James Pickard was an English inventor. He modified the Newcomen engine in a manner that it could deliver a rotary motion. His solution, which he patented in 1780, involved the combined use of a crank and a flywheel. Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the British Isles Languages English (de facto) Capital London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population – Total (mid-2004) – Total (2001 Census) – Density Ranked 1st... Diagram of the Newcomen steam engine Thomas Newcomens atmospheric engine, today referred to as a Newcomen steam engine, was the first practical device to harness the power of steam to produce mechanical work. ... A crank is a bent portion of an axle, or shaft, or an arm keyed at right angles to the end of a shaft, by which motion is imparted to or received from it; also used to change circular into reciprocating motion, or reciprocating into circular motion. ... Spoked flywheel A flywheel is a heavy rotating disk used as a repository for angular momentum. ...

James Watt, who was a contemporary of James Pickard, circumvented the latter's patent by inventing an alternative mechanical device, the so called sun and planet gear. James Watt James Watt (19 January 1736 – 19 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor and engineer whose improvements to the steam engine were fundamental to the changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution. ... The sun and planet gear was a method of converting vertical motion to rotary motion and utilised a reciprocating steam engine. ...

External link

The Pickard Engine

References

Nuvolari, A. / Verspagen, B. / von Tunzelmann, N. (2003) The Diffusion of the Steam Engine in Eighteenth-Century Britain, Paper to be presented at the 50th Annual North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association International, Philadelphia, 20 November - 22 November 2003. http://fp.tm.tue.nl/ecis/Working%20Papers/Eciswp100.pdf November 20 is the 324th day of the year (325th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... November 22 is the 326th day (327th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...