The engine 'Princess' at Jesse Shirley's Bone and Flint Mill (offially
now the Etruria Industrial Museum)is not a Newcomen engine, but an
early beam engine. Built in the 1820s it was installed secondhand in
1856 and worked hard until the 1970s, it is now steamed regularly for
demonstration purposes. It has had at least three boilers and a new
beam and condenser after a disaster during the First World War. Whilst
it was the latest technology of its day, the maintenance is very
basic. The reason it went out of commercial use was the owner's
decision to replace the whole grinding mill with something more
modern. Thus there is no reason why these early engines shouldn't
have had long working lives, although at 170 years the South Liberty
Colliery engine had certainly paid for itself.
Barry.
Barry Job.
Eur. Ing. Dr. Barry Job,
Department of Geology,
School of Sciences,
Staffordshire University,
College Road,
Stoke-on-Trent,
ST4 2DE.
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