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In particular, the standardization of units and measurements and the lathe. Lathes with accuracy were a tremendously important component of producing steam engi

In particular, the standardization of units and measurements and the lathe. Lathes with accuracy were a tremendously important component of producing steam engines.

MeteorMarc 4y ago
But the first lathes could not be steampowered!
- wongarsu 4y ago
  Almost any stationary machine that can run on steampower can be run on water power instead. Or by horses trotting in a circle, or humans walking in a treadwheel [1]. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treadwheel_crane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treadwheel_crane
- bluGill 4y ago
  Even after the steam eninge was common foot powered lathes existed. Or you can power a lathe from water.
  - grogenaut 4y ago
    Bow lathes are fun looking and can be made with low tech. The fun thing with lathes is they are able to make things more precise than they are, power of screws really. So they're a bootstrap technology.
andrewla 4y ago
This is a great thesis because it can be falsified. The contention you are making is that between 1640 and 1690 the standardization of units of measurement and the invention of the lathe meant that Kalthoff (say) could not produce a viable steam engine in the 1640s, but Savery could successfully produce one in the 1690s. I suspect this thesis is false, but I wanted to state it here before I did any research into it.
- andrewla 4y ago
  Some basic research I think indicates we can rule out the standardization of units of measurement; there were no serious attempts at this in the timeframe in question. Hard to say about the lathe; as the article notes, Wilkinson's work in cannon boring machines certainly made James Watt's life easier, but that was still way in the future (circa 1774) so there doesn't appear to be anything relevant to the timeframe the article is discussing.
  - bitexploder 4y ago
    I think I conflated invented with reproducibility, etc.. Without relatively precise (for the tome) tolerances on your components you can’t build a steam engine that works. I have machined a steam engine from pretty limited pieces before on my lathe. The cool thing about them is they do tolerate a lot more variance than what comes next in the evolution of engine design, but only so much. Wish I had my books detailing the intertwined history of precision machine tooling and steam engines developing hand in hand. Anyhow I think other comments covered it. I should have been more precise with the claim :)

In particular, the standardization of units and measurements and the lathe. Lathes with accuracy were a tremendously important component of producing steam engines.

MeteorMarc 4y ago

But the first lathes could not be steampowered!

wongarsu 4y ago
Almost any stationary machine that can run on steampower can be run on water power instead. Or by horses trotting in a circle, or humans walking in a treadwheel [1]. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treadwheel_crane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treadwheel_crane
bluGill 4y ago
Even after the steam eninge was common foot powered lathes existed. Or you can power a lathe from water.
- grogenaut 4y ago
  Bow lathes are fun looking and can be made with low tech. The fun thing with lathes is they are able to make things more precise than they are, power of screws really. So they're a bootstrap technology.

andrewla 4y ago

This is a great thesis because it can be falsified. The contention you are making is that between 1640 and 1690 the standardization of units of measurement and the invention of the lathe meant that Kalthoff (say) could not produce a viable steam engine in the 1640s, but Savery could successfully produce one in the 1690s. I suspect this thesis is false, but I wanted to state it here before I did any research into it.

andrewla 4y ago
Some basic research I think indicates we can rule out the standardization of units of measurement; there were no serious attempts at this in the timeframe in question. Hard to say about the lathe; as the article notes, Wilkinson's work in cannon boring machines certainly made James Watt's life easier, but that was still way in the future (circa 1774) so there doesn't appear to be anything relevant to the timeframe the article is discussing.
- bitexploder 4y ago
  I think I conflated invented with reproducibility, etc.. Without relatively precise (for the tome) tolerances on your components you can’t build a steam engine that works. I have machined a steam engine from pretty limited pieces before on my lathe. The cool thing about them is they do tolerate a lot more variance than what comes next in the evolution of engine design, but only so much. Wish I had my books detailing the intertwined history of precision machine tooling and steam engines developing hand in hand. Anyhow I think other comments covered it. I should have been more precise with the claim :)