Technology on Trial: The Introduction of Steam Power Technology into Sweden, 1715–1736

The steam engine came to Sweden as something of a paradox: both as a solution and at the same time a threat. It promised to meet industry’s need for mechanical energy, but it also threatened the limited resources of thermal energy. Part 1 is a study of this issue in Sweden as a whole during the eighteenth century. Part 2 is a study of how the knowledge of the Newcomer engine was transferred to Sweden. Part 3 is a study of the first attempt to build and operate a Newcomer engine in Sweden: Marten Triewald’s engine at the Dannemora Mines in 1726–1730 and of the lawsuit in which the new technology was brought to trial in 1731 and finally rejected in 1736.