A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead beam is used to apply the
force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the
engine directly driving a pump, was first used by Thomas Newcomen around 1705 to remove
water from mines in Cornwall. The efficiency of the engines was improved by engineers including
James Watt, who added a separate condenser; Jonathan Hornblower and Arthur Woolf, who
compounded the cylinders; and William McNaught, who devised a method of compounding an existing
engine. Beam engines were first used to pump water out of mines or into canals, but could
be used to pump water to supplement the flow for a waterwheel powering a mill.
The rotative beam engine is a later design of beam engine where the connecting rod drives
a flywheel, by means of a crank (or, historically, by means of a sun and planet gear). These
beam engines could be used to directly power the line-shafting in a mill. They also could
be used to power steam ships.
== History == The first beam engines were water-powered,
and used to pump water from mines. A preserved example may be seen at the Straitsteps Lead
Mine in Wanlockhead in Scotland. Beam engines were extensively used to power
pumps on the English canal system when it was expanded by means of locks early in the
Industrial Revolution, and also to drain water from mines in the same period, and as winding
engines. The first steam-related beam engine was developed
by Thomas Newcomen. This was not, strictly speaking, steam powered, as the steam introduced
below the piston was condensed to create a partial vacuum thus allowing atmospheric pressure
to push down the piston. It was therefore called an Atmospheric Engine. The Newcomen
atmospheric engine was adopted by many mines in Cornwall and elsewhere, but it was relatively
inefficient and consumed a large quantity of fuel. The engine was improved by John Smeaton
but James Watt resolved the main inefficiencies of the Newcomen engine in his Watt steam engine
by the addition of a separate condenser, thus allowing the cylinder to remain hot. Technically
this was still an atmospheric engine until (under subsequent patents) he enclosed the
upper part of the cylinder, introducing steam to also push the piston down. This made it
a true steam engine and arguably confirms him as the inventor of the steam engine. He
also patented the centrifugal governor and the parallel motion. the latter allowed the
replacement of chains round an arch head and thus allowed its use as a rotative engine.
His patents remained in place until the start of the 19th Century and some say that this
held back development. However, in reality development had been ongoing by others and
at the end of the patent period there was an explosion of new ideas and improvements.
Watt's beam engines were used commercially in much larger numbers and many continued
to run for 100 years or more. Watt held patents on key aspects of his engine's
design, but his rotative engine was equally restricted by James Pickard's patent of the
simple crank. The beam engine went on to be considerably improved and enlarged in the
tin- and copper-rich areas of south west England, which enabled the draining of the deep mines
that existed there. Consequently, the Cornish beam engines became world-famous, as they
remain among the most massive beam engines ever constructed.
Because of the number of patents on various parts of the engines and the consequences
of patent infringements, examples exist of Beam Engines with no makers name on any of
the parts (Hollycombe Steam Collection).
== Rotative beam engines ==
In a rotative beam engine, the piston is mounted vertically, and the piston rod drives the
beam as before. A connecting rod from the other end of the beam, rather than driving
a pump rod, now drives a flywheel. Early Watt engines used Watt's patent sun
and planet gear, rather than a simple crank, as use of the latter was protected by a patent
owned by James Pickard. Once the patent had expired, the simple crank was employed universally.
Once rotary motion had been achieved a drive belt could be attached beside the flywheel.
This transmitted the power to other drive shafts and from these other belts could then
be attached to power a variety of static machinery e.g. threshing, grinding or milling machines.
=== Marine beam engines === The first steam-powered ships used variants
of the rotative beam engine. These marine steam engines – known as side-lever, grasshopper,
crosshead, or 'walking beam', among others – all varied from the original land-based
machines by locating the beam or beams in different positions to take up less room on
board ship. Media related to Rotative beam engines at
Wikimedia Commons
== Compounding ==
Compounding involves two or more cylinders; low-pressure steam from the first, high-pressure,
cylinder is passed to the second cylinder where it expands further and provides more
drive. This is the compound effect; the waste steam from this can produce further work if
it is then passed into a condenser in the normal way. The first experiment with compounding
was conducted by Jonathan Hornblower, who took out a patent in 1781. His first engine
was installed at Tincroft Mine, Cornwall. It had two cylinders – one 21-inch (0.53
m) diameter with 6-foot (1.8 m) stroke and one 27-inch (0.69 m) diameter with 8-foot
(2.4 m) stroke – placed alongside each other at one end of the beam. The early engines
showed little performance gain: the steam pressure was too low, interconnecting pipes
were of small diameter and the condenser ineffective.At this time the laws of thermodynamics were
not adequately understood, particularly the concept of absolute zero. Engineers such as
Arthur Woolf were trying to tackle an engineering problem with an imperfect understanding of
the physics. In particular, their valve gear was cutting-in at the wrong position in the
stroke, not allowing for expansive working in the cylinder. Successful Woolf compound
engines were produced in 1814, for the Wheal Abraham copper mine and the Wheal Vor tin
mine.
== McNaught engines == William McNaught patented a compound beam
engine in 1845. On a beam engine of the standard Boulton & Watt design he placed a high-pressure
cylinder, on the opposite side of the beam to the existing single cylinder, where the
water pump was normally fitted. This had two important effects: it massively reduced the
pressure on the beam, and the connecting steam pipe, being long, acted as an expansive receiver
– the element missing in the Woolf design. This modification could be made retrospectively,
and engines so modified were said to be "McNaughted". The advantages of a compound engine were not
significant at pressures under 60 pounds per square inch (410 kPa), but showed at over
100 psi (690 kPa).
