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Newcomen Engine Shed, Devon

 

Towards the end of the seventeenth century coal mining was being pursued in ever deeper mines in Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Tyneside. These deep mines suffered from continual flooding problems, and existing pumps could not cope. Viable mines were having to be abandoned. There was, therefore, an urgent need for a pumping engine which could move large amounts of water from deep mines. Many experiments had been carried out with steam, and partial success had been achieved by Thomas Savery who patented his "Miner's Friend" in 1698. This machine had no moving parts, and consisted simply of valves controlling alternating vacuum and steam pressure in a container, to draw in water, and then force the water up and out. Unfortunately little pumping power could be produced with this machine, and it proved unsuitable for pumping out deep mines.

 

Then at the beginning of the eighteenth century a Dartmouth ironmonger Thomas Newcomen (1663 - 1729) and his assistant John Calley developed a revolutionary new type of engine. This device used an open-topped cylinder in which a piston moved. The piston was connected by chains to one end of a heavy rocking beam. The weight of this beam would pull the piston to the top of the cylinder. Steam was then allowed into the cylinder from a boiler placed below. Water was sprayed into the cylinder as the piston made its upstroke, cooling and condensing the steam, creating a vacuum in the cylinder, which sucked the piston back down again. This rocked the heavy beam downwards, and created the stroke of a new type of engine. Valves operated by the beam's movement controlled input of steam and water. The engine was thus self acting, and was a great success in finally solving the problem of removing water from deep mines. Newcomen's first successful engine, was built in 1712 near Dudley Castle in Tipton in the West Midlands. Very soon after this coal mines throughout Britain were using Newcomen's engine. By 1715 at least ninety five engines were operating, and in the words of The Newcomen Society: "the stage had been set for the rapid rise in industrial activity which was to accelerate the so-called Industrial Revolution."

Coal was the fuel of the Industrial Revolution, and Newcomen's machine made it easier and cheaper to get hold of. The machine also revealed a new way in which the power latent in coal could be used. Newcomen's engine was a crucial invention, and is now designated as an International Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark, only the third to be designated outside the United States by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. It was a Newcomen engine which in 1765 James Watt improved, leading to the powerful steam engines which truly drove the Industrial Revolution.

 

The engine on display in Dartmouth is very similar to the Dudley Castle engine. It was built and installed at Griff Colliery in 1725, or possibly earlier. The beam and cylinder are original, though other parts of the engine represent later additions. (Thanks to Eric Preston for information regarding the provenance of the Dartmouth Engine - see his booklet Thomas Newcomen of Dartmouth and the Engine That Changed the World available at the Tourist Information Centre in Dartmouth and at the Community Bookshop.) The engine is still in working order. Have a word with the custodian if you want to see it in action.

 

 

Address: Newcomen Engine House, Mayors Avenue, Dartmouth, Devon TQ6 9YY

Directions: The Newcomen Engine House is in Mayors Avenue, Dartmouth. Click here for an interactive map centred on the Newcomen Engine Shed.

Opening Times : 1st April to 30th September, Monday to Saturday 9.30am - 5.30pm, Sunday 10am - 4pm

1st October to 31st March, Monday to Saturday 10am - 4pm

Access: There is level access to the Engine House.

Contact:

telephone: 01803 834224

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