Want this question answered?
The steam engine freed factories from the water wheel, and James Watts double - acting rotative version was also used for pumping water out of mines, and powered locomotives. Factories could then be built almost anywhere, and could be closer to needed resources. Many moved closer to ports, to reduce haulage costs.
The steam engine revolutionized manufacturing by allowing factories to be built anywhere, as it provided a source of power that did not rely on water sources or location-specific factors. This enabled industries to be established in urban areas without access to waterways, increasing flexibility in factory siting.
The invention of the static steam engine led to the industrial revolution in Britain. It meant that factories could be built almost anywhere, and production machinery could be powered by a single static steam engine.
The invention of an efficient steam engine, meant that factories and mills no longer had to be built along water-courses, or where lodges could be used as reservoirs, to drive water-wheels.
The development of the steam engine allowed the Industrial Revolution to push forward in a way that would not have been possible without it. Prior to the invention of steam, factories could only be run by wind or water. This greatly limited where factories could be located. The number of factories that could be built were now limitless.
It meant that factories could be built anywhere.It allowed factories to work 24 hours a day and this began the invention of shifts and the work week. Weekends happened much later. They could also produce more products in shorter times leading to production methods used today.
Steam energy allowed factories to move away from rivers.
Factories could be built away from rivers using this alternative source of power.
At first water power was the primary power source. Factories were built on the banks of rivers, and huge water wheels driven by the flow of the river would power the factory. Then the invention of the steam engine made it possible to build factories almost anywhere, and steam engines replaced water wheels as the primary power source in factories.
They were the same, just built faster.
The first factories in Belgium were built around the turn of the 19th century.
Steam-powered factories could be built in cities.