| Description | Vacuum and Blowing Engines (152 items).
IA-IF: Six vertical or 'direct' engines (three pairs of two), with 33 inch cylinders, 6 foot strokes.
JU-JZ: Six 12 horse power independent engines with cast iron beams.
Tracings 1844, showing the initial design of a beam engine with a 33 inch cylinder and 5½ foot stroke working a 44½ inch blowing cylinder: general views and plans of the engine (1 sheet is marked "Certain Improvements etc. Atmospheric Railways Drawing No. 4").
Drawings Jan. 1845: sketch plan and front view showing vertical engine and 10 horse auxiliary engine; coloured plan and section of engine and boiler houses showing vertical engines and 12 horse auxiliary engines (the plan is marked "Not adopted" and the section has been crossed through and the back used for a drawing of the fly wheel for the 12 horse engines); partially coloured plan of engine and boiler houses, section of engine house; plan and sections of boiler house, boilers and steam pipes (undated tracing).
Coloured reverse drawings, Apr. 1845: plan and transverse section of the engine and boiler houses, longitudinal section of engine house, plan, longitudinal and transverse sections of the engine platforms, plan of the tunnels and covering stones, longitudinal section of boiler house.
Original, direct copy and reverse drawings, Sep. 1845 (some are coloured): plan of the engine house, longitudinal sections of the engines, transverse section of the engine house.
Plans of the engine and boiler houses, Mar. 1846 - tracing marked "For the 3rd pair of engines, sent with Jos. Turner's letter of 12 Mar. 1846", and partially coloured original and reverse drawings; plan and elevations of the engines, Apr. 1847 - coloured original and coloured reverse drawing; "sketches" of supplementary engine, Jul. 1848 (drawing made in London).
Plan and sections of cylindrical boiler, 44½ inch air pump (with tracing), cylinder, cranks and shafts, cross bar and connecting rod (with uncoded direct copy), hot water pump, air pump and condenser and cistern etc. - partially coloured original and reverse drawings: columns, cross bar and side rods, wrought iron shaft and cranks etc. - coloured original, direct copy and reverse drawings, with direct and reverse drawings showing the columns only; vacuum pump and valves - coloured original drawing; steam and feed pipes, safety and waste steam pipes, emptying pipes, grates, fire doors etc. - original and reverse drawings (half of the original drawing is wanting); loaded valve for feed pipes, safety pipes and valves, side rods and cross bar to work air pump - original, uncoded direct copies and reverse drawings; 51 inch air pump, governor and expansion gearing - original and reverse drawings; trough for the fly wheel race - reverse drawing; fly wheel - original and reverse drawings; standards for outlet valves of vacuum pumps - tracing marked "Messrs. Boulton & Watt's pumps at Exeter, original and reverse drawings; disengaging apparatus for the discs - original and reverse drawings and direct copy of part of the drawing; hot water pump, cold water pump - coloured original and coloured reverse drawings; pipes for connecting the 12 horse cisterns - tracing, original and reverse drawings; bilge injection pipes - tracing, coloured original and coloured reverse drawings; vacuum pump cover - partially coloured reverse drawing; pipes for connecting the 12 horse cisterns (later drawings) - original and reverse drawings; extra hot water cistern or well for Turf engines - tracing and original drawing; 13 inch sliding valves, sections of 13 inch sliding valve nozzles, stay for governors and lever for lifting the cams, expansion gearing, working gear - original and reverse drawings; 9 inch sluice cock - partially coloured reverse drawing; feed valve for front of cylindrical boilers; proposed alteration of throttle valve gearing; throttle valve gearing - partially coloured original and partially coloured reverse drawings. Most of these drawings bear letter codes:
Also the following drawings sent to Boulton Watt & Co., uncoded items, rough and small sketches etc: cranks - 2 sheets of drawings, 1 marked "G. & J. Rennie"; 2 sheets of tracings of the vacuum pump; plummer block - press copy sketch with note from Gilbert Hamilton to Richard Lewis; sketch and order note for boiler plates by W. Buchan; vacuum pump gearing; governor stays etc. for Exeter engines; expansion gear rods (also used for the 45 inch engines); governor wheels; 2 large tracings of ?; working gear shafts; sketch for ash pit doors marked "with Mr. Brown's letter of 2 Jun. 1848"; 40 horse nozzle (small sketch); cross bar - press copy drawing marked "with our letter to H. Smith"; grease plugs; disengaging gear for eccentric rod; vacuum pump cover [? - rough pencil sketch]; plan of the vacuum pump cover; injection gearing rods; fly wheel shaft and crank; cross bar marked "G. & J. Rennie"; undated and unmarked tracing of plan and section of the vacuum pump. Several of these drawings are by Robert Meiklejohn.
Also the following printed items, memoranda etc.: transcript of letters from Isambard Kingdom Brunel to Boulton Watt & Co. dated 18 Duke St., 23 Dec. 1844; printed specification for steam engines and vacuum pumps for the atmospheric apparatus; transcript of the specification; precis of the specification with pencil notes; sheet of remarks on the engines, sketches of pipes etc.; summary of correspondence from Isambard Kingdom Brunel and W. Princep about the engines, Dec. 1844 and Jan. 1845; notes on the governor by Henry Wollaston Blake; press copies of memoranda of castings ordered from William Middleton, George Jones and James Middleton's foundries (3 sheets); 3 sheets of pencil calculations; letter from H. Hensman dated Dawlish, 28 Apr. 1847, ordering new plugs for nozzles and with a sketch of the Dainton engine house; cuttings from the Exeter & Plymouth Gazette, 2 Sep. 1848 and The Times, 27 Nov. 1848 about the abandoning of the South Devon atmospheric railway.
Original Portfolio or 'Book' No. 963. Catalogue of Old Engines p. 272.
For the South Devon Railway. Engines and vacuum pumps for atmospheric railway. The vertical engines were erected in three pairs, at Exeter, Turf and Starcross. Each vertical engine had a 12 horse independent engine attached to it which worked the condenser pumps and pumped water. This design proved troublesome, and the second batch of engines ordered by the South Devon Railway were horizontal engines with 40 inch cylinders [see Portfolio 5/669a]. The South Devon Railway abandoned atmopsheric working in 1848.
See also: 4/95 (Engine Order Book No. 9 - independent engines).
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