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Timeline of motor and engine technology
open-in-new
Timeline
of
motor
and
engine
technology
(c. 30–70 AD) –
Hero of Alexandria
describes the first documented steam-powered device, the
aeolipile
.
13th century – Chinese
chronicles
wrote about a
solid-rocket motor
used in warfare.
1698 –
Thomas Savery
builds a steam-powered water
pump
for pumping water out of mines.
1712 –
Thomas Newcomen
builds a
piston-and-cylinder steam-powered water pump
for pumping water out of mines.
1769 –
James Watt
patents his first improved
steam engine
.