<P> The atmospheric engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, often referred to simply as a Newcomen engine . The engine operated by condensing steam drawn into the cylinder, thereby creating a partial vacuum, thereby allowing the atmospheric pressure to push the piston into the cylinder . It was the first practical device to harness steam to produce mechanical work . Newcomen engines were used throughout Britain and Europe, principally to pump water out of mines . Hundreds were constructed through the 18th century . </P> <P> James Watt's later engine design was an improved version of the Newcomen engine that roughly doubled fuel efficiency . Many atmospheric engines were converted to the Watt design, for a price based on a fraction of the savings in fuel . As a result, Watt is today better known than Newcomen in relation to the origin of the steam engine . </P> <P> Prior to Newcomen a number of small steam devices of various sorts had been made, but most were essentially novelties . Around 1600 a number of experimenters used steam to power small fountains working like a coffee percolator . First a container was filled with water via a pipe, which extended through the top of the container to nearly the bottom . The bottom of the pipe would be submerged in the water, making the container airtight . The container was then heated to make the water boil . The steam generated pressurized the container, but the inner pipe, immersed at the bottom by liquid, and lacking an airtight seal at top, remained at a lower pressure; expanding steam forced the water at the bottom of the container into and up the pipe to spurt out of a nozzle on top . These devices had limited effectiveness but illustrated the principle's viability . </P>

Who improved the steam engine produced by new comen