Grazebrook beam engine

The Grazebrook beam engine.

[ ⚑ ] 52°29′33″N 1°53′17″W / 52.49258°N 1.88818°W / 52.49258; -1.88818 The Grazebrook Engine is an 1817 beam engine that was used for blowing air over the hot coals of a blast furnace to increase the heat. It is now found as sentinel sculpture on the Dartmouth Circus roundabout at the entrance of the A38(M) in Birmingham, England . It is believed to be the largest steam engine used in Birmingham.^{[citation needed]}

It was built in 1817 to the designs of Watt, who had a foundry in Soho, Birmingham, by Grazebrook & Whitehouse for their Dudley foundry in Dudley, Worcestershire. It provided air for two blast furnaces.^[1] In 1912, it was retired, remaining on site as a standby engine. It was dismantled in 1964, and is now displayed on the Dartmouth Circus roundabout at the entrance of the A38(M) (Aston Expressway) and the A4540 (Dartmouth Middleway).^{[citation needed]}

Technical details

This is a typical example of an early nineteenth century engine, it comprises a vertical double acting steam cylinder coupled via an 8 metres (26 ft) rocking beam to a double acting air cylinder.^[2]

The beam is made of cast iron; it is 28 feet (8.5 m) long and weighs 10 long tons (10 t). The steam cylinder is 42 inches (1,100 mm) in diameter and has a stroke of 8 feet (2.4 m). It was designed to run at between 12 and 16 strokes per minute. Steam was provided by a bank of six Lancashire boilers. A pressure regulator vessel was fitted to smooth out the air flow. It provided air at 5 pounds per square inch (34 kPa) to two blast furnaces.^[1]

The engine house was specially built using lime mortar so that the structure could 'flex' with the movement of the engine.^[1]

M. & W. Grazebrook

Grazebrook had a works in Peartree Lane, Netherton, possibly during 1952/53. ^[3] M. & W. Grazebrook's history can be traced to 1641, when Michael Grazebrook went into business in Stourbridge. The company had a glassworks in Stourbridge, a forge at Halesowen in the 1700s and their own colliery in Coseley. It then focused on iron production and fabrications moving to Netherton in 1800.^[4] It was served by the Grazebrook arm of the Dudley Canal.

References

Notes

Bibliography

• "Grazebrook Beam Engine engine house". GB145_p/985: Dudley Archives. http://blackcountryhistory.org/collections/getrecord/GB145_p_985/. Retrieved 3 June 2015. 
• "Records of M. & W. Grazebrook, Ltd., Netherton (heavy engineers and boiler makers)". The National Archives, Kew. http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/rd/1fd695a0-386a-44b6-86fe-428a6d427852. Retrieved 5 June 2015. 

External links

• Perspective Sketch – Dudley Archives
• Photograph of the engine at Netherton, June 1964

0.00 (0 votes) Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grazebrook beam engine. Read more