As Measured By James Watt: The Ranter & Other Engines

Abstract

The importance of the data collected by James Watt in the 1770s while testing the performance of several Newcomen engines cannot be overestimated. These measurements, together with surprisingly accurate laboratory experiments, allowed such parameters as the wastage of steam and the functioning of the condenser to be quantified for the first time. This knowledge and study eventually led to that branch of science now known as thermodynamics.

Keywords:

• Ranter
• Watt
• Newcomen
• testing
• condenser
• thermodynamics

Acknowledgements

This paper is dedicated to the memory of Albert Crookes without whose innate abilities much of this work would never have been carried out. The following have assisted the path to enlightenment: Geoff Brown and Ian Walden then at the Black Country Museum; Alan Bates, Sarah Maltby, Tina Wood, Dr. John Tanner and staff at Elsecar Heritage; the staff at both Summerlee Heritage Park, Coatbridge, and the Manchester Museum of Science & Industry; John Crompton then at the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh; Jim McQuaid of Wortley Top Forge; and not forgetting Richard Hills, Mike Potts and Steve Grudgings.

Notes

1. R. L. Hills, James Watt Vol. 1: His Time in Scotland, 1736–1774 (2002); Vol. 2: The Years of Toil, 1775–1785 (2005); Vol. 3: Triumph through Adversity, 1785–1819 (2006).

2. Boulton & Watt Collection, M1/2/8. Notebook of James Watt 1770–1781. All the data relating to the six engines, other pertinent information and quotations used throughout this paper are taken from Watt’s notebook, and are therefore not separately referenced.

3. W. Emerson, The Principles of Mechanics, Explaining and Demonstrating the General Laws of Motion (1758), p. 258. Emerson also uses ‘Vis inertia’, a term apparently coined by Newton in his Principia as ‘Vis inertiæ’ meaning force of inertia.

4. A. C. Walshaw, Thermodynamics for Engineers (1963), p. 15. The equivalent of 1 Btu was later revised to be equal to 778.16 ft lbf (foot pounds force) of work.

5. T. Tredgold, The Steam Engine: its Invention and Progressive Improvement, an Investigation of its Principles, and its Application to Navigation, Manufactures, and Railways (1838, first printed 1827), p. 21. Dr Black first thought of the concept, later known as latent heat, as early as 1757–8. He experimented with ice in 1760 and steam in 1762 resulting in a value of 800 for the latent heat of vaporization, the figure initially used by Watt.

6. J. Farey, A Treatise on the Steam Engine, Historical, Practical and Descriptive (1827), pp. 394–405.

7. H. W. Dickinson & R. Jenkins, James Watt and the Steam Engine (1927, reprinted 1989), pp. 348–53.

8. Ibid, p. 43.

9. V. Owens, James Brindley’s Notebooks (2013), pp. 35, 98 & 110.

10. H. W. Dickinson & R. Jenkins, James Watt and the Steam Engine (1927, reprinted 1989), p. 52.

11. Information on the Ranters and associated groups from Wikipedia, accessed 30/3/17.

12. H. W. Dickinson & R. Jenkins, James Watt and the Steam Engine (1927, reprinted 1989), p. 349.

13. H. Beighton, Table of the Dimensions and Power of the Steam Engine (1717) and the Ladies’ Diary (1721); V. Owens, James Brindley’s Notebooks (2013), p. 35; W. Emerson, The Principles of Mechanics, Explaining and Demonstrating the General Laws of Motion (1758), p. 210; J. Curr, The Coal Viewer and Engine Builder’s Practical Companion (1797, reprinted 1970), pp. 82–3; J. Farey, A Treatise on the Steam Engine, Historical, Practical and Descriptive (1827), pp. 161–4; G. Birkbeck, H. & J. Adcock, The Steam Engine theoretically and practically displayed (1827), p. 93; A. C. Walshaw, Thermodynamics for Engineers (1963), p. 622; J. P. Quayle (Ed.), Kempe’s Engineers Year-Book, 90^th Edition (1985), F9/3.

14. I. Kolin, The Evolution of the Heat Engine: Thermodynamic Atlas Vol. 2 (1972), p. 49. A somewhat simplistic formula is given to calculate the power output of the Newcomen engine based on cylinder diameter and strokes per minute, although not one of the engines presented here produce the slightest correlation. The overall efficiency of the Ashton Vale engine is quoted as 1 per cent, but the calorific value of coal is strangely deficient (3,600 Btu per lb) and therefore the true figure should be only 0.30 per cent. Using the assumed calorific value (12,000 Btu per lb) in the relevant equation, the overall efficiency for the Ranter engine works out at 0.63 per cent (see above).

15. J. Curr, The Coal Viewer and Engine Builder’s Practical Companion (1797, reprinted 1970), pp. 76–81; G. Birkbeck, H. & J. Adcock, The Steam Engine Theoretically and Practically Displayed (1827), p. 93.

16. H. Davey in Proc Institute of Mechanical Engineers (1903), The Newcomen Engine, Fig. 5 in Plate 19 & Fig. 21 in Plate 29; G. T. Newbould in Excerpt from the Proc Midlands Institute of Mining, Civil and Mechanical Engineers, Vol. XXIV, Part 6, (1918), Notes on Newcomen Atmospheric Engines (1787 [sic] and 1823), pp. 15 & 23.

17. E. A. Phillipson, Steam Locomotive Design: Data and Formulæ (1936), p. 55.

18. J. Farey, A Treatise on the Steam Engine, Historical, Practical and Descriptive (1827), p. 262. The bore:length ratio was 0.152:1.

