<P> In 1781 Scottish engineer James Watt patented a steam engine that produced continuous rotary motion . Watt's ten - horsepower engines enabled a wide range of manufacturing machinery to be powered . The engines could be sited anywhere that water and coal or wood fuel could be obtained . By 1883, engines that could provide 10,000 hp had become feasible . The stationary steam engine was a key component of the Industrial Revolution, allowing factories to locate where water power was unavailable . The atmospheric engines of Newcomen and Watt were large compared to the amount of power they produced, but high - pressure steam engines were light enough to be applied to vehicles such as traction engines and the railway locomotives . </P> <P> Reciprocating piston type steam engines remained the dominant source of power until the early 20th century, when advances in the design of electric motors and internal combustion engines gradually resulted in the replacement of reciprocating (piston) steam engines in commercial usage, and the ascendancy of steam turbines in power generation . Considering that the great majority of worldwide electric generation is produced by turbine type steam engines, the "steam age" is continuing with energy levels far beyond those of the turn of the 19th and 20th century . </P> <Ul> <Li> In Roman Egypt, the aeolipile (also known as a Heron's engine) described by Hero of Alexandria in the 1st century AD is considered to be the first recorded steam engine . Torque was produced by steam jets exiting the turbine . </Li> <Li> In Ottoman Egypt, the inventor Taqi al - Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf described a steam turbine device for rotating a spit in 1551 . </Li> <Li> In the Spanish Empire, the inventor Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont obtained a patent for a rudimentary steam - powered water pump in 1606 . </Li> <Li> Thomas Savery, in 1698, patented the first practical, atmospheric pressure, steam engine of 1 horsepower (750 W). It had no piston or moving parts, only taps . It was a fire engine, a kind of thermic syphon, in which steam was admitted to an empty container and then condensed . The vacuum thus created was used to suck water from the sump at the bottom of the mine . The "fire engine" was not very effective and could not work beyond a limited depth of around 30 ft (9 m). </Li> <Li> Thomas Newcomen, in 1712, developed the first commercially successful piston steam engine of 5 horsepower (3,700 W). Its principle was to condense steam in a cylinder, thus causing atmospheric pressure to drive a piston and produce mechanical work . </Li> <Li> James Watt, in 1781, patented a steam engine that produced continued rotary motion with a power of about 10 horsepower (7,500 W). It was the first type of steam engine to make use of steam at a pressure just above atmospheric to drive the piston helped by a partial vacuum . It was an improvement of Newcomen's engine . </Li> <Li> After Richard Trevithick invented the lightweight, high - pressure steam engine in 1797 - 1799, steam engines became small enough to be used in smaller businesses and for use in steam locomotives . </Li> </Ul> <Li> In Roman Egypt, the aeolipile (also known as a Heron's engine) described by Hero of Alexandria in the 1st century AD is considered to be the first recorded steam engine . Torque was produced by steam jets exiting the turbine . </Li>

Who invented the steam engine and what did it do
find me the text answering this question