Galloway boiler

W & J Galloway and Sons was a British manufacturer of steam engines and boilers based in Manchester, England. The firm was established in 1835 as a partnership of two brothers, William and John Galloway. The partnership expanded to encompass their sons and in 1889 it was restructured as a limited liability company. It ceased trading in 1932.

The Galloway brothers had been apprenticed to another partnership involving their father, a maker of waterwheels and gearing for mills, before setting up in business on their own account. Their firm grew to be a specialist producer of steam engines and industrial boilers with a worldwide customer base and a reputation for ingenuity. Their products were used in such diverse areas as electricity generation and refrigeration. The business grew with the increasing application of steam power in industry, and it died with industry's move to the application of electric power.

History

Galloway, Bowman and Glasgow

William Galloway was born on 5 March 1768 at Coldstream in the Scottish Borders, became a millwright and moved to Manchester in 1790.ODNB He was one of many Scots who moved to England seeking to gain from the rapid expansion of industry there; others included William Murdoch and James Watt, who settled in Birmingham, and fellow settlers in the Manchester area, John Kennedy, James McConnel and the cotton-spinning brothers, Adam and George Murray. Chaloner p. 99.

He set up business at his home address, 37 Lombard Street. Chaloner p. 100. In 1806 he formed a business partnership with a friend and fellow ex-resident of Coldstream, James Bowman: Galloway wrote to him offering a joint business venture in return for a £200 injection of capital. Bowman moved from London, where he had gone to seek his fortune, and took up residence at Trumpet Street, Manchester. It would appear that the partnership with Bowman coincided with a move to premises at the Caledonia Foundry at 44, Great Bridgewater Street, on the corner of Albion Street in the Gaythorn district. At this time the business traded as millwrights but by 1813 "engineers" had been added to the description, and by 1817 there was the addition of "ironfounders". The term "engineer" in relation to mechanical work was a relatively new one.

Around 1820, William Glasgow, a foundryman from the Tweed who had been working in Bolton for Rothwell and Hick, joined Galloway and Bowman as a junior partner. His role was to supervise the new ironfounding section of the business. The works were extended by the purchase of additional land. The partnership manufactured water wheels, their associated gearing, and other machinery associated with all forms of milling. As early as 1820 the men had completed some projects for customers in France (at Lille) and the United States (Charleston, South Carolina).

His son, John, wrote later that

At some time before 1828 Galloway and Bowman formed a partnership as machine makers. This was separate and in addition to their partnership with Glasgow, which continued to trade as millwrights, founders and engineers. It has been speculated that Bowman married a sister of Galloway. Chaloner p. 118.

The firm of Galloway, Bowman and Glasgow became the repair facility for the fledgling Liverpool and Manchester Railway which had no workshops of its own. Rendell p. 3. In 1830–31 the partnership constructed its first steam locomotive, the ''Manchester'' and by the following year had produced the '' Caledonian''. They had wooden wheels on to which were shrunk welded metal tyres. The wheels were built by John Ashbury, who was later to become a notable engineer in his own right and the owner of the eponymous railway wagon works at Openshaw. Chaloner p. 107.

Neither locomotive was initially a success, although the design problems were resolved. In the case of ''Caledonian'' the vertical cylinders were placed between the frames in front of the smokebox and drove vertically mounted connecting rods attached to the leading wheels, which were also in front of the smokebox. It had a tendency to derail and had to be rebuilt with inside cylinders and a cranked axle. Vertical cylinders were the norm at this time (other builders used them too), the theory being that a horizontal or inclined arrangement would lead to premature wear due to the weight of the piston. Rendell p. 12. Four or five locomotives were built at a price fixed by the railway company of between £900 and £1000 each. John Galloway junior commented late in life that:

The success to come with stationary steam engines was in no small part based on the experiences with the short-lived railway locomotive production: the locomotives had boilers rated for , compared to the normal stationary engine boiler rating at that time of . Rendell p. 4. To put this into context, however, John Galloway senior is reported to have said that the challenges of building a locomotive were nothing compared to those of getting it out of the works and onto the railway afterwards. Rendell p. 48. He elaborated that

By this time the partnership were producing a wide range of engineered items, including: wagons and associated parts for collieries and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway; machinery for silk mills and for salt works; steam engines for cotton mills; pipes for Benjamin Joule's Salford Brewery in New Bailey Street, Salford; and also a lead rolling mill. Chaloner p. 108.

William Galloway junior was born in 1796 and on 14 February 1804 his brother, John, was born at his father's Lombard Street address. Chaloner p. 101. The brothers were both apprenticed for seven years to their father from the age of 14, William as an ironfounder and John as a millwright and engineer. Bowman's son, William, was similarly apprenticed as a millwright from 1821. Chaloner p. 103. In the last year of his apprenticeship, 1824, John Galloway went to Dunkirk

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