<P> From mines to mills, steam engines found many uses in a variety of industries . The introduction of steam engines improved productivity and technology, and allowed the creation of smaller and better engines . After Richard Trevithick's development of the high - pressure engine, transport - applications became possible, and steam engines found their way into boats, railways, farms and road vehicles . Steam engines are an example of how changes brought by industrialization led to even more changes in other areas . </P> <P> The development of the stationary steam engine was a very important early element of the Industrial Revolution, however it should be remembered that for most of the period of the Industrial Revolution the majority of industries still relied on wind and water power as well as horse and man - power for driving small machines . </P> <P> The industrial use of steam power started with Thomas Savery in 1698 . He constructed and patented in London the first engine, which he called the "Miner's Friend" since he intended it to pump water from mines . Early versions used a soldered copper boiler which burst easily at low steam pressures . Later versions with iron boiler were capable of raising water about 46 meters (150 feet). The Savery engine had no moving parts other than hand - operated valves . The steam once admitted into the cylinder was first condensed by an external cold water spray, thus creating a partial vacuum which drew water up through a pipe from a lower level; then valves were opened and closed and a fresh charge of steam applied directly on to the surface of the water now in the cylinder, forcing it up an outlet pipe discharging at higher level . The engine was used as a low - lift water pump in a few mines and numerous water works, but it was not a success since it was limited in pumping height and prone to boiler explosions . </P> <P> The first practical mechanical steam engine was introduced by Thomas Newcomen in 1712 . Newcomen apprently conceived his machine quite independently of Savery, but as the latter had taken out a very wide - ranging patent, Newcomen and his associates were obliged to come to an arrangement with him, marketing the engine until 1733 under a joint patent . Newcomen's engine appears to have been based on Papin's experiments carried out 30 years earlier, and employed a piston and cylinder, one end of which was open to the atmosphere above the piston . Steam just above atmospheric pressure (all that the boiler could stand) was introduced into the lower half of the cylinder beneath the piston during the gravity - induced upstroke; the steam was then condensed by a jet of cold water injected into the steam space to produce a partial vacuum; the pressure differential between the atmosphere and the vacuum on either side of the piston displaced it downwards into the cylinder, raising the opposite end of a rocking beam to which was attached a gang of gravity - actuated reciprocating force pumps housed in the mineshaft . The engine's downward power stroke raised the pump, priming it and preparing the pumping stroke . At first the phases were controlled by hand, but within ten years an escapement mechanism had been devised worked by of a vertical plug tree suspended from the rocking beam which rendered the engine self - acting . </P>

What industry was able to grow because of steam power