Stephenson's Rocket
The Rocket was a pioneering steam-powered locomotive invented in 1829 by the British engineer Robert Stephenson (1803-1859). For a cash prize, extensive competition trials were held to find the best locomotive in the Rainhill Trials. Rocket won and so was used to pull carriages on the first inter-city train line from Liverpool to Manchester, which opened in September 1830.
The Steam Engine
The steam engine was perhaps the most important invention of the Industrial Revolution. It began as a steam-powered pump invented by Thomas Savery (c. 1650-1715) and patented in 1698. Thomas Newcomen (1664-1729), an ironmonger in Dartmouth, adjusted Savery's design and greatly increased the power. Newcomen's steam engine pump was first used in a coal mine in Dudley in the Midlands in 1712. The next leap forward came thanks to the Scottish instrument worker James Watt (1736-1819), who, by 1778, had greatly reduced the fuel consumption of his machine. As the steam engine continued to evolve to create a high-pressure power source, so the possibilities of what such a machine could be used for grew.
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