although many people contributed to the development of the steam engine, englishman thomas newcomen created the first practical and efficient pumping machine in 1712. little is known about the personal life of newcomen. he was born in dartmouth, england in 1663 and grew up to work as an iron-dealer. he was also very religious and served as a preacher in his church. when visiting the iron mines, newcomen noticed that the water that kept building up was making it more difficult to work. to help fix the problem, he began to work on a machine to pump the water out of the mines. after ten years of experimenting