Timeline of motor and engine technology * (c. 30–70 AD) – Hero of Alexandria describes the first documented steam-powered device, the aeolipile. * 13th century – Chinese chronicles wrote about a solid-rocket motor used in warfare. * 1698 – Thomas Savery builds a steam-powered water pump for pumping water out of mines. * 1712 – Thomas Newcomen builds a piston-and-cylinder steam-powered water pump for pumping water out of mines. * 1769 – James Watt patents his first improved steam engine.