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ALL | | The Story of Steam
James Watt’s revolutionary steam engine |
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DESCRIPTION James Watt Steam Beam ('Smethwick') Engine
MANUFACTURER Boulton & Watt, Birmingham, Britain
INVENTOR/DESIGNER James Watt (1736 -1819)
DATE 1778
MATERIAL Iron, steel, wood, copper alloy, glass, paint, brick
DIMENSIONS 10900x7000
PROVENANCE 1779-1959: Birmingham-Wolverhampton canal; Gift from Birmingham Canal Company in 1959
LOCATION Thinktank
CAT. NO 1959.S.01063 | |
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James Watt Steam Beam (‘Smethwick’) Engine | © Thinktank Trust | Come and see it in the Power Up gallery at Thinktank
This is the oldest working steam engine in the world. It was designed by the firm of Boulton & Watt and installed on the Birmingham-Wolverhampton canal in 1779. It saved water by pumping it back up a series of canal locks at Smethwick.
The engine lifted the equivalent of 1,500 buckets of water each minute! The water refilled the canal at the top of the locks, so that 250 boats could pass through the locks every week.
The steam engine revolution had begun - but Watt had a rival... MORE |
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