Online Catalogue last updated 15th of September 2008
The first steam engines developed by Newcomen had no crankshaft of flywheel. The piston connected vertically to a rocking beam at the far end of which was a rod that dropped deep into Cornish mines to actuate a water pump. These non-rotative or Cornish beam were later improved upon by Watt, Bull, and Woolf, some of these engines were still operating 150 years later.
These engines represented the first successful harnessing of the power of steam, gave considerable impetus to the Industrial Revolution by enabling coal and metal mines to reach deeper into the earth in comparative safety, and was an integral part of the moves to sanitise the cities of the world. It was also the forbear of all other steam powered machines.
In this book Maurice Kelly describes the background to these historic machines, their development over some 100 years, the boilers that provided their steam, and the uses their power was applied to. Finally there is a guide to surviving non rotative beam engines.
Illustrated with numerous historic drawings and diagrams, this book provides a fascinating window into the sawn of the technical age.
Code No. 010092, 60 pages, ISBN 0953652335, $27.00