You’re reading Age of Invention, my newsletter on the causes of the British Industrial Revolution and the history of innovation. This free edition went out to over 20,000 people. To support the newsletter you can become a patron by upgrading your subscription here:
This is, unfortunately, a pretty common phenomenon in the history of technological innovation. A few people get the credit for inventing a new technology or coming up with the original idea, but it was actually due to the hard work of hundreds of people.
The famous inventors remembered by history deserve their fame, but it is too bad that all the other people's hard work has vanished into the mists of history.
Fascinating stuff as always. Why do you suppose we didn't get more useful machines earlier? Even something as useful as the Savery pump? Let alone the Newcomen engine?
It would be fantastic to see some estimates of torque and power output from each of these early devices, even very rough ones
This is, unfortunately, a pretty common phenomenon in the history of technological innovation. A few people get the credit for inventing a new technology or coming up with the original idea, but it was actually due to the hard work of hundreds of people.
The famous inventors remembered by history deserve their fame, but it is too bad that all the other people's hard work has vanished into the mists of history.
Fascinating stuff as always. Why do you suppose we didn't get more useful machines earlier? Even something as useful as the Savery pump? Let alone the Newcomen engine?
It would be fantastic to see some estimates of torque and power output from each of these early devices, even very rough ones
Forgive my ignorance but what is the reason 34 feet seems to be the limit?
Great to look at how innovation on a theme happpens in cycles and builds on top of one another. Lot of parallels for building anything new.