Owens, Victoria (Author)
International Journal for the History of Engineering and Technology
Volume: 87
Issue: 2
Pages: 286-302
Although James Brindley’s chief claim to fame is his canal work, his notebooks indicate that between 1756 and 1759 steam power occupied much of his thinking. None of the engines that he built is known to survive and the detail that Brindley provides about their construction and efficiency is skeletal; nevertheless, his accounts indicate that he built up the nucleus of an impressive steam-engine client-base, which included the coal-owning Broade family of Fenton Vivian; Phineas Hussey, who owned a colliery in Little Wyrley; iron-founder Abraham Darby II of Coalbrookdale and Thomas Whieldon, master potter of Fenton, who owned coal measures near Bedworth. Confident of commercial success, in 1758 he took out a patent (no. 730) for the ‘Invention of A Fire Engine, for Drawing Water out of Mines…’ Soon afterwards, his work caught the attention of William Brown of Throckley who inspected the Fenton Vivian engine in 1759. From his observations, Brown disputed Brindley’s claim that it was an ‘invention,’ but nonetheless regarded his innovations as an ‘improvement.’ His sketch of Brindley’s boiler fleshes out the description that appears in the patent specification. Brindley’s engagement with steam power was energetic but short-lived. After his death, his friends claimed that he would have perfected steam engine design, had not the activities of unnamed jealous rivals thwarted his endeavours. Evidence suggests that actually an approach from the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater in the summer of 1759 turned his attention to canal building. Although he may not have fully realised his steam engineering ambitions, his headlong records make a valuable contribution to our understanding of eighteenth-century engine wrights’ working practices.
...MoreArticle 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).
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