This timeline of heat engine technology describes how heat engines have been known since antiquity but have been made into increasingly useful devices since the 17th century as a better understanding of the processes involved was gained.
A heat engine is any system that converts heat to mechanical energy, which can then be used to do mechanical work.They continue to be developed today.
In engineering and thermodynamics, a heat engine performs the conversion of heat energy to mechanical work by exploiting the temperature gradient between a hot "source" and a cold "sink".
Work is used to create a heat differential.
The timeline includes devices classed as both engines and pumps, as well as identifying significant leaps in human understanding.