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Words and Pics by Phil Scoble


A MAN FROM DARTMOUTH CHANGED THE WHOLE WORLD.


THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO A MAN FROM DARTMOUTH INVENTED A MACHINE THAT CHANGED THE WORLD – BUT VIRTUALLY NO ONE KNOWS HIS NAME. THE PEOPLE OF DARTMOUTH THIS YEAR ARE DETERMINED TO CHANGE THAT.


T


homas Newcomen is a faceless historical figure: there are few accounts of his life, and no pictures of the man. Yet he invented the first steam-powered machine that laid the foundations of the industrial revolution. A man from Dartmouth changed the whole world.


In 1712 Newcomen created his ‘atmospheric engine’ that used steam to drive pumps. He created it to save the lives of miners, pumping out water from mines where many were often drowned. He created his first pump in Dudley, but a large number were installed in the Cornish Tin Mines.


But like so many engineering solutions to a simple problem, Newcomen’s engine had far- reaching applications. Because


Below: Ray Bridges with the book by Eric Preston, of the Dartmouth Historians, who has written the most comprehensive biography of Thomas Newcomen


The Park and Ride Buses in Dartmouth have been named for Newcomen


his model was copied in many different ways by later engineers, it is often overlooked – but it was a stellar jump-forward in technology, and such a robust design it was in widespread use for more than six decades before any major modifications were found that would improve it. It’s like someone painting Michelangelo’s David in bright colours and taking the credit for the whole creation. Many believe Thomas Newcomen has been robbed of the recognition he deserves.


Ray Bridges is a man who likes a challenge – he led the seven-year fight for the Flavel and has recently joined the committee looking to get Dartmouth its first covered, heated swimming pool.


But he also has taken on another big task: how do you convince the world that Thomas Newcomen should be remembered and revered alongside innovators like James Watt and Thomas Eddison?


“As a trained engineer I’ve always felt an affinity with Newcomen and appreciate his amazing achievement,” he said. “We want to create a buzz around the man’s name with events, books and monuments – his influence on the modern world is immense, but it is so fundamental to the developments of the industrial revolution that I think people remember those who came later more easily. We need to tell the world that THIS is where it started.” Perhaps the problem with telling the world about Newcomen is that there are so few facts available about his life – he was and remains an enigma.


But the work to turn around this historical slight has already begun. Eric Preston, of the Dartmouth Historians, has written the most comprehensive biography of the man yet and Ray says that his work has laid important foundations for this vital year in the history of Newcomen’s re-emergence as an


contd on page 74


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