Article ID: CBB024588747

Building a 21st Century Newcomen Engine (2018)

unapi

Pointon, Ken (Author)
Pointon, Andre (Author)


International Journal for the History of Engineering and Technology
Volume: 88
Issue: 1
Pages: 135-163


Publication Date: 2018
Edition Details: Proceedings of the 1st International Early Engines Conference - Part 2
Language: English

This paper describes the process of designing, building, commissioning and testing a small full size operational Newcomen engine built over three years by the Auckland Steam Engine Society Inc. of New Zealand. This project was to celebrate the 2012 tercentenary of the first recorded Newcomen engine in the year of 1712. Designed for educational display purposes and the need to be disassembled for transport, the construction of the engine's main framework was of bolt-together steel and timber sections supporting the principal components. These consist of cast iron cylinder, coal fired boiler, main water tank, main and auxiliary water pumps, rocking beam, valve gear, auxiliary tanks and plumbing. The engine ran even though not fully completed from the start with only minor adjustments needed during the final completion stage when a waterwheel was added to the engine making it a returning engine. Subsequent tests and experiments have proved that the buoy float system commonly fitted to the first generation of Newcomen engines with limited boiler capacity will operate the engine in single cycle operation and that it is also a useful indication of boiler pressure for the engine operator. Other tests have shown that the cylinder temperature does not vary during the engine operating cycle. This project has proven that small Newcomen engines can be made to work successfully and suggest that more ongoing research into the design of the valve gear of the early engines is required in the future.

...More
Included in

Article John Hunter (2018) Newcomen-Type Pumping Engines in Collieries and Ironworks on the North Side of the Don Valley in the Rotherham Area of South Yorkshire in the Eighteenth Century. International Journal for the History of Engineering and Technology (pp. 1-36). unapi

Associated with

Article Steve Grudgings; David Perrett (2017) Editorial: Proceedings of the 1st International Conference Early Engines Conference - Part 1. International Journal for the History of Engineering and Technology (p. 153). unapi

Article Author missing; (2018) IEEC (International Early Engines Conference) Transactions Volume 3 – Editorial. International Journal for the History of Engineering and Technology (pp. 165-165). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB024588747/

Similar Citations

Article Geoff Wallis; (2018)
Restoring the Elsecar Newcomen Engine – Drawings and Photographic Record (/isis/citation/CBB121303916/)

Article David Perrett; (2018)
Henry Ford’s 1928 English Holiday Part 1 – In Search of Newcomen Engines (/isis/citation/CBB122198176/)

Article Marsden, Ben; (2006)
Superseding Steam: The Napier and Rankine Hot-Air Engine (/isis/citation/CBB000700478/)

Article Michael Nevell; (2018)
Power and Innovation: Excavating Pre-1806 Steam Engines in the Manchester Area (/isis/citation/CBB616228397/)

Article David Kitching; (2018)
Hidden in Plain Sight—Nathaniel Wright’s Pirate Engine House (/isis/citation/CBB988123282/)

Article Carr, Matthew A; (2013)
Thermodynamic Analysis of a Newcomen Steam Engine (/isis/citation/CBB001200801/)

Article John Barnatt; (2018)
Investigating the 1794–95 Newcomen-Type Pumping Engine at Watergrove Mine, Derbyshire (/isis/citation/CBB725369147/)

Article David Hardwick; (2018)
Investigating the Newcomen Pumping Engine House at Brislington Near Bristol (/isis/citation/CBB297776169/)

Article James Greener; (2018)
The First and Third Engines (/isis/citation/CBB126044859/)

Article M. Norton Wise; (2018)
On the Stories Told by Indicator Diagrams and Carnot Diagrams (/isis/citation/CBB895444434/)

Book Melanie Swalwell; (2021)
Homebrew gaming and the beginnings of vernacular digitality (/isis/citation/CBB632809359/)

Book David Eggleton; (2006)
Into the Light: A History of New Zealand Photography (/isis/citation/CBB680263052/)

Book Malte C. Ebach; (2017)
Reinvention of Australasian Biogeography: Reform, Revolt and Rebellion (/isis/citation/CBB684262453/)

Article Shahar Avin; (2019)
Mavericks and lotteries (/isis/citation/CBB954357351/)

Book Brown, Kerry; (2004)
Restoring Kapiti: Nature's Second Chance (/isis/citation/CBB000500364/)

Book Toland, Janet; (2010)
Return to tomorrow: 50 years of computing in New Zealand (/isis/citation/CBB001180383/)

Article Bloomfield, Brian P.; Doolin, Bill; (February 2011)
Imagination and technoscientific innovations: Governance of transgenic cows in New Zealand (/isis/citation/CBB278621475/)

Authors & Contributors
Greener, James
Hunter, John
Hardwick, David
Wallis, Geoff
Leandro Giri
Doolin, Bill
Concepts
Steam engines; steam turbines
Engines
Thermodynamics
Mines and mining
Archaeology
Transgenic animals
Time Periods
21st century
18th century
19th century
20th century
20th century, late
20th century, early
Places
England
New Zealand
Australia
Great Britain
Yorkshire (England)
Institutions
Boulton Watt & Co.
Powerhouse Museum
Whitbread's brewery
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment