This is our mill engine in its house at Harle Syke Mill, Burnley. The valve gear controlling the steam flow to the cylinders can be seen clearly.
Image: Science Museum/SSPL
How the engine works
The mill engine is a cross-compound engine. It uses high-pressure steam (at 160 pounds per square inch), first in a high-pressure cylinder and then in a low-pressure cylinder, before expanding it into a vacuum in a condenser.
Both cylinders drive the flywheel, from which cotton or hemp ropes turned shafts on the mill's different floors. These shafts were connected to the individual machines such as looms.
What else is interesting about the engine?
