Jon Baddeley
Specialist Consultant Collectors, Science & Marine
Lot 72
AN IMPORTANT MODEL OF A FOUR PILLAR TABLE ENGINE,
22 September 2015, 13:00 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £15,000 inc. premium
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Claire Tole-Moir
Head of Department
AN IMPORTANT MODEL OF A FOUR PILLAR TABLE ENGINE,
ENGRAVED "RICHARD TREVITHICK 1802", The single cylinder is 1" bore x 1.5" stroke, has beaded annular ribs, top and bottom cylinder flange mouldings, and cylinder cover-mounted cross-head guidebars with a barrelled spacing pillar. The elegantly shaped cross-head drives barrelled connecting rods with faceted ends and gib and cotter big-end straps.
The gunmetal table is supported on four tapered turned columns as are the crankshaft bearings, and the twin-throw faceted crankshaft carries a relatively crude flywheel with cruciform section spokes. The valve is driven by a typical table-top-mounted weighshaft with adjustable stroke hand lever and lift-off eccentric with rectangular connecting rod. The engraved bed is mounted on a moulded mahogany plinth and naturally finished patinated brightwork. 13 ins (33cm) high x 5 3/4 ins (15cm) long
The gunmetal table is supported on four tapered turned columns as are the crankshaft bearings, and the twin-throw faceted crankshaft carries a relatively crude flywheel with cruciform section spokes. The valve is driven by a typical table-top-mounted weighshaft with adjustable stroke hand lever and lift-off eccentric with rectangular connecting rod. The engraved bed is mounted on a moulded mahogany plinth and naturally finished patinated brightwork. 13 ins (33cm) high x 5 3/4 ins (15cm) long
Footnotes
Richard Trevithick 1771-1831 was a brilliant Cornish engineer and innovator, mine captain and traveller. Amongst his many inventions was the first steam carriage, the high pressure steam engine which rivalled Watts' engines in size and power and the "Pen-y-daren" steam locomotive of 1804. The locomotive was fitted with a horizontal cylinder and the piston rod cross-head was connected to the crank-shaft by return connecting rods.
Beam engines necessarily were as long as the centre of the cylinder to the centre of half the diameter of the flywheel, with outward facing valve chests adding further length. This intrusion into often small places was improved by the advent of the grasshopper beam engine which incorporated the flywheel such that it did not protrude beyond the bed. Table engines were a very elegant solution where the cylinder was mounted on a table and the crankshaft directly below was either a twin-throw or single-throw type, with tail-heads.
The table engine is said to have been invented by Henry Maudslay in 1807, however, two Trevithick table engines are known, namely this one dated 1802 and another slightly larger and with a cast Gothic frame dated 1803.
