| Description | No. 1 20 horse power double-acting sun & planet engine, with 23¾ inch cylinder, 5 foot stroke, parallel motion.
No. 2. 9 horse power double-acting crank engine, with 16¾ inch cylinder, 4 foot stroke, parallel motion. Engine formerly belonged to Cox & Hall.
Engines worked from common boiler. Second boiler added 1799. A boiler replaced 1808 [?].
Drawings from 1791: Plans and sections of engine house, forge and boring and grinding mill showing millwork, hammers, forge machinery etc.; original and reverse plan of engine house and forge with drawings of wheels and coloured drawings of fly arms; untitled and undated coloured plan of the engine, boiler and connecting barrels etc.; untitled and undated section of the mill house showing engine fly wheel, connecting wheels etc.; plans and elevations of the mill.
Drawings from 1795-1796: coloured original and reverse general views of each engine, the 9 horse engine being shown connected to a blowing cylinder; coloured original and reverse plans and sections showing both engines side by side, boiler and connections to millwork; parallel motion of 20 horse engine - coloured original drawings; working gear of 20 horse engine - coloured original front and side views; parallel motion of 9 horse engine - coloured original drawings; shafts and wheel teeth; draft drawing of engine house showing front view of 20 horse engine and section of boiler [in a different to alignment to its position as shown on the abopve drawings] .
Also 3 sheets of plans and sections of boilers and boiler house showing second boiler, Sep. 1799; plan and section of boilers, 4 Mar. 1808 marked "This fair copy made Aug. 1827." Most of the drawings bear letter codes.
Original Portfolio or 'Book' No. 165. Catalogue of Old Engines p. 52, 58.
For John and Henry Piddock Whately. Gun manufactory, French Walls, Smethwick. John Whately ordered the 20 horse power engine in 1791, to power the forge and the gun barrel grinding and boring mill - Book No. 165 was opened in that year and the drawings were made showing the engine house, mill and forge. However it appears that the engine was not erected until late 1795/early 1796, when John's brother Henry P. Whately was running the manufactory. The agreement for the engine is dated Oct. 1795. At the same time Henry bought the 9 horse engine from Cox & Hall of Nottingham, which he used to power the forge, leaving the 20 horse engine to power the grinding and boring mill. However the engines were placed in an unusual arrangement, being side by side and both connected to a large drum, which appears to have been connected to the forge apparatus. Both engines were fed from a common boiler, although a second was added in 1799. James Watt Jr. purchased the 20 horse engine and boilers when he purchased the French Walls site in 1816.
See also: Engine Agreements. |