tarboat's photos with the keyword: atmospheric

Farme Colliery winding engine was built around 1810 for a colliery at Rutherglen. This atmospheric winding engine worked for just over 100 years and in 1915 it was presented to Glasgow Corporation for preservation. After many years in storage the engine was loaned to the Summerlee Heritage Trust at Coatbridge and in the 1990s what remains was largely re-erected as an exhibit at Summerlee Heritage Park. Whilst in storage it is regrettable that various parts had been lost including the legs that supported the beam which required a new steel frame to be fabricated. Today this engine is one of only three remaining rotary Newcomen engines, with the other two being in the Henry Ford Museum at Dearborn. The operation of these atmospheric winding engines must have required great skill and today nobody knows how it was done. Perhaps one day a replica will be constructed which will allow us to understand the techniques required.

Yesterday saw the first public running of the replica Newcomen Engine at the Anson Museum in Poynton. It is very convincing and whilst actually powered by an electric motor the up and down strokes are cleverly arranged to have different speeds. Steam from the top of the cylinder is tapped from the exhaust of the other engines when in use. It does actually raise water from the "pit" too. The museum is well worth a visit and is run by enthusiasts rather than museums types.

One of the more interesting survivals of our local collieries is this Newcomen enginehouse that pumped the Redacre Pit in Lyme Handley. It may well have been erected here before 1800, but it was certainly still in use in 1830. The building has had some of its height reduced in the intervening years, but the site of the boiler chimney can be seen on the corner of the structrue. The back wall also shows the blocked up entrance through which the cylinder would have been brought. The shaft was outside the other end of the building

Whilst out and about with fellow Flickrite, Tom Swailes, we spotted this building and were both struck by how much it resembled a colliery pumping enginehouse. It soon became apparent that it was indeed a colliery building that had probably housed an atmospheric beam pumping engine of the Newcomen type. It is actually a three storey structure built against a bank so that only two are visible on this side. Closer inspection of the stonework reveals that the long window is situated in what was a much larger space through which the beam projected. The lean-to structure under the beam wall is a modern addition. There is a stump of a chimney at the corner of the building, just in front of the white chimneystack of the adjacent cottage. The shaft was 215 ft deep and has been filled and capped by the Coal Authority a few years ago. More research is needed to try to discover where the outlet tunnel emerged lower down the hill. Tom was also able to find an advert for the sale of an engine from this colliery in 1834. I am fairly certain that it relates to this building. The description was: "Atmospheric STEAM ENGINE, the cylinder 44 inches diameter, new oak beam, with cast iron arch heads, and works a seven feet stroke; 36 yards 2 feet of 12 inch pump trees with pump rods complete, 39 yards 7 inch ditto, ditto one boiler, 26 horses power, in excellent condition; one ditto, 20 ditto, ditto; new oak head geering over pit and new eapstone and rope; one windlas and rope."