Hero of Alexandria I° sec. a. C. ?
The first attempt to make practical use of steam seems to have been made by Hero of Alexandria in ancient times, please see the QuickTime videoclip: the Hero's aeolipile.
Steam enters through the pipe. As it escape trough the bent tubes, the jets of steam cause the engine to spin.
The jets of steam escaping from the tubes are the action, the spinning of the bent tubes the reaction.
If you have any difficulty loading the clips, you may want to go to Apple's website to download the necessary free software and for more information about QuickTime latest version.
