Trevithick: Surviving Engines
A working model steam carriage is on display at the Science Museum (see photos). Reference to the photograph indicates how the operating cycle is controlled: a quarter-turn four-way cock is alternately turned through 90 degrees to allow admission admission and exhaust to and from the cylinder. The valve handle is moved by the slotted vertical rod connected to the engine crosshead. Dickenson and Titley dated this to 1798, and stated that its history can be traced back to 1810 when it was at the Soho Foundry in Ancoats, Manchester, of David Whitehead and Co. Their information presumably came from Francis Trevithick's Life of Richard Trevithick[1], which in turn references a 'Letter from Mr. Joseph Radford, in 1850 states that it had been in his family since 1810.' Joseph Radford was probably Joseph Radford, a Manchester ironfounder. The relevant text is: 'A model of Trevithick's, now in the Kensington Museum, spoken of by Mr. Radford as having come from the engine-works of Messrs. Whitehead and Co., Soho Iron Works, Manchester, is probably one of those spoken of by Mrs. Trevithick as having been made prior to 1800. It is a perfect specimen of a high-pressure steam-engine, with cylindrical boiler, adapted to locomotive purposes. It served as a guide to Messrs. Whitehead and Co., who manufactured engines for Trevithick in 1804.' The former Whitehead & Co's Soho Foundry's stock was advertised for sale in 1808, and the foundry itself in 1810.
A high-pressure threshing engine and wrought iron boiler, built for Christopher Hawkins at Trewithen in 1811 or 1812, and used until 1879, were presented to the Science Museum. See photo.
'The Engineer' in 1912 described and illustrated a Trevithick-type engine which had been presented to the forerunner of the Science Museum by the Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot. It had been used for 50 years, until 1882 at salt works at Ingestre, Staffs, on the Earl's estate. Prior to that it had been used as a winding engine at a colliery at Brereton. It is thought to have been made in Bridgnorth.[2]
Remains of a Trevithick-type Steam Engine and Boiler: The Science Museum collection includes a Trevithick type cast iron steam boiler with enclosed engine cylinder, which constituted a stationary or semi-portable engine/boiler unit. Stated to have been built by Oak Farm Ironworks, Dudley, c.1845. However, the design and construction appear more consistent with the first decade of that century. Object number 1881-57, credited to E. B. Marten. See here for brief description and photos. The photos show the return flue as removed from the boiler, and the boiler minus its flue. Protruding from the boiler is the engine cylinder, complete with piston road and crosshead.
Note: The remains of a similar cylinder, piston, rod and crosshead are on display at the Museum of Iron, one of the Ironbridge Gorge Museums.