Woolstenhulme and Rye of Lower Moor Ironworks, Oldham
Makers of steam engines for textile mills
formerly Seville and Woolstenhulme.
1840 William Rye, an engineer from Manchester, entered the business and married the senior partner's daughter in 1842.
The business expanded and by 1846 they were employing 250 workers and were manufacturing self-acting mules and power looms.
1851 Employing 277 people.[1]
In 1854 they exhibited a 12 hp steam engine.
1855 Seville retired and Rye took the partnership. The firm became Woolstenhulme and Rye. About this time they closed the machine-making side of the business and concentrated on producing steam engines for the mills.
1861 Employing 224 men.[2]
1873 The company was incorporated.
1879 Woolstenhulme's, Rye and Co. made iron castings for Old Church Street Bridge over the Rochdale Canal at Newton Heath.
1883 Woolstenhulmes, Rye and Co. advertised as engineers, millwrights, iron & brass founders, makers of roller and mule spindles, steam engines of every type, up to 1500 HP, gear wheels and belt driving drums.[3]
1888 Engine for Queen's Mill, Burnley (John Spencer and Sons). Cylinders 17 and 34 in. diameter, 4 ft stroke, 62 rpm.[4]
Woolstenhulme and Rye engines are said to be conservative in design, and although Gurr & Hunt claim that there was no evidence that the company had ever used Corliss valves, in his Black Book engine list, Arthur Roberts documents their use in Parkfield Mill. This engine was a 1,200-hp cross-compound engine. It had a 20-inch-diameter (510 mm) HP (high pressure) cylinder, 40-inch-diameter (1,000 mm) LP (low pressure) cylinder, with a 6-foot (1.8 m) stroke. It was steamed at 140 psi. The 18-foot (5.5 m) flywheel ran at 52 rpm. Transmission was by a geared drive. There were Corliss valves on the HP cylinder and slide valves on the LP, in fact a classic Lancashire configuration. The air pump was driven by a bell crank from the LP tail rod.
Woolstenhulme and Rye produced mill engines in the 1860s, but their principal period of production was in the 1870s, when they produced 17 engines giving a total of 10,970 ihp, and in the 1880s, when they made 22 engines giving 11,000 ihp, before they fell into financial difficulties and were liquidated in 1888.
From a correspondent.[5]
"... although Gurr & Hunt claim that there was no evidence that the company had ever used Corliss valves, in his Black Book engine list, Arthur Roberts documents their use in Parkfield Mill."
My reason for questioning this is that Arthur Roberts does not say that the high pressure cylinder is the original and I consider it virtually certain that this cylinder was a later replacement.
My understanding is that this engine was installed in 1874, when the use of slide valves was almost universal. If it had been fitted with Corliss valves, it would be the earliest such installation in Oldham and I think it would have been very well known as such in consequence. Indeed, since Hick, Hargreaves only started licensing Corliss valves in 1864, it is possible - though I say no more than that - that they still had exclusive rights at that time. In fact, the Oldham cotton industry was for its conservativism until much later and continued to install engines with both gear drives and slide valves years after such things had been superseded elsewhere.
Arthur Robert's list is a great resource and we are all appreciate its survival, but it cannot be regarded as documentary evidence of this kind of detail. As a specific parallel example, the HP cylinder at Royton Ring mill was replaced by George Saxon Ltd before the date when AR documented it, and yet this point goes unmentioned.
That said, the Gurr and Hunt statement about conservative design could still be said to be a little harsh since W, R & Co ceased trading in 1888 at which date technical conservatism characterised Oldham's burgeoning cotton trade and so slide valves would be seen as the norm rather than the exception.