
Top (left): a 1702 depiction of the Miner's friend being operated by a mine worker. [1] Bottom (left): a modern schematic of its basic operation. Right: a physical comparison between a 1600 hand pump, previously used to remove water from flooded mines, and the mechanical Savery engine (aka Miner's friend) able to remove water from far greater depths, effortlessly.

In engines, Miner’s friend, aka "Savery engine", was a 1698 steam engine or rather heat operated suction pump patented by English engineer Thomas Savery that worked to remove water from flooded mines.

Overview

In 1690, Denis Papin published his drawings of the design of the Papin engine, the piston and cylinder engine.

On 14 Jun 1699, Thomas Savery demonstrated a small working model of his steam engine at Gresham-college before an audience where it was approved of.

In 1702, Savery published The Miner’s Friend: or an Engine to Raise Water by Fire

The followup engine design to the Miner's friend was the Newcomen engine, built in 1712 by English engineer Thomas Newcomen.

The Miner's friend not only provided an alternative source of power over that of human power or horse power, but it also seems to have solved the famous pump problem, namely the fact that hand operated pumps could not remove water below a depth of 32 feet

The adjacent image shows the respective difference in working ability between the hand pump (1600) and the Savery engine (1700), the latter able to lift water out of flooded mines to a far greater height, and without human physical exertion.

References
1. (a) Savery, Thomas. (1702). The Miner’s Friend: or an Engine to Raise Water by Fire. London: Printed for S. Crouch, at the Corner of Pope’s Head-Alley in Cornhill; reprinted, 1827.
(b) Savery, Thomas. (1702). The Miner’s Friend – or an Engine to Raise Water by Fire. London.

External links
● Savery’s Miner’s Friend (section) – Wikipedia.
● The Miner’s Friend (online chapters) – History.Rochester.edu.