19. The ratio Surface Area:Volume where d is cylinder bore and h cylinder length beneath piston at the top of its stroke, both in the same units, e.g. feet. It can easily be demonstrated that this ratio is least when d = h, simplifying to , and is greater for smaller cylinders than larger. Since this ratio compares square feet with cubic feet, the answer should strictly be expressed as an inverse length, i.e. feet⁻¹. Note different numerical answers will result from using alternate units such as inches or metres.

20. J. Farey, A Treatise on the Steam Engine, Historical, Practical and Descriptive (1827), pp. 167, 174 & 186.

21. Ibid, pp. 186, 310–11.

22. T. Tredgold, The Steam Engine: its Invention and Progressive Improvement, an Investigation of its Principles, and its Application to Navigation, Manufactures, and Railways (1838, first printed 1827), pp. 18–20.

23. J. P. Quayle (Ed.), Kempe’s Engineers Year-Book, 90^th Edition (1985), F9/3; O. Lyle, The Efficient Use of Steam (1947), p. 822.

24. J.T. Desaguliers, A Course of Experimental Philosophy, Vol. II, (1744), pp. 469–90 (14,000; quoting Beighton’s experiments, 13,338 – this figure is inflated some five times due to mathematical errors on the part of Desaguliers); W. Emerson, The Principles of Mechanics, Explaining and Demonstrating the General Laws of Motion (1758), p. 209 (13,340 presumably copying Desaguliers); T. Tredgold, The Steam Engine: its Invention and Progressive Improvement, an Investigation of its Principles, and its Application to Navigation, Manufactures, and Railways (1838, first printed 1827), pp. 12, 17 & 159 (Beighton, 2,893 – the mathematical error has been corrected; Payne 4,000; Tredgold 1,711); J. Farey, A Treatise on the Steam Engine, Historical, Practical and Descriptive (1827), pp. 174 & 401 (Watt 1,800 then 1,728; Smeaton 2,459; Farey 1,728 but used 1,700 to compensate for slightly higher pressure); J. P. Quayle (Ed.), Kempe’s Engineers Year-Book, 90^th Edition (1985), F9/3 (1,673). The values for specific volume in terms of expansion are given in brackets after the appropriate reference with the name of the authority where applicable.

25. G. Birkbeck, H. & J. Adcock, The Steam Engine Theoretically and Practically Displayed (1827), pp. 3–8; O. Lyle, The Efficient Use of Steam (1947), p. 822. More accurately this value is 970.6 Btu per lb.

26. O. Lyle, The Efficient Use of Steam (1947), pp. 396–403; A. C. Walshaw, Thermodynamics for Engineers (1963), pp. 256–67; O. Langen (Third Year MEng Erasmus Student as Part of a Final Year Project), Sheffield University Department of Mechanical Engineering: The Atmospheric Engine of Thomas Newcomen (April 1993), pp. 32–51.

27. The efficiency figures in these two tables, notably for the York Buildings engine, correspond in broad terms to those calculated for the Westfield engine at Rawmarsh, South Yorkshire: M. A. Carr & J. Cowart, in Am Soc for Engineering Education (2012), AC 2012-4611: Thermodynamic Modeling [sic] of 18th Century Steam Engines (ASEE_2012_Newcomen_Thermo_Analysis).

28. J. Farey, A Treatise on the Steam Engine, Historical, Practical and Descriptive (1827), pp. 168, 180, 184 & 209; J. Curr, The Coal Viewer and Engine Builder’s Practical Companion (1797, reprinted 1970), pp. 54 & 72, Fig. 15 in Plate 5. Curiously, although Farey refers to Curr’s use of square injection nozzles and indeed Curr is emphatic regarding them in his text and as shown in Plate 5, his table on p. 72 gives ‘Dia. of Injec. Hole fixed on little Pipe’ (author’s italics).

29. For example N. Rajaratnam, Turbulent Jets (1976) and W.H. Kim & T.S. Park, in Journal of Applied Mathematics and Physics, 1 (2013), Effects of Noncircular Inlets on the Flow Structures in Turbulent Jets, pp. 37–42 (https://doi.org/10.4236/jamp.2013.16008).

30. J. J. G. Koopmans, The Fire burns much better … 200 years of steam locomotive exhaust research 1804–2004 (2005), pp. 418 –9, 477–8.

31. J. Farey, A Treatise on the Steam Engine, Historical, Practical and Descriptive (1827), pp. 166–70.

32. Ibid, p. 262.

33. E. Galloway, History and Progress of the Steam Engine; with a Practical Investigation of its Structures and Application (1832), pp. 26–8.

34. L. T. C. Rolt & J. S. Allen, The Steam Engine of Thomas Newcomen (1997), p. 125.

35. R. P. H. Lamb in R. Smith (Ed.), British Mining No. 86 (2008), The Newcomen Engine and the Account Book of Edward Short: a detailed Reappraisal, pp. 122–46.

36. M. R. Bailey in Transactions of the Newcomen Society, 68 (1996–7), Learning through replication, the Planet Locomotive Project, pp. 109–36.

37. R. Lamb in M. R. Bailey (Ed.), Early Railways 3 (2006), Something of a Novelty, pp. 272–83; P. Davidson & J. Glithero in M. R. Bailey (Ed.), Early Railways 3 (2006), Analysis of Locomotive Performance, pp. 284–99.