3 ms·
FWIW, there was plenty of use for pumps earlier on - in mining. But muscle power, then water power, was sufficient. Part of the steam engine's success was how
by TeMPOraL 2y ago
FWIW, there was plenty of use for pumps earlier on - in mining. But muscle power, then water power, was sufficient.
Part of the steam engine's success was how it contributed to itself - it helped mine coal that would fuel it, and that would fuel furnaces in which steel was made, some of that steel going into... making more engines - and all of that moved around by means of steam power.
*Factorio vibes intensify*
You had to have enough pieces together: demand for coal and steel and moving them distances, sustained long enough to exhaust simple options, and become a problem the steam engine could solve. It was then that the steam engine turned this into self-reinforcing loop, and kickstarted the modern world.
- ckozlowski 2y agoYour discussion with DrF jogged my memory a bit. There was a discussion on this topic some time ago (I'm fuzzy on when) that went into detail about how there needed to be a specific use case and demand for this. I'm trying to remember the blog, but a search on HN yielded this: https://www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-invention-why-wasnt-the-steam-76c https://www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-invention-why-wasnt-... I think this is the blog in question, and the most relevant part. If something else comes to me, I'll share it here.
- HPsquared 2y agoThat exponential character is what we are seeing with computers too. Better computers increase both the supply and the demand for even more.
- ashoeafoot 2y agoThe steam engine came about due to the spread of shipworms. Ships need copper shielding against that, thus mining deep, thus industrial revolution. First comes the demand. Which came about by the merchant fleet of the British empire.