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The first modern steam engine was developed by James Watt (1736-1819), a Scottish engineer, in the 1760s. Building from the earlier steam engine developed by Thomas Newcomen, Watt made several significant improvements to his predecessor's model. Watt's key enhancement was a separate condenser which helped to solve the massive heat loss and resulting inefficiency which characterized Newcomen's model. In Watt's model, a cylinder head forced the piston down in a partial vacuum by means of steam. Watt finished his model in 1765, and the first steam engine of Watt's design came out in 1769, the same year Watt's idea was patented. Watt took some of his ideas from another inventor and engineer named Humphrey Gainsborough (1718-1776).

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13y ago

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