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How James Watt saved the steam engine with a side room.

The Newcomen engine of 1712 cooled the entire cylinder with water on every stroke to condense the steam, then heated it up again. That devoured coal. In 1765 Watt realised: keep the cylinder hot and condense the steam in a separate, cold vessel. His 1769 patent saved roughly three quarters of the fuel.

Useful: In an inefficient process, ask which step gets expensively undone every single time.

Source: en.wikipedia.org

DampfmaschineIndustrialisierungTechnik

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