The Evolution of Engines

On the first day of class, Professor Harrington proposed an overarching theme of the two courses: that “the Victorian era witnessed, for good or ill, the making of the modern world.” We have already seen many examples of this transition to modern technology, medicine, ideas, and ways of thinking about the world. On Friday, we paid a visit to the Science Museum, which has an entire gallery entitled “Making the Modern World,” and nowhere are the vast advances and modernization of the Victorian era made more apparent. However, I was struck by another gallery in the Science Museum that demonstrates, in a very immediate and visceral way, how one innovation can have an enormous impact on the development of new technologies and, consequently, the modernization of a society.

The gallery entitled “Energy Hall” showcases the evolution of steam engines, with the actual engines sitting around the hall silently like giant dinosaur skeletons. The collection begins with Thomas Newcomen’s atmospheric engine from the early 1700s. The atmospheric engine constantly produced steam in an atmospheric tank, which would then supply the machine with energy. This early steam engine was one of the first to be widely used in commercial ventures and industry, and set off a trend that would alter the face of industry forever. The gallery then leads you through the development and refinement of the steam engine, from James Watt’s and Matthew Boulton’s double-cylinder engine all the way to the much more efficient (and dangerous) high-pressure engines, first developed by Richard Trevithick in the early 19th century.

Steam power was the driving force behind the Industrial Revolution. It led to the spread of factories in large cities and simultaneously lowered the demand for human labor in agriculture, thus leading to the massive urbanization that took place in the Victorian era. It also led to advancements in transportation, including steam ships and locomotion, which increased communication and globalization, and consequently, enabled a much more free exchange of ideas and knowledge across borders. Thanks to the steam engine, these factors were all in place to create the massive wave of modernization that swept over Victorian London in the 19th century.