Steam Engine

Function

The steam engine was the first engine that was not - like wind or water power - sedentary. It was invented in the middle of the 18th century and founded the industrialisation.The steam engines were still too heavy to boost vehicles, but as stationary engines they still sometimes operate even today on old ships as competitors of the internal combustion engine. They were unbeatable for nearly 200 years on the rail. Even the first underground trains were built on the basis of the steam engine.

How it works

The large flywheel strikes immediately. It is driven by a crank mechanism which is more than 100 years later taken over by the internal combustion engine. Though the torque production of the steam engine is also based on the combustion, it is an external combustion. Near the steam engine water is heated up, which is subsequently guided via a complicated control system, depending on the movements of the engine, to the correct side of the piston. In contrast to the piston-stroke engine the cylinder space of the steam engine is closed on both sides. 06/08