Soho Engine Works 1796-1895 by Laurence Ince

Description: RailroadTreasures offers the following item: Soho Engine Works 1796-1895 by Laurence Ince Soho Engine Works 1796-1895 by Laurence Ince Stationary Power The Journal of the International Stationary Steam Engine Society No 16 133 pages Copyright 2001 CONTENTS List of Platesiii List of Figuresiv Preface1 1 Boulton and Watt 3 2 The Soho Foundry 1796 - 1803 5 3 Matthew Robinson Boulton and James Watt junr 11 4 The Workforce at the Soho Foundry, 1796-184815 5 Managers and Clerks at the Soho Foundry 1796-184820 6 Products and Policy27 7 Henry Wollaston Blake and James Watt & Co35 8 The Soho Stationary Steam Engines 1796-184855 9 The Soho Marine Steam Engines 1804-184865 10 The Brunel Engines71 11 The Engines of James Watt & Co. 1848-189583 12 Mints and Minting Machinery93 13 Other Engineering Products101 Appendices 1 The Soho Stationary Steam Engines September 1796-1895103 2 The Soho Marine Steam Engines 1804 1889125 Bibliography132 LIST OF PLATES 1 James Watt, 1736-18192 2 Matthew Boulton, 1728-18094 3 William Murdock, 1754-18398 4 James Watt Junr, 1769-184811 5 John Rennie, FRS, 1761-182130 6 Henry Wollaston Blake, 1815-189935 7 The managers and foremen at the Soho Foundry c.185738 8 The engine house of Papplewick Station of the Nottingham Water Department40 9 The name plate on one of the Papplewick engines40 10 One of the cylinder covers at Papplewick40 11 The engine beams at Papplewick41 12 Part of the fine artistic castings on the supporting beams at Papplewick 41 13 The erecting shop, Soho Foundry, 1 89542 14 Beam engines being assembled in the erecting shop, 189543 15 The interior of part of the smithy, 189543 16 Part of the last staff of James Watt & Co., 189544 17 One of the 1 834 side lever engines still powering tools at the Soho Foundry in 189544 18 A six column beam engine blowing air through three tubs at the foundry, 189546 19 A bay in the erecting shop with con rods on marking off tables, 189546 20 Part of the foundry, 189547 21 The carpenters' shop, Soho Foundry, 189547 22 Hand presses in the coining room of the Soho Foundry mint47 23 Soho Foundry, 189552 24 The foundry building, 189552 25 A steam crane on the wharf, 189553 26 The entrance to the Soho Foundry, after purchase of the works by W. & T. Avery Ltd.53 27 A 16in x 4ft rotative Soho beam engine built in 179755 28 A 6hp Soho A frame beam engine supplied to Holyhead Docks in 1827 59 29 A 20hp Soho side lever engine built in 1 845 for the New River Water Company63 30 A water-colour depicting the paddle steamer James Watt64 31 The Prinzessin Charlotte, fitted with a single Soho side lever engine in 1816 66 32 HMS Virago of 184268 33 Isambard Kingdom Brunel, 1806-185971 34 Starboard view showing the building of the huge hull of the Great Eastern 76 35 Construction of the huge hull of the Great Eastern on the banks of the Thames77 36 & 37 Two views showing part of the launching arrangement for the Great Eastern, 185778 38 HMS Woodlark, photographed in Valetta Harbour, Malta85 39 HMS Decoy, photographed in Valetta Harbour, Malta.85 40 & 41 12hp six column beam engine built in 1850 for Lambeth Waterworks 86 42 Beam engines supplied in 1873 to the Western Station of London Main drainage88 43 Two Davey differential compound engines supplied to the Whitacre Pumping Station89 44 Three inverted vertical compound pumping engines built in 1883 for Hull Corporation90 45 Replacement 96in cylinder for a paddle steamer, 189591 46 The New Calcutta Mint c182992 47 Twelve pneumatic coining presses constructed in 1860 for the Soho Foundry Mint95 48 The rolling mill at the Soho Foundry Mint96 49 & 50 Two views of the Soho built machinery at the Lima Mint Peru, 1870s 97 51 A Soho overhung eccentric lever blanking press98 52 A James Watt & Co. lever coin press still working at the Lahore Mint in the mid 1960s99 53 A large coining press at the Soho Foundry Mint, 1895100 LIST OF FIGURES 1 Plan of Birmingham showing the situation of Soho and other places in the days of Watt6 2 The Soho Foundry in 182413 3 An early nineteenth century Soho beam pumping engine26 4 An early nineteenth century 36hp rotative beam engine built by Boulton & Watt 29 5 The bell crank engine supplied in 1805 for Robert Fulton's first American steam boat31 6 A frame beam engine built at Soho in 1815 for HMS Congo32 7 A bell crank engine in Soho Foundry, 189545 8 A large horizontal boring machine, Soho Foundry, 189548 9 Heavy face plate lathe, Soho Foundry, 189548 10 Large face plate lathe - front view, Soho Foundry 189549 11 Large planing machine, Soho Foundry, 189549 12 Drilling and boring machines, Soho Foundry, 1 89550 13 Large vertical boring machine used for engine beams, Soho Foundry 1895 50 14 Heavy radial drill, Soho Foundry, 189551 15 Heavy slotting machine, Soho Foundry 189551 16 An advertisement from the late 1890s54 17 A typical 10hp six column beam engine as supplied to the West Indies sugar industry56 18 A typical Boulton, Watt & Co. beam blowing engine57 19 A 6hp A frame beam engine built by the Soho engineers in 181758 20 An elevation of a l4hp six column beam engine61 21 The Gorgon type paddle engines built by the Soho engineers for HMS Virago, 184269 22 Elevation of the vertical