George Saxon & Co
53°28′26″N 2°10′45″W / 53.4740°N 2.1793°W
Corliss valvess, Manhattan engine |
George Saxon & Co was an English engineering company that manufactured stationary steam engines. It was based in the Openshaw district of Manchester. The company produced large steam-driven engines for power stations and later for textile mills in Lancashire and elsewhere.[1]
Biography
George Saxon was born in
History
Up to 1860 Saxon appears to have mainly concentrated on engine repair work and producing mill gearing and shafting. Spring Works was extended in 1860 by the addition of an erecting shop when engine making seems to have started in a small way and was further expanded in 1870. An example of an early Saxon engine was one built in the 1860s for a Manchester confectionery firm which was a horizontal single-cylinder non-condensing engine, 60 ihp, with a
George Saxon engines were characterised by having a long stroke and high operating speed. They used
Saxons built their first inverted vertical engine in 1896, a space-efficient design that became quite popular with mill builders. They built some particularly large engines. In 1908 they built a 2,750 ihp engine for No 2 Mill, Times Mill, Middleton – their largest to be built in the Oldham area.[7] In Pear New Mill, Stockport, and Hall Lane Spinning Mill, Leigh, George Saxon used the Manhattan design. This design was so named because Allis-Chalmers, in designing a 60,000 h.p. engine to generate electricity for the Manhattan transport system, had been faced with a small site and had laid out the 88-inch-diameter low-pressure cylinders horizontally, and the 44-inch high-pressure cylinders vertically. This had enabled eight strokes per revolution instead of the former four, leading to a smoother motion.[8]
Saxons were very busy during the first decade of the 20th century, especially during 1901–02 and 1905–08. They built 85 engines aggregating 90,240 ihp between 1901 and 1910.[9] However, with the advent of the First World War in 1914, their engine output declined rapidly. They also exported a small number of horizontal cross-compound engines to India during the 1890s and early 1900s.
The last mill engine produced by George Saxon is reputed to be one made for J J Hadfield, a bleachworks in Chinley. This final specimen was built in 1928 and was a 450 hp cross-compound engine. The technical specifications included 16+1⁄2-inch-diameter HP (high-pressure) cylinder, a 31-inch LP and a 3 ft 6 in stroke. It was steamed at 120 psi, and drove a 16 ft flywheel with 12 ropes, at 100 rpm. It had Corliss valves on both cylinders. The horizontal condenser was behind the LP cylinder.[10]
No engines have survived.[2]
Mills driven by their engines
- Junction Mill. Middleton - 1875, 1,000 ihp
- Boundary Mill, Oldham - 1875, 750 ihp
- Star Mill, Oldham - 1875, 750 ihp
- Hawthorn Mill, Chadderton
- Lark Mill, Hollinwood - 1901
- Curzon Mill, Ashton-under-Lyne - 1901
- Magnet Mill, Chadderton,
- Broadstone Mill, Reddish
- Cairo Mill, Waterhead, Oldham, Triple expansion
- Irk Mill, Middleton, a Manhattan
- Fox Mill, Hollinwood, a Manhattan
- Ridgefield Mill, Failsworth, a Manhattan
- Swan Lane Mills, Bolton, 1200 hp
References
Citations
- ^ Hills 1993
- ^ a b c Gurr & Hunt 1998, p. 41
- ^ Collier p 224
- ^ Collier p 225–226; 265–266
- ^ Collier p 390
- ^ Hills 1993, p. 235
- ^ Collier p 538
- ^ Hills 1993, p. 230
- ^ Collier p 495
- ^ Roberts 1921
Bibliography
- Gurr, Duncan; Hunt, Julian (1998), The Cotton Mills of Oldham, Oldham Education & Leisure, ISBN 0-902809-46-6, archived from the originalon 18 July 2011, retrieved 30 October 2009
- ISBN 978-0-521-45834-4.
- Roberts, A S (1921), "Arthur Robert's Engine List", Arthur Roberts Black Book., One guy from Barlick-Book Transcription, archived from the original on 23 July 2011, retrieved 11 January 2009
- Collier, D A (1985) 'A Comparative History of the Development of the Leading Stationary Steam Engine Manufacturers of Lancashire, c.1800–1939', Ph D thesis, University of Manchester, 1985