A History of Industrial Machine Tools -2

The Industrial Revolution was not a revolution that many people wanted. While an extremely complex outcome of scientific and sociological developments, the Industrial Revolution was still a very simple process. Not only did it replace human labor with machines, it created machines that were unique in that they were also capable of making other machines. This generated a lot of fear, even though it meant increased productivity and efficiency in the agriculture and textile industries. The process of making machines that could make other machines all started with the steam engine - a machine capable of converting the heat energy in steam into a mechanical force that could drive a piston downward through a cylinder. The steam engine came about as a solution to a series of problems in the metal and coal mining industries.

Metalworking Tools were the first tools used to bring about the Industrial Revolution. Prior to then metalworking tools consisted of anything used to shape metal into usable instruments. The forge or "smithy" was the workplace of a smith or a blacksmith who shaped metal by the use of heat and force. The metal was heated in the forge until it was red hot and then placed on an anvil where it was shaped into a desired form using a large hammer. After that the metal was placed in a slack tub where it would cool and harden. Other tools included the hand bellow (the first pneumatic or air compressor) to speed up combustion, tongs to hold the hot metal, and special hammers to strike the hot metal. Up until then, iron was extracted from iron ore by heating the ore in a bed of charcoal, which was then quenched in water or oil. In 1709 Abraham Darby was the first to demonstrate that expensive and inefficient charcoal could be replaced by the cheaper and more efficient coke found in coal. Metal makers soon discovered ways of using coal and coke to produce even stronger and more durable irons and other metals. These and other advances in metalworking were an important step in the Industrial Revolution. They dramatically increased the value of coal which meant that they had to solve a crisis in the coal mining process.

The Steam Engine was invented to solve the dangerous and costly problem of water in a coal mine. Looked upon as a relatively untapped source of energy, steam was used in 1698 by Thomas Slavery to push the water up and out of the mine. It wasn't until 1712, however, that Thomas Newcomen came up with the idea of using steam to create a vacuum that would suck the water out of the coal mine. He did this by pumping steam into a cylinder where it was condensed by cold water. This created a vacuum inside of the cylinder which pushed the piston downward thus creating the first single stroke atmospheric steam engine. It wasn't until nearly 60 years later in 1769 that James Watts added a separate condenser that was connected to the cylinder by a valve. By keeping the condenser cool while the cylinder was hot, Watt's steam engine reduced the loss of heat energy, preserving it for creating a stronger, more efficient and longer lasting mechanical vacuum. While his steam engine became the dominant design for years to come, it posed more problems than it solved. The biggest problem was the lack of a machine capable of creating a piston and cylinder assembly so precisely made that it was leak free.

Learn More About the Industrial Revolution >> Intro, 2, 3, 4, 5