The Smethwick Engine is a

Watt steam engine The Watt steam engine design became synonymous with steam engines, and it was many years before significantly new designs began to replace the basic Watt design. The first steam engines, introduced by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, were of the "at ...

made by

Boulton and Watt Boulton & Watt was an early British engineering and manufacturing firm in the business of designing and making marine and stationary steam engines. Founded in the English West Midlands around Birmingham in 1775 as a partnership between the Engli ...

, which was installed near

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England, and was brought into service in May 1779. Now at

Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum Thinktank, Birmingham (formerly known as simply Thinktank) is a science museum in Birmingham, England. Opened in 2001, it is part of Birmingham Museums Trust and is located within the Millennium Point (Birmingham), Millennium Point complex on ...

, it is the oldest working

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

and the oldest working

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

in the world.

History

Originally, it was one of two steam engines used to pump water back up to the summit level of the BCN Old Main Line (Birmingham Canal)

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

Smethwick Smethwick () is an industrial town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire. In 2019, the ward of Smethwick had an estimated population of 15,246, while the wider bu ...

, not far from the

Soho Foundry Soho Foundry is a factory created in 1775 by Matthew Boulton and James Watt and their sons Matthew Robinson Boulton and James Watt Jr. at Smethwick, West Midlands, England (), for the manufacture of steam engines. Now owned by Avery Weigh-Tro ...

where it was made. The other engine, also built by

, was at the other end of the summit level at Spon Lane. In 1804 a second Boulton and Watt engine was added alongside the 1779 engine. The engines were needed because local water sources were insufficient to supply water to operate the six

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

s either side of the canal's original summit. The locks could have been avoided if a tunnel had been built, but the ground was too unstable for

James Brindley James Brindley (1716 – 27 September 1772) was an English engineer. He was born in Tunstead, Derbyshire, and lived much of his life in Leek, Staffordshire, becoming one of the most notable engineers of the 18th century. Early life Born i ...

to build a tunnel using the techniques available at the time. In the 1780s, a

cutting Cutting is the separation or opening of a physical object, into two or more portions, through the application of an acutely directed force. Implements commonly used for wikt:cut, cutting are the knife and saw, or in medicine and science the scal ...

was constructed by

John Smeaton John Smeaton (8 June 1724 – 28 October 1792) was a British civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist. Smeaton was the fir ...

, enabling three of the six locks on each side to be removed. Engine Arm Aqueduct west

In the 1820s,

Thomas Telford Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotla ...

constructed a new canal parallel to the old in a deeper cutting, at the

Birmingham Level The Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN), a network of narrow canals in the industrial midlands of England, is built on various water levels. The three longest are the Wolverhampton, Birmingham, and Walsall levels. Canal lock, Locks allow boats t ...

, creating the largest man-made earthworks in the world at the time. It was spanned by the

Galton Bridge The Galton Bridge is a cast-iron bridge in Smethwick, near Birmingham, in central England. Opened in 1829 as a road bridge, the structure has been pedestrianised since the 1970s. It was built by Thomas Telford to carry a road across the new mai ...

. The engine was still needed, despite both these developments, and Thomas Telford constructed the

Engine Arm Aqueduct The Engine Arm Aqueduct near Smethwick, West Midlands, England, was built in 1825 by Thomas Telford to carry a water feeder, the Engine Arm, from Edgbaston Reservoir over the BCN New Main Line canal to the adjacent and parallel Old Main Line. It ...

carrying the

Engine Arm The Engine Arm or Birmingham Feeder Arm near Smethwick, West Midlands, England, is a short canal which was originally part of a feeder tunnel for a pumping engine. When the Smethwick flight of locks were reduced from six to three, the pumping e ...

branch canal over his New Main Line so that coal could still be transported along the arm to feed the Smethwick Engine. New Smethwick Pumping Station 2

In 1892, a replacement engine was built in a new pumping house, now

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, next to Brasshouse Lane, as the original Smethwick Engine was considered uneconomic to repair; the latter was removed for preservation in 1897–98 to the BCN, later

British Waterways British Waterways, often shortened to BW, was a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom. It served as the navigation authority for the majority of canals and a number of rivers and docks in England, Scotland ...

Ocker Hill Ocker Hill is a residential area of Tipton in the West Midlands of England. Details It is situated in the northern part of the town, on the main A461 road between Dudley and Wednesbury. The area was first developed during the first half of t ...

depot where it remained until acquired by

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local council area in the United Kingdom (e ...

. It is now part of the collection of Birmingham Museums and is on display at

at Millennium Point. It is the oldest working engine in the world. Blue plaque Smethwick Engine

The engine house was demolished in 1897. Its original site and foundations can still be seen on Bridge Street North in Smethwick, just north of the junction with Rolfe Street. Tours of the site can be arranged through the

Galton Valley Canal Heritage Centre Galton Valley Canal Museum is a small museum, located in Smethwick, England, on the border with Birmingham and alongside the BCN Main Line canals. The Museum tells the story of the development of the Galton Valley canals and those who designed, ...

which is based in the New Smethwick Pumping Station and regularly opened by Sandwell Museum Service and The Friends of Galton Valley. The pumping station was featured in an episode of ''The Water Boatman'' presented by

Alan Herd Alan Herd is a British artisan, a specialist woodworker and TV presenter of hobby and restoration projects often screened on Discovery Real Time TV channels. A native of Hickling, a village in south Nottinghamshire near to Melton Mowbray and ...

on the

Discovery Shed Discovery Shed (Also simply known as Shed) was a TV channel in the United Kingdom from Discovery, Inc. which replaced Discovery Real Time Extra. The channel launched on 20 March 2009. The channel featured programming covering fishing, DIY, co ...

TV channel in November 2011.

Points of interest

References

*''Birmingham's Canals'', Ray Shill, 1999, 2002,

External links

Model of the Smethwick EngineThe Smethwick Engine at Thinktank, Birmingham science museum
{{Steam engine configurations Preserved beam engines Transport in Sandwell Birmingham Canal Navigations

Engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

Collection of Thinktank, Birmingham 1779 in England 1779 in science History of the steam engine Industrial Revolution James Watt

History

Points of interest

See also

References

External links