A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



attached to the rope by means of clutches or 

 clips, of which there are many varieties. 



The third era in West Cumberland coal- 

 mining may be said to commence at the time 

 when it became necessary to win the coal to 

 the dip of the adit-levels. This involved the 

 use of pumping machinery, and therefore un- 

 til the invention of the steam engine nothing 

 very great in this direction could be under- 

 taken. 



The first steam pumping engine, or 'fire 

 engine,' in Cumberland was erected for Mr., 

 afterwards Sir James, Lowther, at Stone Pit, 

 Ginns, Whitehaven. A 'Licence from the 

 Committee of Proprietors in the Fire-Engine 

 to Mr. James Lowther,' dated 22 February, 

 1726, recites that Thomas Newcomen, iron- 

 monger, of Dartmouth, Devon, and others, 

 by articles of agreement dated 10 November, 

 1715, covenanted with Mr. Lowther to set 

 up a ' fire-engine,' with a steam barrel of at 

 least 1 6 inches diameter within and 8 feet in 

 length, at his Stone Pit situate between 

 Whitehaven and a place adjoining called 

 Howgill, and that such engine had accordingly 

 been erected and ' since continued to be 

 wrought there.' 



This engine was hired from the proprietors 

 by Mr. Lowther for 182 per annum, under 

 the agreement dated 10 November, 1715. 

 On the surrender of that agreement, and in 

 consideration of the payment of 350, the in- 

 denture, dated 22 February, 1726, was made 

 between several London gentlemen, who were 

 then the committee appointed ' by the Pro- 

 prietors of the Invention for raising water by 

 fire,' and Mr. Lowther, by which he, his 

 heirs and assigns were licensed to use the 

 engine and to erect in its stead another of 

 the same kind, the cylinder of which should 

 not exceed 22 inches in diameter and 9 feet 

 in length, at his or their collieries in the 

 manor of St. Bees, at a peppercorn rent. A 

 schedule and valuation of this historic engine 

 was made by Mr. Lowther's agents, the 

 Spedding brothers (John and Carlisle) ; and in 

 1726 Mr. Lowther bought the engine at the 

 Ginns Pit for 100, above and beyond the 

 amount agreed to be paid for the licence to 

 use the patent. 



Although there are no drawings of the 

 Ginns 'fire-engine,' some idea of it may be 

 gained from the particulars given in Speddings' 

 schedule and from existing drawings of other 

 of Newcomen's early fire-engines. 



The foundation of the engine was a copper 

 boiler, built in the form of a haystack, probably 

 10 or 12 feet in diameter. On the top of 

 the boiler was fixed the cylinder, 17 inches 

 diameter and 8 feet long, closed at the bottom 



and open at the top. The piston, inside the 

 cylinder, was 6 inches thick and made steam- 

 tight with hemp packing. The piston-rod 

 was attached by a chain to one end of a 

 beam of wood, 20 feet long, at the other end 

 of which, attached in a like manner, was the 

 rod which worked the pumps in the pit. 

 The pumps, then called ' pump trees,' because 

 in fact they were trees bored out to form 

 pipes, were 7 inches diameter ; and the whole 

 set was 1 8 fathoms long. 



The pressure of steam used was only i or 

 2 Ib. per square inch more than that of the 

 atmosphere. The action of the engine has 

 been described by the late Mr. Isaac Fletcher, 

 M.P., 1 as follows : 



The engineman opened a valve communicating 

 with the boiler and admitted steam into the cylin- 

 der, and another valve or tap from the cylinder to 

 the atmosphere being opened for a few moments, 

 all the air was expelled from it and its place sup- 

 plied with steam. A valve was then opened ad- 

 mitting a jet of cold water into the cylinder, 

 which condensed the steam and created an in- 

 stantaneous vacuum. The pressure of the atmo- 

 sphere on the top of the piston (14 Ib. on the 

 square inch) then caused the piston to descend, 

 and at the same time lifted the column of water 

 by the other end of the beam. This completed 

 the first stroke of the engine, and a repetition of 

 the process by the engineman kept the engine 

 going at the rate of five or six strokes per minute. 



Mr. Fletcher further adds : 



The engine was afterwards made self-acting, and 

 many improvements were made by the celebrated 

 Smeaton and others in its details, but in its main 

 features it remained as left by its inventor, and was 

 the only pumping-engine used for draining mines 

 for a period of fifty or sixty years ; and indeed 

 with the addition of a separate condenser and air- 

 pump invented by Watt, there are to this day many 

 examples of the ' atmospheric engine ' at work, 

 notably the very fine one at William Pit, White- 

 haven Colliery. 2 



A second ' fire-engine ' was afterwards 

 erected at the Ginns, and was in continual 

 use till about 1780. It had a copper boiler 

 about 10 feet in diameter with a lead top, a 

 brass cylinder 28 inches diameter, and wooden 

 pumps 8 inches diameter, with a brass work- 

 ing-barrel. 



The success of the Ginns ' fire-engine ' led 

 to a still larger one, on the Newcomen atmo- 

 spheric principle, being erected at Saltom Pit, 

 in 1731, which had then been sunk close to the 

 shore to the Main Band a depth of 7 6 fathoms. 

 The boiler was 12 ft., the cylinder 40 in., and 

 the pumps (in four lifts) were 7 in. diameter. 



1 Archttohgy of the West Cumb. Coal Trade. 



2 Ceased working 1899. 



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