james watt developed the steam engine that could drive machinery.
james watt developed the steam engine that could drive machinery.
who developed the steam engine that could drive machinery?
james watt
in 1781 james watt marketed a rotary-motion steam engine that could be adapted to drive all sorts of machinery, richard arkwright pioneered its use in his cotton mills. possibly the first steam engine to be used in a cotton mill was a newcomen engine which was used at shudehill mill in 1783 to raise water between storage ponds so it could drive a water wheel. by 1795 most similar engines around manchester had been replaced by boulton and watt or bateman and sherratt engines.
cotton mill
water-returning engine









































a water-returning engine was an early form of stationary steam engine, developed at the start of the industrial revolution in the middle of the 18th century. the first beam engines did not generate power by rotating a shaft but were developed as water pumps, mostly for draining mines. by coupling this pump with a water wheel, they could be used to drive machinery.
water-returning engine