OCR Text |
Show WORLD'S OLDEST ENGINE. It W.tt Conntructoil In 1777 nnd Has ltooii In Horvlnn Until Itiroully. Tho oldest engino in tho world is In tho rossosslon of tho Birmingham Cannl Navlsationa, this engine having been constructed by Dnulton & Watt In tho year 1777. Tho ordtr la entered in tho firm's books In that year as a single-acting beam engine, with chains nt each end of a wood boam, and having hav-ing tho steam cylinder 32 inches In diameter, with a stroko of 8 feet, and crectod nt tho canal company's pumping pump-ing station at Rojfo street, Smothwicic. During tho present year (1808) this remarkable re-markable old cnglno, which has boen regularly at work from tho tlmo ot Its erection to tho current year, a period pe-riod of, say, 120 years, was removed to tho canal company's station at Ockcr Hill, Tipton, thero to bo ro-crectcd ro-crectcd and preserved ns a relic of what can bo done by good management when dealing with machinery of undoubted un-doubted quality. It Is worthy of noto that tho Birmingham Canal Navigations Navi-gations favored Bou'lton & Watt in 1777 with tho order for this engine, nnd In 1808, or 12C years afterward, tho company haa Intrusted tho samo firm, James Watt & Co., Soho, Smeth-wlck, Smeth-wlck, with tho manufacture ot two of ! their modern triple-expansion vertical , engines, to bo erected nt tho Walsall i pumping station,, having 240 hor30 power and a pumping capacity ot - 18i713,tl0O" gallons per day. London Engineering, |