Fable or fame? Thomas Newcomen, like many inventors who preceded him in the steam revolution, has been clearly overshadowed in historical circles by the far more famous Scotsman, James Watt, who remains—incorrectly to some—known as the...

1663-1729 English Inventor Thomas Newcomen is often acclaimed as the inventor of the steam engine. An ironmonger by training, he converted Thomas Savery's primitive steam pump into a true, if inefficient, source of motive power. Originally...

1663-1729 English engineer who invented the first atmospheric steam engine. Newcomen was born in Dartmouth, and spent many years as an iron-monger there. Finding out that pumping water out of mines was at the time accomplished through a labor-intensive...

(born Feb. 28, 1663, Dartmouth, Devon, Eng.—died Aug. 5, 1729, London) British engineer. In 1712 he built his atmospheric steam engine, a precursor of James Watt's engine. In the Newcomen engine, atmospheric pressure pushed the piston down after...

Thomas Newcomen (born 28 February 1663; died 5 August 1729) was an ironmonger by trade and a Baptist lay preacher by calling. He was born in Dartmouth, Devon, England, near a part of the country noted for its tin mines. Flooding was a major problem,...