The Transition from Timber to Cast Iron Working Beams for Steam Engines: A Technological Innovation

NOTES AND REFERENCES

• There are many references, from the sixteenth century onwards, to growing shortages of timber both for industrial use, and for shipbuilding. The Napoleonic Wars made the situation worse both by increas-ing demand and through problems in importing timber from the Baltic, which had become a major source of large timbers. H. W. Dickinson & R. Jenkins, James Watt and the Steam Engine (1st edn 1927, Moorland, Ashboume, reprint 1981) pp. 201–203 gives specific problems for steam engine beams. F. T. Evans, 'Wood Since the Industrial Revolution: a Strategic Retreat?', History of Technology, Vol. 7, (1982) pp. 37–55.
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• Boulton & Watt Collection, Birmingham Central Library ( Archives), (B&WC, hereafter) 24 Jan 1801 Vol. 24 p. 174
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• The beam cost £36-3-1 with carriage etc. amounting to £2-19-0 which emphasises not only the diffi-culty of obtaining suitable trees but also the cost and effort of transportation and commission. B&WC Engine Day Book Vol. 256.
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• Aydon & Elwell appear to have been iron founders who could well have made some engines and might have favoured cast iron beams. We have been unable to establish a direct link, in or about 1800, between this company, Rennie and B W & Co on the subject of cast iron beams. However it should be noted that, within a few years, Aydon & Elwood were working closely with Rennie on cast iron struc-tures for various docks' projects (TNS 50p96, 59p176 & 184,53p17,81 & 95)
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• D. Cardwell, The Fontana History of Technology (Fontana, London, 1994), p. 208 A. Pacey, The Maze of Ingenuity (Allen Lane, London, 1794) p. 228, and R. L. Hill, Power from Steam Cambridge University Press, 1989) p. 87, mention Aydon & Elwell's cast iron beams but only Cardwell specifi-cally mentions elliptical shaped beams.
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• The patent by James & John Roberton, for their curious ideas on obtaining power from steam leaking past steam engines' pistons, contains several illustrations of cast beams (August 1800 see Repertory of Arts & Manufactures 1801 p. 384). All are of a straight taper design, see Fig. 15, with some attempts at stiffening and casting bosses for plug rod etc. but no mention is made of the beams' design in the text.
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• B&WC Portfolio of Drawings ( pf, hereafter) 591
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• Dickinson & Jenkins, op.cit. ( 1), Plate XXVIII
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• B&WC pf 705 Pen y Darren Ironworks 1798
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• B&WC LB ( Foundry) Vol. 68 p. 21. James Lawson was one of Boulton Watt & Co's engine erectors.
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• B&WC pf 705
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• B&WC Vol. 68 P. 29
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• B&WC Vol. 68 p. 56
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• B&WC Vol. 232 26 Feb 1801
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• B&WC Vol. 68 5 Dec 1799
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• B&WC Vol. 68 20 June 1800
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• B&WC Vol. 23 8 Oct 1800
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• For example Duck & Potts reported to Boulton and Watt that their Manchester cotton mill was burnt to the ground on the 20th January 1795. A similar fire struck the D & P Spinning Works in 1795. George Lee described the damage thus: 'The Mill is entirely burnt, the Dye-houses and outbuildings little injured'. B& WC, Duck & Potts to B & W, 2 Feb 1795 Box 6 D (8); George Lee to James Lawson, Box 5 XIII (2) Lawson.
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• In a letter to B W & Co in December 1791 Henry Green, of Killingley, Green & Son, cotton spinners in Nottingham, stated that 'Printed papers relative to the prevention of Fires in Cotton Mills' had been received and duly noted'. B & WC Box 6/10/36
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• B&WC pf 136 29 Apr 1797. For further details and discusisons of early fire proof structures see Donald Cardwell, The Fontana History of Technology (Fontana, London, 194), pp. 168–75. Jennifer Tann, The Development of the Factory, (1970), chapter nine.
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• B&WC, Lee to James Watt 18 Mar 1800
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• B&WC, Lee to James Watt 18 Mar 1800, 13 May 1800, 16 June 1800 and 26 Aug 1800, Southern to Lee Vol. 68 29 May 1800 and 30 July 1800. A further letter, 15 Oct 1800 ( see Appendix 1) implies that Lee has been insistent that the engine house be fireproof.
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• B&WC pf 242
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• B&WC, Southern to Lee 29 May 1800 Vol. 68 p. 255
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• The authors are writing a further paper on Boulton & Watt's problem solving abilities.
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• Jennifer Tann, 'Steam and Sugar: The Diffusion of the Stationary Steam Engine to the Caribbean Sugar Industry 1770-1840', History of Technology Vol. 19, (1997) pp. 63–84.
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• B&WC LB (Office) Vol. 23 p. 219–20, 8 Oct 1800 Watt Jnr. to John Rennie and p. 249, Oct 1800, B W & Co. to Turnbull, Gorbes &Co.
