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The atmospheric steam engines which were first put to practical use did not require precise manufacturing. The cylinder and pistons were finished by hand and e
by MichaelCollins 4y ago
The atmospheric steam engines which were first put to practical use did not require precise manufacturing. The cylinder and pistons were finished by hand and eyeballed for correctness (far from precise.) The gap was made up using leather seals and a layer of water sitting on top of the piston.
- moffkalast 4y agoThis just poses further questions as to why electric motors weren't popularized before the steam engine instead. They're so easy to make that it's entirely possible to make one out of a literal box of scraps. We have some records of batteries dating back far even to ancient Egypt, magnets can be found on the ground, the only real obstacle is making thin copper wire reliably I guess.
- HeyLaughingBoy 4y agoElectric motors have some of the same problems that steam engines do. You need very precise bearings because of the relationship between magnetic field and distance. You need lots of copper wire, as you mentioned, and while magnets might be "found on the ground" I don't know that powerful enough ones to be useful were known of. It's easy to make a proof of concept electric motor. It's far more difficult to make a useful one. And then, of course, you need a source of electricity to use them in the first place, whereas the steam engine just needed heat and water.