Thermodynamic Analysis of a Newcomen Steam Engine

Abstract

This paper presents a thermodynamic analysis of the Westfield Newcomen engine using archival data from two articles by Gerald Newbould. After a description of the configuration and operation of the Westfield engine, the subsequent analysis calculates the efficiencies of the major components which comprise a Newcomen engine: the boiler, the piston and cylinder, the pumps, and the engine-driven auxiliary machinery. The separate contributions of these component efficiencies to the performance of the Westfield engine are shown and the poor thermodynamic efficiency of the engine is quantified.

Keywords:

• Newcomen
• atmospheric engine
• thermodynamic efficiency
• Westfield engine
• Parkgate engine

For their assistance in researching and preparing this article the author wishes to thank David Wombwell of Chesterfield, England for his assistance in locating and copying the 1918 Newbould article that described the Westfield engine in much greater detail than Newbould’s 1934 article and Ms Rachel Milota of Suffolk, Virginia, USA, daughter of the author, for her assistance in producing the schematic of the Westfield engine, adapted from the 1918 Newbould article, and the Sankey diagrams of this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Matthew A Carr

Commander Matthew A. Carr, United States Navy, PhD, MSE, BSOE, PE, ASME, ASEE, is a Permanent Military Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, USA, where he teaches a variety of courses covering thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and energy conversion. A nuclear-trained submarine officer, his career includes assignments on two US Navy submarines and a submarine tender, command and control assignments in the Western and Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean operations control centres, and design experience at a large commercial nuclear power plant. A member of the Newcomen Society since 2011 and in observance of the tercentenary of the 1712 engine, he has presented papers on Newcomen engines at both the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) national conferences.

Correspondence to: Commander Matthew A. Carr. Email: [email protected]