07-10-2017, 11:50 AM
A beam engine is a type of steam engine in which a rotating head beam is used to apply the force of a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine driving a pump directly, was first used by Thomas Newcomen around 1705 to remove water from the mines in Cornwall. The efficiency of the engines was improved by engineers including James Watt who added a separate condenser, Jonathan Hornblower and Arthur Woolf who made the cylinders, and William McNaught (Glasgow) who devised a method of composing an existing engine. Beam engines were first used to pump water from the mines or into the canals, but could be used to pump water to supplement the flow of a hydraulic wheel fed to a mill.
In a rotary beam motor, the piston is vertically mounted, and the piston rod drives the beam as before. A connecting rod from the other end of the beam, instead of driving a pump bar, now drives a flywheel.
Early watt motors used the Watt patent sun and planet gear, rather than a simple crank, as the latter's use was protected by a patent owned by James Pickard. Once the patent had expired, the simple crank was universally employed. Once the rotation movement had been achieved, a transmission belt could be attached to the steering wheel. This transmitted the power to other drive shafts and these other belts could then be connected to feed a variety of static machinery, threshing, grinding or milling.
In a rotary beam motor, the piston is vertically mounted, and the piston rod drives the beam as before. A connecting rod from the other end of the beam, instead of driving a pump bar, now drives a flywheel.
Early watt motors used the Watt patent sun and planet gear, rather than a simple crank, as the latter's use was protected by a patent owned by James Pickard. Once the patent had expired, the simple crank was universally employed. Once the rotation movement had been achieved, a transmission belt could be attached to the steering wheel. This transmitted the power to other drive shafts and these other belts could then be connected to feed a variety of static machinery, threshing, grinding or milling.