TQ2574 : Ram Brewery – 1835 beam engine

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The Ram Brewery, now closed (in 2006), was home to a pair of magnificent Wentworth Woolf compound beam engines dating from 1835 and 1867. This is the older (1835) engine.

Although they had not been used commercially for some years they were maintained in operable condition and I saw them run several times. They are listed and retained but I do not know whether they are accessible.

This older engine is an A frame, jet condensing, Woolf Compound beam engine. It was built in 1835 for 12 horsepower and altered to 16 horsepower in 1863. The cylinders are 12″ x c28.25″ and 18″ x 40″. It ran at 32 rpm on steam at 60 psi. The flywheel is 12′ diameter. Surprisingly, this earlier engine has been retrofitted with a more advanced Porter governor built by Ormerod & Grierson of Manchester. The younger engine retains a basic Watt conical pendulum governor. This view shows the two cylinders with short ‘D’ slide valves. The handle towards the bottom of the frame controls the injection water for the jet condenser. The two smaller black handles are the cylinder drain cocks.