IEEC2.2 20 The Wills Founder Water-Pressure Engine from Winster, Derbyshire

The Wills Founder Water-Pressure Engine

from Winster, Derbyshire

Lynn Willies

An off-print from

Transactions of the 2nd International Early Engines Conference - Volume 2 pp201-222

Summary

The recovery of the Wills Founder engine and its pumps, and subsequent re-erection in the Peak District Mining Museum provided a unique opportunity to handle and study a complete example of this mid-19th century mine pumping technology. A substantial amount of photography was undertaken, some in near impossible conditions. Details of the mine and a description of the recovery, and drawings of the equipment are available elsewhere (Willies 1977; Worley 1977; Heald 1978; Riley & Willies 1979; Dixon 1990; Peel 1991). The background of the area and the occurrence of other hydraulic engines (of which this was originally one) at nearby Alport is briefly noted and the components of the system and their purpose are described in some detail. Information about its operation was compromised by several vital parts being missing. It is possible that it was never used, although suggestions have been made as to what the engineer’s intentions were. If not used, this was presumably as the mine was abandoned possibly due to technical difficulty in making the engine work and as costs rose, in the 1850s, at a time of falling lead prices. Or it was fraudulently erected without disclosing the missing internal valves to impress shareholders to continuing investing? Passage of time since its recovery allows for a re-appraisal of the engine whilst modern use of computers for photographic processing makes this presentation more practical than was possible in the 1970s.