| Description | Crank Engines. (2 items).
284. John & James Lees, Rocher Colliery [?]. Jul., Nov. 1800. 2 items.
8 horse power crank engine, with 16 inch cylinder, 4 foot stroke, parallel motion, cast iron connecting rod.
Reverse general view of the engine, reverse plans and sections of the engine and boiler (6 drawings on 1 sheet); reverse plan and sections of the framing and cistern marked "A copy of the framing only 30 Jan. 1801 sent to Walter Skerrett Esq., Whitehall, London." All the drawings bear letter codes.
Original Portfolio or 'Book' No. 387.
For John and James Lees of Oldham. Winding engine, Rocher Colliery, between Oldham and Ashton, Lancashire [?]. This engine appears in Southern's List of Books and the Drawing Office Index. An entry for an 8 horse engine for the Lees was begun under Oldham in the List of Engines made at Soho, but it was crossed out, and an 8 horse winding engine is listed for them under Rocher Colliery. It does not appear in the Catalogue of Old Engines.
The engine was certainly delivered. On 23 Jan. 1801 Boulton Watt & Co. wrote to John Lees with an account of money due from John & James Lees, and this included £444 for an 8 horse engine charged in Dec. 1800 and due on 13 Mar. 1801. On 31 Mar. 1801 Boulton Watt & Co. wrote to the firm of Lees Jones & Booth thanking them for a payment for the 31½ inch pumping engine that John & James Lees had bought for Rocher Colliery and acknowledging the firm's request for an extension of the credit on "the last engine" which had become due on 13 Mar. [Business Letter Book Nov. 1800-Jul. 1801.
Walter Skerrett, mentioned on the framing drawings, was in correspondence with Boulton Watt & Co. in 1800 and 1801 about the possible effects of the climate in the West Indies on engine materials. |