== Preserved beam engines ==
Abbey Pumping Station (Leicester, England) - houses four Woolf compound rotative beam
engines built by Gimson and Company, Leicester. Bolton Steam Museum (Bolton, England) – includes
several rotative beam engines originally used to drive mills
Claymills Pumping Station (Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England) - four Woolf compound,
rotative, beam pumping engines; five Lancashire boilers; over thirty auxiliary engines on
the site, including the oldest working steam driven dynamo in the country.
Coldharbour Mill (Uffculme, Devon) - 1867 Kittoe and Brotherhood beam engine plus Pollit
& Wigzell 300 hp cross compound engine. In steam most Bank Holidays driving the rope
race, together with other smaller machines. Coultershaw Beam Pump (West Sussex, England)
– preserved water-powered beam engine from 1782.
Crofton Pumping Station (Great Bedwyn, England) – two engines, including the oldest working
'Cornish' engine, in its original location, in the world (1812).
Crossness Pumping Station (Abbey Wood, London, England) – set of four rotative beam engines:
the largest surviving working examples. Dogdyke Engine (Tattershall, Lincolnshire)
– drainage engine and scoop wheel, steamed summer weekends.
Eastney Beam Engine House (Portsmouth, England) – contains two rotative beam engines for
sewage-pumping, dating from 1887. Elsecar (Elsecar, South Yorkshire, England)
– the only surviving Newcomen engine (in the world) to have remained in its original
location (1795). Goulburn Waterworks (Goulburn, NSW, Australia)
- Appleby Bros Beam Engine (1883) 120 hp in working order still in the original pump house
building. Grazebrook beam engine- A large pumping Boulton
& Watt designed with a 42-inch (1.1 m) bore on static display on the Dartmouth roundabout
on the A38(M) in Birmingham, England. Hollycombe Steam Collection (Liphook, Hampshire,
England) - A small (approx 5 horse power) working rotative bean engine dating from approx
1850, used to power farm machinery, with a water wheel attached to supplement the power.
Levant Mine and Beam Engine (Trewellard, Pendeen, England) – a working beam engine on a National
Trust property in West Cornwall, England Markfield Beam Engine (Tottenham, London,
England) – a compound, rotative engine. Museum De Cruquius (Cruquius, The Netherlands)
– the eight-beamed engine at Cruquius is thought to be the largest steam engine ever
built Newcomen Memorial Engine (Dartmouth, Devon)
- dating from about 1725. Hydraulic mechanism added for demonstration purposes.
Nottingham Industrial Museum (Nottingham, England) - The Steam Gallery contains an impressive
Basford Beam Engine, one of a pair of engines built in 1858 by R. W. Hawthorn in Newcastle
upon Tyne. It was installed at Basford Pumping Station to lift water 110 ft (34 m) from the
sandstone below to supply fresh water to the City of Nottingham. The engine was replaced
in 1965 and was removed to the purpose-built Steam Gallery where it was first fired in
1975. Pinchbeck Engine (Spalding, Lincolnshire)
– statically preserved 'A'-frame engine. Poldark Mine (Trenear, Cornwall) - Harvey
of Hale Cornish Beam Engine from Bunny Tin Mine and later Greensplat China Clay Pit dating
from about 1850. Hydraulic mechanism added for demonstration purposes. Last to have worked
commercially in Cornwall to December 1959, moved to Poldark in 1972.
Ryhope Engines Museum (Ryhope, England) – twin rotative beam engines; built 1868.
Smethwick Engine (Smethwick, Birmingham, England) – oldest working steam engine in the world
(1779). Stretham Old Engine (Stretham, Cambridgeshire)
– Statically preserved engine and scoop wheel.
Strumpshaw Steam Museum (Strumpshaw, England) - Features a now Compressed Air powered former
beam engine from Addington. Tees Cottage Pumping Station (Darlington,
England) - a working rotative, two-cylinder Woolf compound engine, designed by Glenfield
and Kennedy of Kilmarnock and built by Teasdale Bros, under T&C Hawksley, Civil Engineers,
London. The Boulton and Watt rotative beam engine
(sun and planet type) at the National Museum of Scotland (1786). Occasional working by
pneumatics The Caprington Colliery Newcomen engine at
the National Museum of Scotland. Occasional working on pneumatics.
The Henry Ford Museum (Dearborn, Michigan, US) - Fairbottom Bobs, a Newcomen engine of
the 1760s. The London Museum of Water & Steam (Brentford,
London, England) – five 'Cornish' engines (in original location) of which four are operational,
together with two operational rotative beam engines (in museum), including the largest
working 'Cornish' engine in the world with a 90-inch (2,286 mm) Cylinder.
The Western Springs Water Works (Auckland, New Zealand) – 1877 double Woolf compound
engine. In original location, restored in working order with Transport and Technology
Museum built around it. The restoration of the Pumphouse and original Engineers cottage
was awarded with the 2009 Award of Merit from UNESCO's Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for
Culture Heritage Conservation programme.
== See also == Boulton and Watt
Cataract (beam engine) Cornish engine
Gimson and Company Man engine
Marine steam engine Mining in Cornwall
Prestongrange Industrial Heritage Museum Pumpjack
Six-column beam engine Stationary engine
Arthur Woolf