Thomas Savery obtains patent for steam pump (1698–1699)

Thomas Savery, an English inventor, patented a steam-powered pump on 2 July 1698. This device, known as the Savery engine, was the first commercially used steam-powered machine, designed to improve mine drainage and public water supply.

Episodes

Background and detail

Background. Thomas Savery was an English inventor and engineer who received a good education and became a military engineer. Before his steam pump, he patented a machine for polishing glass or marble and a paddle-wheel ship propulsion system in 1696, though the latter was dismissed by the Admiralty.

Patent Details. Savery patented his steam-powered pump on 2 July 1698. The original patent provided 14 years of protection. In 1699, an Act of Parliament extended his protection for a further 21 years, becoming known as the "Fire Engine Act." The patent itself contained no illustrations or description.

Impact and Demonstration. Savery demonstrated the pump to the Royal Society on 14 June 1699. In 1702, he described the machine in his book The Miner's Friend, claiming it could pump water out of mines. A newspaper announced in March 1702 that the pumps were ready for use at his workhouse in Salisbury Court, London.

People involved

Sources

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.