The Smethwick Engine

AKA The Ocker Hill Engine

The Smethwick Beam Engine with the Tandem Compound Horizontal in the foreground.

The jewel in the crown of the Thinktank collections must be the Smethwick Engine. Built by James Watt and Co. it was installed in the Birminham Canal Company's pumping station at Rolfe Street Smethwick and returned water up the Smethwick Flight for 120 years. In 1898 it was re-erected at Ocker Hill for preservation and eventually moved to the Birmingham Museum of Science and Industry. It is possible that it was installed second hand at Smethwick. It is a Newcomen type Atmospheric engine and one of the very few contemporary engines to retain its timber beam. As re-erected in Thinktank it has acquired a curious water tipping mechanism possibly to make it more attractive to the younger generation.

Click on the pictures for more details

 The trussed and reinforced timber beam.  The pump barrel and water tipping additions. 

The valve gear and plug rod.  A closer view of the pump and water tipper. 

The beam from the cylinder end. The valve gear and plug rod Valve gear and cylinder. Unusually for a Watt engine the weight is taken by substantial timber framing.

 

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