engines built at Soho for atmospheric railways 72 23 Elevation of the horizontal engines built at Soho for atmospheric railways 73 24 The large horizontal screw engines for the Great Eastern, 185475 25 The horizontal oscillating engines built by James Watt & Co. for HMS Simoom, 184982 26 A pair of 150hp oscillating paddle engines built by James Watt & Co84 27 One of a pair of rotative beam engines for Stoke Newington Station87 PREFACE In a paper entitled, `Soho Foundry, Some Facts and Fallacies W.K.V. Gale stated that, `It is probably true to say that no single industrial undertaking in the world has had more written about it than Soho Foundry, Birmingham'. Unfortunately this statement is also a fallacy. Historians have been readily prepared to explore the setting up of the Soho Foundry in 1796 and then follow its history through until 1800 when Watt's patent for the separate condenser came to an end. Little interest has been shown in the history of the firm after the end of James Watt's active involvement which coincided with the end of his patent. Indeed, writers and historians have made strenuous efforts to belittle what took place at the two Soho works after 1800. This opinion concerning the achievements of the Soho concerns was being formed even when the Soho Foundry was at its commercial height during the 1860s. In 1869 a correspondent for the journal, The Engineer, could state, `With the early history of Soho - the cradle of the steam engine - everybody is more or less familiar, but comparatively little is known as to the present extent and capabilities of the world famed laboratory of Boulton & Watt'. Wedgwood's biographer in 1871 could comment on the progress of the firm after the Boulton & Watt period as, `a sleepy decline ... upheld rather by the tradition of the past than by any genius or business capacity of those who succeeded'. James Watt's son was ferocious in the defense of his father's and the firm's reputations. Unfortunately James Watt junr had no children to compile his biography or to advertise the later extensive accomplishments of the firm. This nineteenth-century view of the progress of the works has been far too eagerly adopted by other modern writers. In the 1960s it was stated that: `Soho Foundry housed an engineering business which was little different from the many others which had sprung up all over the country, and it settled down to an existence that was dull indeed compared with its active and sometimes exciting career of the past'. Even in 1992 the biographer of William Murdock could criticise James Watt's son in the following terms: `Instead of busying himself with getting new business or bringing in new blood with new technical ideas, Watt junior remained in the safe retreat of administrative detail fussing over the number of ale tickets or devising new written rules for the drawing office' . These views have not hitherto been rebutted, possibly because of the huge amount of material available for a post-I800 study of the firm. The progress of the Soho concerns is covered by the three large collections of manuscripts housed at Birmingham Reference Library. The history of the Boulton & Watt businesses is recorded in 183 letterbooks and this is only one small part of the massive amount of material available. Much of the recorded information concerns the building and repairing of steam engines. This huge array of material has deterred serious attempts to chart the course of the works down to its closure in 1895. For those researchers who examine the letters there is another problem to overcome. The large number of letterbooks comprise, in fact, a series of different types of letterbooks with no run complete. Also important information is missing from the preserved material. For instance the firm was run by a series of small partnerships and little has survived that sheds light on the financial progress of the business. The end of Watt's patent also saw the firm adopt a policy of secrecy with access being denied to casual visitors, so little can be found in sources such as the local newspapers. It is the intention of this volume to examine the history of engine building at the Soho Manufactory and the Soho Foundry from 1796 until 1895. The careers of James Watt junr and Matthew Robinson Boulton will also be assessed within the context of the setting up of what was one of the first engineering works in the world. Later developments after 1848 when the Soho Foundry was controlled and managed by Henry Wollaston Blake are also considered in detail. The general history of the concerns was written for a dissertation as part of an MA course in Local and Regional History at the University of Warwick. I owe a great debt to my supervisor, Dr Joan Lane, for her patient help and guidance during my period of study at the University. When this work was successfully completed I decided to enlarge the account to include a detailed examination of the Soho products. All pictures are of the actual item. There may be reflection from the lights in some photos. 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Price: 150 USD

Location: Talbott, Tennessee

End Time: 2024-10-18T21:09:51.000Z

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