Grace's Guide To British Industrial History

Registered UK Charity (No. 1154342)

Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 167,669 pages of information and 247,074 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.

Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 147,919 pages of information and 233,587 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.

James Smallman

From Graces Guide

James Smallman (1763?-1821) was born in Staffordshire, emigrated to the USA, and died there in 1821.[1]

1793-4 James Smallman was sent to the Netherlands by Boulton and Watt to erect a pumping engine to reclaim the Mijdrecht Lake (Mijdrechtse Poel). It seems that he was then lured to the USA with other B&W or ex-B&W men.[2]

After helping to erect the first Boulton and Watt engine in America, he and several other B&W-trained engineers were hired by Nicholas J. Roosevelt (1767-1854) when he established a foundry, machine shop, and smelting works at Belleville, which he named Soho Works, after those of Boulton & Watt in Birmingham, England. The others were Charles Stoudinger, John Hewitt (1777-1857), and the Rhodes family - Frederick, George, and Lewis Rhodes).[3].

In 1802 Smallman was listed as a steam engine maker in Philadelphia. In 1806 he built a 6 HP engine for a flour mill in Cadiz, Spain, apprently the first steam engine to be exported from the USA.[4]

c.1810 Smallman entered into partnership with engine builder Daniel Large, which ended in 1811[5]

See Also

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Sources of Information

  1. [1] 'A GENERAL CHRONOLOGY OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY ITS PREDECESSORS AND SUCCESSORS AND ITS HISTORICAL CONTEXT' by Christopher T. Baer 1790-1799, May 2015 Edition, Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. Note: large pdf
  2. [2] 'THE CORRESPONDENCE OF JAN DANIËL HUICHELBOS VAN LIENDER WITH JAMES WATT' PROEFSCHRIFT, February 2005; Jan Adrianus Verbruggen
  3. [3] New Jersey Historical Society: Archives Documents, Manuscripts, Maps, & Photographs: Manuscript Group 1508, Stoudinger-Alofsen-Fulton Drawings. Note: Large pdf
  4. [4] 'Modern Capitalist Culture' by Leslie A White
  5. [5] 'A GENERAL CHRONOLOGY OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY ITS PREDECESSORS AND SUCCESSORS AND ITS HISTORICAL CONTEXT' by Christopher T. Baer 1800-1809, May 2015 Edition, Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. Note: large pdf