Is this idea plausible?

I have a pretty good idea, I think, for an alternate history story, but I can't say I know vast amounts about history, nor am I an expert in the fictionalizing the onslaught of the butterfly effect. So in the story, the Industrial Revolution, which was spearheaded by the steam engine, begins in 1790, leading to a completely changed cycle of history leading up to a pretty weird world in 1943. However, I want to know if this is plausible at all, that the advancements of the Industrial Revolution would come early if someone had come up with the ideas for the basic mechanics used in that time earlier on.
 
Congrats! You've invented Steampunk! ;)

Seriously, your idea has some merit, and it can be plausible, but it depends on how you go about writing the TL.
 
I'm kind of an amateur at this kind of stuff (not writing, but alternative history), so I hope I can. Can you point me to some good timelines to use as a reference?

Now I just need to look up steampunk :eek:
 
I'm kind of an amateur at this kind of stuff (not writing, but alternative history), so I hope I can. Can you point me to some good timelines to use as a reference?

Now I just need to look up steampunk :eek:

Well, Thande's TL shows the beginnings of a steampunk, and much of it is about an earlier (ish) tech boost.
 
Thanks. From what I saw, my story is a bit divergent from the normal steampunk genre and it'll be pretty original I hope. My forte is social commentary, so I'm sure this'll tie in somehow :D
 
Thanks. From what I saw, my story is a bit divergent from the normal steampunk genre and it'll be pretty original I hope. My forte is social commentary, so I'm sure this'll tie in somehow :D

Sounds good! I look forward to it. :)
 
Thanks. From what I saw, my story is a bit divergent from the normal steampunk genre and it'll be pretty original I hope. My forte is social commentary, so I'm sure this'll tie in somehow :D

Hey, that's what cyberpunk (the much, much cooler predecessor to Steampunk) was originally about. And good steampunk still is. So it's not
that far out!
 
I have a pretty good idea, I think, for an alternate history story, but I can't say I know vast amounts about history, nor am I an expert in the fictionalizing the onslaught of the butterfly effect. So in the story, the Industrial Revolution, which was spearheaded by the steam engine, begins in 1790, leading to a completely changed cycle of history leading up to a pretty weird world in 1943. However, I want to know if this is plausible at all, that the advancements of the Industrial Revolution would come early if someone had come up with the ideas for the basic mechanics used in that time earlier on.

Sorry to barge in, but the industrial revolution started much earlier than that... ;)

The first practical steam engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newcomen_steam_engine

Steam engines were also invented earlier than that (in the more modern era, mind)...

Thomas Savery patented a steam-powered pump called the Miner's Friend in 1698, but it had no moving parts...

The concept of a modern steam engine seems to have been designed by Denis Papin, published in 1690...

Even earlier than that, Edward Somerset (2nd Marquess of Worcester) published a book with designes for a steam-powered pump, that alternatively used steam and vacuum presure...

Even more primitive steam engines, looking a bit like coffee percolators were around in the 1600s... ;)
One was invented by Giovanni Battista della Porta.

Even earlier than that, Taqi al-Din described a steam turbine for rotating a spit in 1551.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_steam_power
 
Most early steam engines (before 1790 or so) had limited application because they did not develop enough torque to compete with water-driven or even some wind-driven mills. It took time for many concepts to become useful.

In 1769, Nicholas Cugnot built a mobile steam car in Paris and named it "automobile." It weighed 5 tons and had a top speed of only 2 mph. It had no practical use, but decades later steam locomotives would travel the rails.
 
It's interesting to read about early inventions and some of the amazing Rube Goldberg contraptions people used to build to amaze and impress their friends. The chess-playing automatons comes to mind; I can't think of anything esle right now.
Other threads on this board have discussed earlier development of other inventions.
Hang gliders, balloons, bicycles, semaphores, Morse Code, other things could have been developed earlier.
Good luck. :)
 
So in the story, the Industrial Revolution, which was spearheaded by the steam engine, begins in 1790
So you delay the beginning of the IR by 50~70 Years. I tried this once [had a fire at the Royal Academy that killed Watts and several hundred other IR Bigwigs] and the consensus, was I had delayed it 100 years and moved the IR from England to Holland or Germany.

First practical steam Boats in the 1870's, Railways in the 1880's, Telegraph in the 1890's.
US splits into North/South/West, BC never joins Canada, no Union of Australia, Boers win.
No Mieji restoration in Japan, no Napoleonic Wars.

Much different world by the mid 1900's
 
OOH OOOH! I have to say this. This falls under the whole impracticale use thing, but steampower was actually invinted way before that. From what I understand there was even a scroll in Alexandria that had how steampower worked. But the idea was thrown out the window because it was to expesnsive, and slave labor was cheaper and more effeciant.
 
but steampower was actually invented way before that. From what I understand there was even a scroll in Alexandria that had how steampower worked.

Oh Please. The Greeks had a Ball full of water on a axle. There where two or three Tubes with a right angle bend coming out of the Ball.

You heated the Ball, the steam going out the tubes made it spin. To stop it you removed the Fire or waited for the water to run out.
There was no way to refill it, when spinning , no Pulley or other way, to transmit power elsewhere.
It was made as a amusing toy, Shown as a Toy, and never considered anything else.
 
Steam not needed...

A LOT of the industrial revolution didn't need steam. Lots of it was powered by water.
 
The invention of the telegraph was completely independent of the steam engine. Its invention had a thread of innovation that goes into electrical experiments. The fact that the railroads (steam-powered) spread and relied on the invention, only affects the time it takes to be implemented; and even so, not by much.
 
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