The Pinchbeck Engine

Spalding

 

A party of visitors is just entering the engine house. The coal store is on the extreme left, the scoop wheel on the right. The boiler is barely visible through the left hand small door.

Click on pictures to enlarge

 

The Beam Engine

The Pinchbeck Engine is a small A-Frame Beam Engine and Scoopwheel typical of the many engines that enabled the drainage of the Fens. It is now preserved as the centrepiece of a small museum of land drainage, a joint venture between Welland and Deepings Internal Drainage Board and South Holland District Council . It is open daily from 10.00am to 4.00pm from April to October. The engine can be turned electrically for demonstration. The chimney was demolished when the engine went out of service.

A view into the engine house from the entrance.  The cylinder showing the totally unlagged steam pipe from the boiler. Note the adjustable support. Steps to the beam loft. The electric motor powering a friction drive to the flywheel rim can be seen behind the treads  The top of the cylinder showing the Worthington-Simpson piston valve that replaced the original slide valve . The engine piston is near the bottom of its stroke

Another view of the cylinder to. The oiling platform makes no concessions to Health and Safety.  A side view of the cylinder top.  The window in the engine house wall that allowed the driver to observe the scoop wheel and lubricate the inner bearing.

The beam loft. Note the two tiebars attaching the engine to the wall of the house to provide lateral stability.  The cylinder end of the beam with the Watt parallel motion.   The beam pivot bearing at the apex of the A-Frame.

Watt's parallel motion from the beam loft.  Detail of the Watt parallel motion.  The parallel motion from below.

The Galloway Lancashire boiler replaced the original in 1893. It was condemned in 1952 and the station closed.  The scoop wheel. The gear drive from the engine crankshaft can be seen on the left. Gearing was 4.46:1 giving a wheel speed of 6.75 rpm for an engine speed of 30 rpm.  The scoop wheel from outside. The paddles can just be seen at the top right. The driven gear is visible below.

The brass plate commemorating the opening of the museum. Nice shot of the photographer.

 

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