The Little Steam Engine That Did.

When the steam engine became available for industrial use at the end of the eighteenth century, it was mainly used for driving plunger-pumps, such as those used in English coal mines. The stream engine's piston drove a lever, that reciprocating motion of which drove the pump plunger. Called the "Beam Machine," this mechanism needed a lot of space, had many parts, and was difficult to install because the engine and the pump had to be properly aligned.