Fifty years before James Watt came on the scene Thomas Newcomen built practical steam engines to pump water out of mines. What is known of these engines and how did they influence later ones?

Over the next few years, this engine was improved to provide ... the way back in 1712 by its namesake, Thomas Newcomen. Although it was not the first steam-powered machine in history -- as those ...

Mark Miodownik shows a working model of a steam engine originally made the blacksmith Thomas Newcomen in 1712. These early steam engines produced a vacuum to generate power and were commonly used ...

Michael Mosley, Cassie Newland and Mark Miodownik describe the scientific achievements of Newcomen and Watt at the start of the industrial revolution. Cassie Newland visits a Mill in Burnley which ...