The remains of a beam engine at Wanlockhead

A beam engine is a design of stationary steam engine. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2048x1536, 690 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Beam engine Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2048x1536, 690 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Beam engine Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Wanlockhead is a village in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland nestling in the Lowther Hills, which form part of the Southern Uplands. ... Stationary steam engines are fixed steam engines used for pumping or driving mills and factories, and for power generation. ...

In a beam engine, the piston is mounted vertically, and the piston rod does not connect directly to the connecting rod, but instead to a rocker or beam above both the piston and flywheel. The beam is pivotted in the middle, with the cylinder on one side and the flywheel, which incorporates the crank, on the other. The connecting rod connects to the opposite end of the beam to the piston rod, and then to the flywheel. In a piston engine, a piston rod joins a piston to a connecting rod. ... piston + connecting rod In a reciprocating piston engine, the connecting rod or con rod connects the piston to the crank or crankshaft. ... Spoked flywheel Simple flywheel in motion. ...

Beam engines were extensively used to power pumps on the English canal system when it was expanded by means of locks early in the industrial revolution, and also to drain water from mines in the same period, and as winding engines. An electrically-driven waterworks pump near the Hengsteysee, Germany. ... The Canal du Midi in Toulouse, France. ... Canal locks in England. ... A Watt steam engine in Madrid. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... A winding engine is a stationary engine used to control a cable, for example at a pit head. ...

The beam engine was developed from the Newcomen steam engine, which it replaced. James Watt is traditionally credited with much of its development, although these claims have more recently been questioned. Diagram of the Newcomen steam engine Thomas Newcomens atmospheric engine, today referred to as a Newcomen steam engine, was the first practical device to harness the power of steam to produce mechanical work. ... James Watt James Watt (19 January 1736 – 19 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor and engineer whose improvements to the steam engine were fundamental to the changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution. ...

The Beam engine was considerable improved and enlarged in the Tin and Copper rich areas of South West England ,this enabled the draining of the deep mines that existed there. Consequently the Cornish beam engine became world famous, they remain the most massive beam engines ever constructed.

See also

• Markfield Beam Engine

• Stationary engine

• Steam engine

This This 100 horse-power Beam Pumping Engine was built in 1886 to transfer 4 million gallons per day of sewage into the London system for treatment at the Beckton outfall works. ... A stationary engine is an engine that does not move. ... A steam engine is an external combustion heat engine that makes use of the thermal energy that exists in steam, converting it to mechanical work. ...

External links

• Animation of a Watt beam engine.

• BBC article on a Cornish beam engine.

• The oldest surviving mine engine in Cornwall.

• Kew Bridge Steam Museum http://www.kbsm.org One of the largest collection of rotative and Cornish beam engines in the UK, based in West London. In steam every weekend.