Jon Baddeley
Specialist Consultant Collectors, Science & Marine
Lot 76
A MODEL TABLE ENGINE, CIRCA 1820,
22 September 2015, 13:00 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £7,500 inc. premium
Looking for a similar item?
Our Scientific Instruments specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
Claire Tole-Moir
Head of Department
A MODEL TABLE ENGINE, CIRCA 1820,
A classically architectural table engine incorporating many parts associated with the styling of Maudslay Son and Field, circa 1820. It was designed with a grooved flywheel and could well have been used in exhibitions to drive exhibits.
The cylinder, 2.75" bore x 4.25" stroke, has twin annular webs, decorative end mouldings and finely turned cover. The gland is waisted and retained by eye-bolts and the valve chest is split in three ways with a semi-circular carved chest body and cast steam transfer pipe with exhaust outlet flange. The cross-head and barrelled connecting rod top-ends and guide wheels are pure Maudslay, as is the styling of the guides and main table.
Other distinctive Maudslay details include the valve rocking shaft bearings, tapered crankshaft webs with faceted outer edges and rounded ends. Again, the connecting rod big-ends are textbook Maudslay as are the delicate pierced plummer block ridges and bevelled table frame corners. 31 1/2 ins (80cm) high x 21 ins (53cm) long
The cylinder, 2.75" bore x 4.25" stroke, has twin annular webs, decorative end mouldings and finely turned cover. The gland is waisted and retained by eye-bolts and the valve chest is split in three ways with a semi-circular carved chest body and cast steam transfer pipe with exhaust outlet flange. The cross-head and barrelled connecting rod top-ends and guide wheels are pure Maudslay, as is the styling of the guides and main table.
Other distinctive Maudslay details include the valve rocking shaft bearings, tapered crankshaft webs with faceted outer edges and rounded ends. Again, the connecting rod big-ends are textbook Maudslay as are the delicate pierced plummer block ridges and bevelled table frame corners. 31 1/2 ins (80cm) high x 21 ins (53cm) long
Footnotes
Henry Maudslay (1771-1831) is generally recognised to have had the finest and most delicate design sense of any engineer of the early part of the early nineteenth century.
We know this because of the many beautiful models of the company's work at the Museum of Science and Industry in London. Maudslay had them built by the apprentices, for training, exhibiting and indeed, for recording the innovative development of the company's products. In general, 19th century models often followed this tradition and use.
