Thoughts on Newcomen engine.
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 2:16 am
Newcomen's atmospheric pumping engine was one of the very earliest practical and useful steam engines. The operating principle was easy enough, steam entered a cylinder where a spray of cold watet caused it to condense and the resultant loss of pressure caused atmospheric pressure to push the piston down.
The engine was very inefficient and part of the reason was that steam entering the cylinder was prematurely condensed by contact with the cold cylinder walls. James Watt improved on that by making a seperate condensing chamber.
However, I am wondering if cylinder walls made of low conduction materials would enhance efficiency of the basic Newcomen engine, and what might be a practical material to use?
My intention is to build a Newcomen engine for amusement and not a faithful copy of any that were made and I will use a crank and flywheel rather than the pump rod and beam that Newcomen used.
I hope someone can answer my question, thanks.
John