WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE EARLY INVENTION POWERED BY A STEAM ENGINE?

One of the early inventions to be powered by steam, was built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel's father, Marc Brunel it was an industrial knitting machine in 1816. There were many others.....

In 1839, Pagets of Loughborough established the first steam powered knitwear factory.

A steam powered Lawnmower? Yes, and it was all down to Edwin Budding in 1830

Where do you think your modern day car originated from?

Cugnot's self propelled steam road vehicle........it had a steam engine and was one of the very early inventions of it's kind...

.....and the first steam powered bicycle in 1869 was called the Michaux-Perreaux steam bicycle

.... there were many lesser known machines invented in the 19th Century such as the first rock boring machine in 1804, the steam driven lift called the Teagle in 1835,a steamboat in 1801 called the Charlotte Dundas that was propelled by a steam paddle wheel.

Then of course there were the really memorable machines....

and John Stringfellow of Chard in Somerset flew an unmanned steam powered monoplane with a 10' wingspan.

Probably one of the most well known ships of the age is the SS. Great Britain. Now sited in Bristol Dock, she was I.K. Brunel's brainchild built in 1843 and was the first ocean going iron hulled passenger ship with a steam driven propeller.

SS. GREAT BRITAIN BRISTOL DOCKS

There are of course many other names in steam invention history, William Symington, a British Marine Engineer who built the first practical steam boat, Harvey's of Hayle in Cornwall who built a steam driven rock breaker, George Braithwaite, famous for his fire engine with a steam pump, John Elder, another British Engineer who introduced the compound engine on ships, John Stevens the first successful operator of a steam ferry service, Sylvester Roper, an American who built a steam bicycle at the same time as the Michaux-Perreaux bike, Denis Papin, a Frenchman who as early as 1690, produced a steam engine with a piston in which condensation was used to produce a vacuum and Henry Gifford's first steerable steam powered airship, Richard Arkwright who was famous for many inventions but who built the first steam powered textile factory in Britain and last but not least.......

Atmospheric Engine