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Authorised form of nameSavery; Thomas (c 1650 - 1715); engineer
Datesc 1650 - 1715
NationalityBritish
Place of birthShilstone, near Modbury, Devon, England
Date of birthc 1650
Place of deathMarsham Street, Parish of St Margaret, Westminster, England
Date of deathMay 1715
DatesAndPlacesPlace of marriage: St Bride's Church, London.
Burial: Church of St Giles, Camberwell (22 May 1715).
Occupationengineer
Research fieldEngineering
ActivityCaree:
Military engineer later attaining the rank of trench-master (1696); patented (no. 347) a machine to grind and polish plate glass, and a contrivance for rowing ships in a calm using two paddle-wheels worked by a capstan (1696); whilst spending time near a mining district, his struggle to keep the mines free of water led to him inventing a water raising machine, obtaining a patent (no. 356) for fourteen years, extended by an act of parliament passed on 25 April 1699 for a further twenty-one years. The patent withheld a description of the machine, which functioned by utilising steam pressure and the vacuum produced by the condensation of steam to raise water, was shown to the Royal Society (1699); established a workshop at Salisbury Court, London (1702); closed his workshop following lack of success and became associated with Thomas Newcomen, the designer of a more improved machine (1905); treasurer of the commission for sick and wounded seamen (1705); patented (no. 379) a double hand-bellows, which could melt any metal in an ordinary wood or coal fire (1706); applied for a patent for a mill on water vessels, ungranted (1707); surveyor to the waterworks at Hampton Court (1713).
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election13/02/1706
RelationshipsParents: Richard Savery.
Grandfather: Christopher Savery of Totnes.
Spouse: Martha Davis (1654/5–1759), (5 October 1697).
OtherInfoRemembered for the "Savery Engine", being the first commercially used steam-powered pump.
SourceSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB
References:
R V Jones, 'The "Plain Story" of James Watt: the Wilkins Lecture 1969' in NR 1969 vol 24 pp 194-220
CodeNA2704
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
MS/390/119Bond of Thomas Savery to the Treasurer of the Royal Society25 March 1706
CLP/6/61Letter, 'Relateing to a pretended invention of Dr [Denis] Papin' by Thomas Savery to Dr John Harris[1709]
RBO/9/82'Letter to the Reverend Dr John Harris FRS relating to a pretended Invention of Dr Papin FRS' by Thomas Savery1709
RBO/9/83'Of the working Dr Papin's improvement' by Thomas Savery1709
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