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Triple-Expansion Steam Engine WaterWords News from the Waterworks Museum - Hereford Winter 2015/16 120th Anniversary of the triple-expansion engine The Museum was delighted to receive as its guests of honour Sir Colin and Lady Shepherd on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of our gentle giant. Sir Colin made an incredibly support- ive and inspiring speech, followed by unveiling a commemorative engraved plaque as a permanent reminder of the historic day. The triple-expansion steam engine had been officially opened and set in motion in 1895 and by happy chance the anniver- sary was celebrated on the exact same day, 25th October. In an echo of the origi- nal event, Sir Colin ordered the engine to start and, thanks to detailed work a few minutes prior by Museum volunteer engi- neers, it did exactly as commanded! We were equally pleased to have present for this special occasion Candia Compton, representing the Southall Trust, accompa- nied by her husband Chris. Full report p4. Sir Colin and Lady Shepherd greeted by Museum Chairman Noel Meeke Grant awarded by the Record visitors Half-term fun day West Midlands Museum Only once in recent years, 2013, Development Group has the number of visitors to the Museum exceeded 5000. That year The Waterworks Museum will be the the figure reached 5079. national centre for the bicentenary celebrations marking the first patent The Trustees are pleased to report that awarded for a hot-air engine. In 1816 visitor numbers for 2015 have exceed- ed 5400, an increase over last year of the Rev Robert Stirling, a clergyman 13 per cent. Even more important is in the Presbyterian Church of Scot- that the proportion of young people land, registered a patent on his ongo- visiting the Museum has increased from ing development of the hot-air engine. 14% to 22%. This is a reflection of the In collaboration with the Stirling Engine popularity of the new Heritage Water Society, the Museum will create a new Park. The Park has not only been a hit display beginning at Easter to tell the story with general visitors but is now included of the early pioneering days of hot-air en- in school visits to great acclaim. gine development. This will culminate in L-R Libby, Will and Charlotte Sutcliffe an exhibition provided by the Society’s Notice to Members from Lugwardine, near Hereford, putting members and a national meet of full-size Don’t miss the ever-popular out ‘fires’ with WW2 stirrup pumps hot-air engines in October. Details p5. Winter Social Evening Even in late October the children have The Museum has received a grant from Monday 14th March - 7pm been enjoying the delights of the Herit- the WMMD group towards this exciting Museum Visitor Centre age Water Park. The idea of providing project. It will further establish the Muse- pumps and imitation ‘fires’ to knock over Delicious meal and superb sweets um as a centre of excellence for the dis- with water jets was effectively an after- by Gill Andrews and her helpers play of hot-air engines and increase our thought but has proved one of the most audience participation. We thank WMMD. Good wine and good company popular activities in the Park. Page 1 Focus on … triple-expansion steam engine Article compiled by Noel Meeke from the Museum archive, Museum steam engineers and other sources Around the turn of the 18th century Multiple-expansion engines the cider company’s machinery problems were over when he met Robert Worth, an steam engines were very inefficient. A logical extension of the compound engineer from Stockton-on-Tees, who Boiler pressures were relatively low, engine is to split the steam expansion was able to offer advice and build to avoid destructive explosions, and into more stages. The result is a machines for them at a reasonable price. James Watt held many patents which multiple-expansion engine of which strangled engine development. the usual variants are triple-expansion Efficiency and quadruple-expansion engines. Arthur Woolf, broadly contemporary with Drinking water for Hereford City at that Such engines use a series of cylinders Watt, left his birthplace in Cornwall to time was under the auspices of the City of progressively increasing diameter work for Joseph Bramah’s engineering Waterworks Committee. The City designed to divide the work into works in London in 1785. He worked there Surveyor and Engineer, John Parker, had broadly equal shares for each stage. and in other engine works until 1811 when reported in 1890 that the two existing he returned to Cornwall. beam engines were incredibly inefficient He became the chief and coming to the end engineer at Harvey & of their useful lives. In Co of Hayle and a written report he brought with him from recommended that London the concept