Steam Engine
Handcarts and animal-drawn carts were used until the first half of the eighteenth century. Different types of wheels were being made to fit different types of carts being made. Speed had improved a little, but it was not yet great. The wheel was also finding applications in other things than carts, like in scissors, pliers and drillers.
One day, a young boy named James Watt observed that steam lifted the lid of a kettle in which water was boiling. When steam was released from the kettle, it pushed up the lid. From this, he concluded that steam has power. By this time, the steam engine was already in use, but it wasted a lot of energy. James Watt used this discovery in making a condenser which utilised steam more efficiently.
He did this in 1769. At first, the steam engine was used to pump out water from coalmines. This revolutionary idea was soon applied in the fields of transportation, agriculture and industry, including for ships and railway engines.
An important application of the steam engine was to develop a locomotive. It was developed by George Stephenson in 1814. This engine, called Blucher, had the capacity to pull eight coal wagons at a speed of about 6 km per hour. Today this speed may look very slow, but it was a milestone in further development. In 1829, he built another quicker locomotive, the Rocket.
It could go up to a speed of 50 km per hour and could carry wagon with 30 passengers. This was an important improvement in the railway engine.