The Choice Between High-Pressure and Low-Pressure Steam Power in America in the Early Nineteenth Century

Harlan I. Halsey

The Journal of Economic History, 1981, vol. 41, issue 4, 723-744

Abstract: In the early nineteenth century, five versions of stationary steam engines were in widespread use. In America, the high-pressure engine was dominant in the West, but on the eastern seaboard the low-pressure engine was viable. In Britain, the low-pressure engine was overwhelmingly dominant. Here we analyze the evidence on cost and performance of high- and low-pressure engines, and show that fuel-price and interest-rate differentials were sufficient to explain the distribution of steam engine types in America.

Date: 1981
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