of the city required a quality control. By the ‘large modern rotative time he retired in 1836, pumping engine’. and thanks to his untiring efforts and The Worth Mackenzie attention to detail, the engine began to world renowned Cornish arrive in parts in 1893 engine was a thing of and was assembled beauty and greatly by a resident engineer improved efficiency. who supervised the construction of a In 1803 Woolf obtained building extension to a patent on an improved house the engine boiler for producing high (now Bay 6). In the -pressure steam. A year summer of 1895 the later he patented his engine was tested best-known invention, and found to work the compound steam Steam exhaust well. It had been built on time and below engine. budget. Improved efficiency The money had been Whilst Woolf’s developments were raised through a directed at beam engines the underlying Steam Government loan principle applies equally to rotative steam enters following a public engines. In a compound steam engine, at enquiry held in Shire high pressure steam from the boiler boiler Hall. The official pres- expands in a high-pressure cylinder and opening was a truly sure the residual steam then enters one or auspicious occasion more lower-pressure cylinders. The with all the local dignitaries present complete expansion of the steam now recorded on a shield mounted on the occurs across multiple cylinders and, as High-pressure Intermedi- Low-pressure engine. A director of Worth Mackenzie less expansion occurs in each cylinder, stage ate stage stage was present who declared that ‘this less heat is lost by cooling. This reduces Worth-Mackenzie triple- magnificent pumping engine would the magnitude of cylinder heating and expansion steam engine provide all the water required for Hereford cooling, increasing the efficiency of the for the foreseeable future’. engine. By careful staging of the The Museum engine is properly In fewer than ten years Hereford was expansion in multiple cylinders, torque described as a vertical, inverted, triple- short of drinking water again. The engine variability can be reduced. Consequently expansion, condensing engine. It is was performing twin tasks. It was to derive equal work from the lower- the oldest working survivor of this type pumping water from the river Wye up to pressure steam, larger cylinder volumes of engine in the UK and probably the the treatment works on Broomy Hill at the are arranged. earliest to be used in a water-pumping rate of one million gallons (4.5M litres) per Double-expansion engines, generically station. It was built by Worth, twelve hours. Secondly it was pumping known as compound engines, expand the Mackenzie & Co Ltd in Stockton-on- treated water up to the water tower tank steam in two stages and the cylinders can Tees. Its tender price was not the with two high-pressure pumps attached to be arranged in a number of ways such as lowest of the five received and it was the central connecting rod, and by 1905 cross-compounds (side-by-side) and probably chosen because of the close could not satisfy demand. In 1906/7 a twin tandem compounds (end-to-end). The friendship between Robert Worth, the -cylinder steam engine was brought in to adoption of compounding was common designer, and the Bulmer family in augment the lift to the water tower. Hereford. for industrial purposes and virtually By 1911 electric pumps were installed in universal for marine engines after 1880. In the 1890s Percy Bulmer was the base of the water tower, followed However, compounding was not greatly working hard to mechanise the cider- three years later by similar pumps in Bay used for railway locomotives. making process and it is recorded that 4. The end of steam at Hereford was nigh. Page 2 Volunteer viewpoint Visitors to the Museum John Arrowsmith, volunteer engineer I have been a member of the Waterworks Museum access Broomy Hill & District Museum for a number of years but it is From time-to-time the Trustees re- Residents' Association only in the last twelve months that I have quire a report by an independent become actively involved in the day to day body on matters concerning physi- Broomy Hill is the area of Hereford operations. cal access at the Museum. This is where the Museum is situated. It is I went to school in Hereford and then just as important for the volunteers a Conservation Area and the resi- Kington Grammar School before my as for our visitors and contractors. dents maintain a strong and cohe- father’s promotion took us to Crewe. At sive group to ensure high standards school in Crewe I was able to take In previous years we have used the in matters such as local amenities examination subjects in Engineering services of Hereford Access for All, but and planning.
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