Short answers, pulled from the story.
Thomas Newcomen created the atmospheric engine in 1712. It used a piston inside a steam cylinder connected to a rocking beam to pump water out of mines, replacing the less effective fire engine designed by Thomas Savery.
Thomas Newcomen was born in Dartmouth, Devon, England, and was baptized at St. Saviour's Church on the 28th of February 1664.
The first successful Newcomen engine was built at the Conygree Coalworks in Tipton, in the West Midlands, by Newcomen and his partner John Calley. A working replica can be seen at the Black Country Living Museum nearby.
The Newcomen engine lost heat every time steam condensed inside its cylinder, wasting large amounts of fuel. James Watt solved this by condensing steam in a separate condenser, keeping the main cylinder hot and dramatically improving fuel efficiency.
Of more than 2,200 engines built in the eighteenth century, the majority were Newcomen-type engines. Only about 450 were Watt engines, as Newcomen engines were cheaper and less complicated.
Surviving Newcomen engines are held at the Science Museum in London and the Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. The Newcomen Memorial Engine at Dartmouth dates from around 1725 and can be seen moving on hydraulics. The last engine on its original site is at the Elsecar Heritage Centre near Barnsley, restored and unveiled by Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, in May 2016.