Stationary steam engines are fixed steam engines used for pumping or driving mills and factories, and for power generation. They are distinct from locomotive engines used on railways, traction engines for heavy steam haulage on roads, steam motor vehicles , agricultural engines used for ploughing or threshing, and marine engines .
There are different patterns of stationary steam engines
- Beam engine
- Table engine
- Horizontal engine
- Vertical engine
- Inclined engine
- High speed engine
They were introduced during the eighteenth century and widely made for the whole of the nineteenth century and most of the first half of the twentieth century, only declining as electricity supply and the internal combustion engine became more widespread.
References
Buchanan, R. A., and Watkins, George, The Industrial Archaeology of the Stationary Steam Engine, London, 1976, ISBN 0713906049
Watkins, George, Stationary Steam Engines of Great Britain Landmark Publishing, Various ISBN
- Vol 1, Yorkshire (2000)
- Vol 2, Scotland and Northern England (2000)
- Vols 3:1, 3:2, Lancashire (2001)
- Vol 4, Wales, Cheshire,& Shropshire (2002)
- Vol 5, The North Midlands (2002)
- Vol 6, The South Midlands (2003)
- Vol 7, The South and South West (2003)
- Vol 8, Greater London and the South East (2003)
- Vol 9, East Anglia & adjacent counties (2004)
- Vol 10, Marine Engines (and readers' notes, indexes to the series etc) (Scheduled for 2005)
This series reproduces some 1500 images the Steam Engine Record made by George Watkins, between 1930 and 1980, now in the Watkins Collection at English Heritage's National Monuments Record at Swindon, Wilts.
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