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• B & WC LB ( Office) Vol. 24, p. 214–15, 30 Mar 1801 B.W. & Co to Messrs. Turnbull Forbes & Co.
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• B & WC Letter Book ( Office) Vol. 23 p. 270 29 Nov 1800. Watt Jnr. to John Rennie.
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• Dickinson & Jenkins op. cit. ( 1) pp. 202–03.
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• Models in the collections of the Science Museum in London, taken from photographs in the museum in Birmingham.
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• B&WC Foundry Letter Book Vol. 68 p. 273
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• B&WC Vol. 71 15 Oct 1800
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• B&WC pf 242 drawing FPY.
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• B&WC Vol. 16 21 Feb 1801
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• B&WC pf 242
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• B&WC pf 293 9 Feb 1801
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• B&WC Vol. 16 21 Feb 1801 and pf 242. A drawing of 11 March 1801 confirms these details.
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• Bottfield 36 " pf 292, Omoa Ironworks 42" pf 684 and Tredegar Ironworks 40" pf 698.
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• Analysis based on details in B&WC, both Portfolios of Drawings and Engine Books, for various engines built 1798 to 1803.
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• B&WC pf 329 11 May 1803
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• J. Farey, A Treatise on the Steam Engine, (1827, reprinted David & Charles, 1971) Plate XXIII.
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• S.D. Chapman, 'Fixed capital formation in the cotton industry', Economic History Review 2nd Series, Vol. 23, (1970)
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• B&WC M Box IV, Lee to Watt Junior, 16 July 1800
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• H. R. Johnson & A. W. Skempton, 'William Strutt's Cotton Mills, 17931812' Transactions of the Newcomen Society Vol. XXX (1956) pp. 179–205. D. Gurr & J. Hunt, The Cotton Mills of Oldham (Oldham Information services, 1985). R. S. Fitzgerald, 'The Development of the Cast Iron Frame in Textile Mills to 1850' Industrial Archaeology Review Vol. X no. 2 (1988). M. Williams & D. A. Farine, Cotton Mills in Greater Manchester Carnegie Publishing Ltd, Preston, (1992). K. A. Falconer, 'Fireproof Mills-the widening perspectives' Industrial Archaeology Review Vol. XVI No. 1 (1993)
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• In full fire proof construction, the beam would be supported on cast iron columns and the flywheel shaft on a brick wall with a cast iron bearing plate. In partial fire proof designs the beam would still be supported on cast iron but the flywheel shaft would be on a normal timber frame because it could only fall a short distance to the floor.
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• S. B. Hamilton, The use of Cast Iron in Buildings', Transactions of the Newcomen Society, Vol. XXI (1941) p. 147.
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• Ibid., pp. 143–146. Detailed testing commenced about 1817 and the material's characteristics were becoming established by the 1830s. One should note, however, the comments by Southern (see Appendix 1) about the ratio of tensile to comprehensive failure in cast iron (1: 41/2 ) compared to wrought iron (1:1).
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• Pacey op. cit. ( 4) p. 239 and 240.
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• E. Roll, An Early Experiment in Industrial Organistaion (1930 reprinted by Cass, London, 1968) pp. 166–168; Dickinson & Jenkins, op. cit. (1) pp. 271–277.
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• B&WC Engine Books and Engine Day Book 1799–1803 Vol. 256.
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• Ibid., pp. 169,170,190,192 and 198 show charges for "part of Expence of Beam Patterns".
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• Ibid., p. 201 letter Boulton to Watt 8 July 1784 about the Poldice engine's beam.
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• Engine Day Books and Portfolios of Drawings give cost for many timber and cast iron beams with engine powers and beam dimensions. Some have been used in this analysis but greater detail could be found by a more protracted examination of the records. One engine, for Tredegar Iron Works in 1802/ 3, was found which allowed direct comparison, with a timber beam at £79-10-9 ( pf 327 at 10/- per cu foot) and a cast iron beam at £77-4-9 (Vol. 256, p. 192)
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• The Engineer Issue for 27 July 1895, p. 308.
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• J. Foster Petree, 'Maudslay, Sons & Field as General Engineers' Transactions of the Newcomen Society Vol. XV (1934) p. 42 and plate VII.
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• A. Rees, The Cyclopaedia or Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences and Literature (London 1819 rep-rinted David & Charles, 1972) plates for "Parallel Motions" in the section of "Steam Engine".
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• Farey op. cit. ( 43) Plate XVIII, XIX and p. 708.
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• 'Closure' is a sociological term used to describe to process by which consensus is reached over the development of a technology in a situation where there are several competing theories or technical designs. See W. E. Bijker, T. P. Hughes, and T. J. Pinch ( eds), The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology, (MIT Press, Cambridge MA, 1987), Wiebe E. Bijker and John Law (eds), Shaping Technology/Building Society: Studies in Sociotechnical Change, (MIT Press, Cambridge MA, 1992) and Wiebe E. Bijker, Of Bicycles, Bakelites, and Bulbe: Toward a Theory of Sociotechnical Change, (MIT Press, Cambridge MA, 1995).
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