John Hannavy - The Governor: Controlling the Power of Steam Machines

THE GOVERNOR

CONTROLLING THE POWER OF STEAM MACHINES

CONTROLLING THE POWER OF STEAM MACHINES

J OHN H ANNAVY

First published in Great Britain in 2021 by

Pen and Sword Transport

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd.

Yorkshire - Philadelphia

Copyright John Hannavy, 2021

ISBN 978 1 39909 088 9

eBUB ISBN 978 1 39909 089 6

The right of John Hannavy to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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Cover image: The centrifugal governor on the 2,500hp Trencherfeld Mill engine in Wigan. For optimum accuracy and consistency, the Lumb governor is fitted with a Wilby patent regulator, both manufactured by James Lumb at his Perseverance Works in Elland, Leeds.

Title page image: Trencherfield Mill engines governor in motion.

Contents page image: A fairground engine from 1899, by Savage of Kings Lynn, now in the Thursford Collection in Norfolk. The spinning spring-damped governor twinkled as it spun, controlling the engines speed and regulating the speed of the Gallopers.

The horizontal duplex winding engine at Cefn Coed Colliery in South Wales once the deepest anthracite mine in the country was built in 1927 in Wigan by the Worsley Mesnes Company which could trace its origins back to 1850 when it had been established as Worsley Mesnes Ironworks. The Cefn Coed engine, which is currently turned by electricity for the benefit of visitors, is fitted with an uncommon centre-weighted Hartnell-type governor with cylindrical rather than spherical weights.

The generating room in the County of London Electric Companys premises at the City Road basin on the Regents Canal. They operated a second power station on the Thames at Wandsworth. This photograph was taken for an article on the company in The Engineer in 1900.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

R esearching and writing a book like this which offers an introduction to the governors fascinating story is a labour of love which has occupied much of my time for several years. During its genesis, I have had the pleasure of exploring some amazing machines and have talked to some fascinating people who are even more fully immersed in the world of steam power than I am.

The book would have been impossible without the many people who have pointed me towards fascinating stories and given me access to their engines with my camera. This list includes: Chris Allen; Charles Baxter and Peter Hussey at Wilton Windmill; Stuart Burroughs at the Museum of Bath at Work; Ian Colley and colleagues at Thinktank, Birmingham; Diane Foxley and Aaron Beaney at Brede Pumping Station; Martin Gregory and the volunteer teams at Twyford Waterworks; Steve Grudgings; Mike Guthrie at Claymills Pumping Station, Burton-on-Trent; Fraser Hale at Woodbridge Tide Mill; Alan Kitson; Alex Masters and his team at the Robey Trust in Tavistock; Ian Payne and his colleagues at Coleham Pumping Station in Shrewsbury; John Philip, Alan Ratcliffe and Margaret Ingham at the Bolton Steam Museum; Bill Rowley, formerly at Trencherfield Mill in Wigan; Antony Williams at the Big Pit, Blaenafon; everyone who facilitated me at the Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester; Jules Evans at Blists Hill Victorian Town; the team at Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum, Bridgwater; The National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire; Hereford Waterworks Museum; the team at Windmill Hill Post Mill, Herstmonceux.