This engraving is the oldest known illustration of a Newcomen engine. Henry Beighton made it in 1717 and it shows his engine at Oxclose Colliery, Tyne & Wear.
Image: Science Museum / SSPL
The Pentrich engine
Some parts of this engine have been changed. The iron working beam was substituted for a wooden one in 1841, when the engine was moved between locations. It is displayed here in portions of the later engine house.
The cylinder bottom appears to have been changed and the arrangements for the injection altered, perhaps also in 1841. But the working principle remains that originally devised by Thomas Newcomen in or before 1712.
Whose ideas did the Newcomen engine depend upon?
