The atmospheric engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, and is often referred to simply as a Newcomen engine.The engine was operated by condensing steam drawn into the cylinder, thereby creating a partial vacuum which allowed the atmospheric pressure to push the piston into the cylinder. Image caption Newcomen's achievement featured in a recent set of Royal Mail commemorative stamps . His invention earned him a place as one of the pioneers of the Industrial Revolution. Thomas Newcomen … Inventor Thomas Newcomen (1663-1729) designed the world's first successful atmospheric steam engine. This was less efficient than James Watt's steam engine… His father was a prosperous shipwright. Mark Miodownik shows a working model of a steam engine originally made the blacksmith Thomas Newcomen in 1712. Tricentenary for steam pioneer Thomas Newcomen. Short clip of my Newcomen engine model as superbly filmed by North One Television and demonstrated by Guy Martin on the Channel 4 programme 'How Britain Worked'. He told BBC News: "Newcomen was the father of the steam engine, and Manchester became the centre of the steam … An atmospheric steam engine built for Caprington Colliery, Ayshire, in 1811 to a design developed by Thomas Newcomen a century earlier. Instead, atmospheric pressure pushed the piston down after the condensation of steam had created a vacuum in the cylinder. (c) North One Television. He took an invention that had been around for more than 50 years, the steam engine, and made it a shedload ... 'This is a Newcomen steam engine. In his engine the intensity of pressure was not limited by the steam pressure. Thomas Newcomen, British engineer and inventor of the atmospheric steam engine, a precursor of James Watt’s engine. A series of conferences focusing on energy is being held around the UK to mark the 300th anniversary of the world's first steam engine. Newcomen was an ironmonger by profession, but made a significant contribution to the Industrial Revolution with his invention of the atmospheric steam engine. James Watt was born in Greenock on 18 January 1736.