What?: An engine that is powered by steam
Where?: Modified and made profitable in Great Britain
When?: 1765
Who?: Modefied by James Watt
How?: Water is boiled creating steam which is directed to either turn a drive shaft or to depress a piston (that's the best I can do, I'm a teacher not an engineer)
Why?: Previous steam engines allowed too much steam to escape to become profitable. Watt modified the steam engine allowing it to power the machines of the coming industrial revolution.
Importance:
1) Factories no longer need to be located near rivers (before the steam engine rivers were used as a power source)
2) The steam engine when placed on boats greatly reduced the time it took for goods and raw materials to get across the Atlantic ocean.
3) Steam Engines made the railroad possible.
4) Steam engines allowed industry to produce a much larger number of good.
Results: More power is available for British industry. More power equals greater production, greater production creates mor goods and more goods creates greater profit.
Related Terms:1) Steel, 2) Mining, 3) Pig Iron 4) Robert Fulton 5) Turbine