This is an oscillating single cylinder engine built in 1870 by Harvey & Co of Hayle and used in the Campden Hill workshops of the Metropolitan Water Board. When it became disused on the centralisation of repair work, it was moved to display at Hammersmith in the engine house occupied by engines 7, 8 and 9 – three Woolf compound beam pumping engines. It was presented to The Science Museum in the 1930s by Restler’s son and was for a period on display until being moved into store. The engine has a slide valve cylinder 6” x 10”. There is a single eccentric driving a slotted link in which runs a block communicating motion to the valve via a curved bridle around the cylinder. There is a forged double web crank.
The engine is on loan from the Science Museum and fits neatly into the Museum’s story of steam in the service of London’s water supply.