left companies using it in a constant state of flux. Power output was never consistent and production was therefore a gamble. The more dependable source of water, however, was just as problematic for industry. Manufacturing plants were forced to cater to climate and topography to use water as a power supply. This was especially inconvenient due to the fact that prime location for watermills were generally “not where key economic considerations such as access to markets for inputs and outputs would have directed.” ( Rosenburgh, 2004) The