The Navarrese Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont obtained royal patents from Philip III in 1606 for 48 inventions, including a steam engine for pumping water in mine shafts and a forced-ventilation system with pipes cooled by water or snow to lower the temperature in mines. The patents, rediscovered in the General Archive of Simancas by researchers from FECYT and the University of Navarre in 2007, precede Thomas Savery (1698) by 92 years and James Watt (1769) by 163. Their historical obscurity is due to the scientific isolation of the Spanish Crown from the later European intellectual circuit and the lack of publication in Latin or other languages of scientific circulation.