| Authorised form of name | Savery; Thomas (c 1650 - 1715); engineer |
| Dates | c 1650 - 1715 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Shilstone, near Modbury, Devon, England |
| Date of birth | c 1650 |
| Place of death | Marsham Street, Parish of St Margaret, Westminster, England |
| Date of death | May 1715 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Place of marriage: St Bride's Church, London.
Burial: Church of St Giles, Camberwell (22 May 1715). |
| Occupation | engineer |
| Research field | Engineering |
| Activity | Caree:
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 category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 13/02/1706 |
| Relationships | Parents: Richard Savery.
Grandfather: Christopher Savery of Totnes.
Spouse: Martha Davis (1654/5–1759), (5 October 1697). |
| OtherInfo | Remembered for the "Savery Engine", being the first commercially used steam-powered pump. |
| Source | Sources:
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 |
| Code | NA2704 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| MS/390/119 | Bond of Thomas Savery to the Treasurer of the Royal Society | 25 March 1706 |
| CLP/6/61 | Letter, '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 Savery | 1709 |
| RBO/9/83 | 'Of the working Dr Papin's improvement' by Thomas Savery | 1709 |
| MC/27/192 | Letter from Rhys Jenkins, Examiner in the Patent Office, The Patent Office, 25 Southampton Buildings, W.C, to Robert Harrison, [Royal Society] | 2 December 1912 |