Reconsidering the Development of the Marine Steam Boiler in the 19th Century

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  • 19世紀舶用ボイラ発達過程 : ボイラ史の研究方法によせて
  • 19セイキ ハクヨウ ボイラ ハッタツ カテイ ボイラシ ノ ケンキュウ ホウホウ ニ ヨセテ

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The historical development of steam boilers has been a popular issue among historians and engineers in Japan. The most prominent example is Seikan Ishigai. Drawing on his extensive study of the steam boiler, Ishigai defines the contradiction between power and control as an intrinsic law of the development of technology. In other words, he is a technological determinist. Trevor Pinch, Wiebe Bijker's approach (Social Construction of Technology : SCOT) and also Thomas Hughes's technological systems approach, on the other hand, give more weight to external factors, and do not give proper attention to technology's own dynamics. Critical of both the approaches, the author sees the relationship between engines and boilers as the locus of the development of the steam boiler. The author too argues that the quest for efficiency is a crucial factor in the development of marine steam engines. The author tries to show that the new engine entailed a different type of boiler, it was not opposite. That is the engine played a more crucial role than the boiler in the development of the marine propulsion system. It was the engine that moved a propeller or a paddle of a ship, not the boiler. He concludes that the history of the marine boiler is a history of relationship among the engine, the boiler and the propulsion system. An internalist or externalist approach alone may not be able to account for this complex relationship.

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