A large model of a quadruple expansion mill engine, built in 1896 by Fleming & Ferguson of Paisley. An unusual design, it's a self-starting engine without dead centres. The company had success with them at the end of the nineteenth century and built engines for both mill and marine use.
The non-dead centre design actually went back much earlier in the century, patented in 1838 by Elijah Galloway -
there are some pictures of a Galloway engine in the archive here. Rediscovered by Fleming & Ferguson, it was later licensed to Musgrave of Bolton who built around 50 mill engines of this type. One survives as part of the Northern Mill Engine Society collection housed at the
Bolton Steam Museum - we went last year, I can thoroughly recommend a visit.
There's a video of their Musgrave engine running here, very similar to this model (although a twin rather than tandem four cylinder engine).
This engine came in as part of a large collection of stationary engines and traction engines that arrived with us recently. It turns over, although appears not to have been run in many years - it requires repair to a broken joint on the condenser pipe, it's otherwise complete and in good condition.
length/inches |
21 |
width/inches |
15 |
height/inches |
25 |
weight/kg |
46 |