The Governor: Controlling the Power of Steam Machines

John Hannavy

• Publisher: Pen and Sword Transport
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781399090896
• Topic: Technik & Maschinenbau
• Subtopic: Maschinenbau

Power without control is unusable power, and long after the invention of the steam engine, finding ways of applying that power to tasks where consistency was of paramount importance was the 'Holy Grail' which many steam engineers sought to find. It was the centrifugal governor which brought precision to the application of steam power, and its story can be traced back to 17th century Holland and Christiaan Huygens' development of both the pendulum clock and system controls for windmills, and governors are still at the heart of sophisticated machinery today – albeit electronic rather than mechanical. Without the centrifugal governor, precise control over the increasingly-complex machinery which has been developed over the past two centuries would not have been possible. It was the first device to give the engineman the control they needed. As machine speed increased, the governor had to evolve to keep pace with the demands for greater precision. Over a hundred British patents were applied for in the nineteenth century alone for ‘improvements’ in governor design, many of which could be fitted, or retro-fitted, to engines from every large manufacturer. Some enginemen, on taking up new appointments – their jobs depending on the precision and consistency of their engine’s operation – would even request that the governor be replaced with their preferred model. This book, the first to deal with the subject, tells the story of the evolution of the original ‘spinning-ball’ governor from its first appearance to the point where it became a small device entirely enclosed in a housing to keep it clean, and thus hidden from view.

The spring-loaded governor on the patented engine by W. & F. Wills of Bridgwater, now part of the extensive collection at Westonzoyland on the Somerset Levels.

PLACES TO SEE GOVERNORS AT WORK

Abbey Pumping Station

www.abbeypumpingstation.org

tel: [phone]

Corporation Road, Leicester LE4 5PX

The pumping station – now designated as Leicester’s Museum of Science & Technology – is home to four massive beam engines built by Gimson & Company at their Vulcan Works in Leicester in 1891. All are now restored to working order and one or more are steamed on special dates throughout the year – check website. Built to pump sewage to a new treatment works at Beaumont Leys, they were restored just a few years ago. Other Gimson engines can be seen at Claymills Pumping Station (qv) and Forncett Industrial Steam Museum (qv).

Anson Engine Museum

www.enginemuseum.org

tel: [phone]

Anson Road, Poynton, Cheshire SK12 1TD

Among the steam engines in the museum is a cross-compound engine by S. S. Stott & Company of Laneside Foundry in Haslingden near Manchester, built for the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway’s Horwich Works, but later used at Albion Mill, Hazel Grove, Stockport. Other engines in their huge collection include a horizontal single-cylinder engine built by Crowhall & Campbell, originally installed at Elder & Watson’s hosiery factory in Strathaven, Scotland. In total, the museum is now home to around 200 engines powered by a range of fuels. The steam engines are run on one Sunday each month, the gas and oil engines are run more frequently. Check website for details.

Bancroft Mill Engine

www.bancroftmill.org.uk

tel: [phone]

Gillians Lane, Barnoldwick, Lancashire BB18 5QR

The Bancroft Mill twin-cylinder cross-compound engine was built by William Roberts & Sons of Nelson, Lancashire in 1920. James is the 17in (43cm) diameter high pressure cylinder while Mary Jane is the 34in (86cm) low pressure. The engine is fitted with a James Lumb governor and a Lumb/ Wilby supplementary regulator. The museum has recently rebuilt a Smith Bros & Eastwood 300hp tandem compound engine – built in Bradford and originally installed at Cross Lane Mill at Bradley near Skipton – and returned it to steam.

The 1909-built Pollit & Wigzell mill engine with its Whitehead governor, now displayed at Thinktank, Birmingham’s Science Museum.

Beamish Open Air Museum

www.beamish.org.uk

tel: [phone]

Beamish, County Durham DH9 0RG

The winding engine from Chophill Colliery – also known as Beamish No. 2 Pit – is the only surviving example of the type and was still in use when Chophill closed in 1962. It was built in 1855 by J. & G. Joicey of Newcastle, and said to be based on an 1800 design by Phineas Crowther, although it was later fitted with a centre-weighted Porter-type governor patented in the US in 1858.

Big Pit/National Coal Museum of Wales

www.museum.wales/bigpit/

tel: [phone]

Pontypool NP4 9XP

The Big Pit offers a chance to explore the history and importance of coal mining in Wales, complete with a trip underground into the upper levels of the former coal workings. The extensive site offers an immersive and hugely informative experience. In the engine house, the giant winding engine by the Uskside Engineering Company is fitted with a Metropolitan-Vickers Lilly ‘Type C’ Duplex Controller/governor (see pages 106-107) to reduce the potential of over-wind – something which could have been a major concern in deep mines using high-speed winding engines.

Birmingham Thinktank Museum

www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/thinktank

tel: [phone]

Millennium Point, Curzon St, Birmingham B4 7XG

The museum houses an impressive collection of stationary engines, including the 1779 ‘Smethwick Engine’, the oldest-surviving working Boulton & Watt beam engine in the world – and recently returned to steam. Amongst the other engines in the collection are some unique examples from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, built by Galloways and others, and regulated by many different types of governor.

Blists Hill Victorian Town

www.ironbridge.org.uk/explore/blists-hill

tel: [phone]

Legges Way, Madeley, Telford TF7 5UD

Part of the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site, Blists Hill Victorian Town comprises buildings and machinery rescued from elsewhere. A colliery winding engine is regularly steamed, and the rolling mill engine from Walmsley’s Works in Bolton – ...

Table of contents

• COVER
• TITLE
• COPYRIGHT
• CONTENTS
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• HUYGENS’ PENDULUM
• JAMES WATT – HARNESSING STEAM
• THE QUEST FOR PRECISION
• SELECTED PATENTS (1698–1913)
• BRITISH GOVERNOR MAKERS AND SUPPLIERS
• PLACES TO SEE GOVERNORS AT WORK
• SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY