View source for Smethwick Engine

{{short description|Watt steam engine}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2017}}
{{Infobox historic engine
|name              = Smethwick Engine
|image             = Smethwick Engine at ThinkTank Museum.jpg
|image_size        =  
|alt               = 
|caption           = The engine in steam at Birmingham's [[Thinktank, Birmingham|Thinktank]] museum
|type              = [[Watt steam engine|Watt beam engine]]
|designer          = [[James Watt]]
|maker             = [[Boulton and Watt]]
|date              = {{Start date|1779|05}}
|country_of_origin = [[England]]
|cylinders         = 1
|bore              = {{Convert|32|in|cm}}
|stroke            = {{convert|8|ft|cm|0}}
|former_operator   = [[Birmingham Canal Navigations]]
|purpose           = Pumping water 
|collection        = [[Birmingham Museums Trust]]
|location          = [[Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum|Thinktank]]
|accession         = 
|working           = Yes
}}

The '''Smethwick Engine''' is a [[Watt steam engine]] made by [[Boulton and Watt]], which was installed near [[Birmingham]], England, and was brought into service in May 1779. Now at [[Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum]], it is the oldest working [[steam engine]]<ref name="guinness">{{cite web|url=http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/oldest-steam-engine|title=Oldest steam engine|work=guinnessworldrecords.com|access-date=19 March 2015}}</ref><ref name="thinktank-highlights">{{cite web|url=http://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/thinktank/highlights|title=Highlights - Thinktank - Birmingham Museums|work=birminghammuseums.org.uk|access-date=9 March 2015}}</ref> and the oldest working [[engine]] in the world.<ref name="Holland2012">{{cite book|last=Holland|first=Julian|title=Amazing & Extraordinary Facts Steam Age|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cgozDvAxsR4C&pg=PT18|access-date=9 March 2015|date=2012-05-01|publisher=David & Charles|isbn=9781446356197|pages=18–}}</ref><ref name="IMECHE">{{cite web|url=http://www.imeche.org/news/institution/promoting-engineering-in-the-midlands|title=Promoting engineering in the Midlands|date=27 January 2014|access-date=9 March 2015}}</ref>

==History==
Originally, it was one of two steam engines used to pump water back up to the {{convert|491|ft|m|1|adj=on}} [[Water levels of the Birmingham Canal Navigations#491 ft Brindley's Smethwick Summit|summit level]] of the [[BCN Main Line|BCN Old Main Line (Birmingham Canal)]] [[canal]] at [[Smethwick]], not far from the [[Soho Foundry]] where it was made. The other engine, also built by [[Boulton and Watt]], was at the other end of the summit level at Spon Lane. In 1804 a second Boulton and Watt engine was added alongside the 1779 engine.

The engines were needed because local water sources were insufficient to supply water to operate the six [[canal lock|lock]]s either side of the canal's original summit. The locks could have been avoided if a tunnel had been built, but the ground was too unstable for [[James Brindley]] to build a tunnel using the techniques available at the time. In the 1780s, a [[Cut (earthworks)|cutting]] was constructed by [[John Smeaton]], enabling three of the six locks on each side to be removed.

[[File:Engine Arm Aqueduct west.jpg|left|thumb|The [[Engine Arm Aqueduct]]]]
In the 1820s, [[Thomas Telford]] constructed a new canal parallel to the old in a deeper cutting, at the {{convert|453|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} [[Birmingham Level]], creating the largest man-made earthworks in the world at the time. It was spanned by the [[Galton Bridge]]. The engine was still needed, despite both these developments, and Thomas Telford constructed the [[Engine Arm Aqueduct]] carrying the [[Engine Arm]] branch canal over his New Main Line so that coal could still be transported along the arm to feed the Smethwick Engine.

[[File:New Smethwick Pumping Station 2.jpg|thumb|New [[Smethwick]] Pumping Station]]
In 1892, a replacement engine was built in a new pumping house, now [[Grade II listed]],<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1077154|desc=Smethwick New Pumping House|grade=II|access-date=8 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{NHLE |num=1077154 |desc=New pumping house, Grade II |access-date=23 April 2007}}</ref> next to Brasshouse Lane, as the original Smethwick Engine was considered uneconomic to repair; the latter was removed for preservation in 1897–98<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Weekly notes on Science and Invention |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001701/18980806/102/0026  |newspaper=Sheffield Weekly Telegraph |location=England |date=6 August 1898 |access-date=1 October 2022 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription  }}</ref> to the BCN, later [[British Waterways]], [[Ocker Hill]] depot where it remained until acquired by [[Birmingham City Council]]. It is now part of the collection of Birmingham Museums and is on display at [[Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum]] at [[Millennium Point (Birmingham)|Millennium Point]]. It is the oldest working engine in the world.

[[File:Blue plaque Smethwick Engine.jpg|thumb|[[Blue plaque]] at the site of the Smethwick Engine]]
The engine house was demolished in 1897. Its original site and foundations can still be seen on Bridge Street North in Smethwick, just north of the junction with Rolfe Street. Tours of the site can be arranged through the [[Galton Valley Canal Heritage Centre]] which is based in the New Smethwick Pumping Station and regularly opened by Sandwell Museum Service and The Friends of Galton Valley.

The pumping station was featured in an episode of ''The Water Boatman'' presented by [[Alan Herd]] on the [[Discovery Shed]] TV channel in November 2011.{{relevance|date=April 2024}}

==Points of interest==
{{PoIgb start}}
{{PoIgb|Smethwick Engine original pumphouse|52.4977|-1.9622|SP025889|Bridge Street North, Smethwick}}
{{PoIgb|Engine Arm Aqueduct|52.4979|-1.9665|SP022889|}}
{{PoIgb|New Smethwick Pumphouse|52.4981|-1.9731|SP018889|Brasshouse Lane, Smethwick}}
{{PoIgb end}}
{{geoGroup}}

==See also==
{{Portal|United Kingdom|Transport}}
*[[Canals of the United Kingdom]]
*[[History of the British canal system]]
*[[Old Bess (beam engine)|''Old Bess'' (beam engine)]] – the oldest surviving Watt steam engine

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Refbegin}}
*''Birmingham's Canals'', Ray Shill, 1999, 2002, {{ISBN|0-7509-2077-7}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Smethwick Engine}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070929130959/http://www.btinternet.com/~historical.engines/smethwick.htm Model of the Smethwick Engine]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060518230827/http://birminghamstories.co.uk/story_page.php?id=12&type=fo&page=1&now=0 The Smethwick Engine at Thinktank, Birmingham science museum]

{{Thinktank, Birmingham}}
{{Birmingham Canal Navigations}}
{{Steam engine configurations}}

[[Category:Preserved beam engines]]
[[Category:Transport in Sandwell]]
[[Category:Birmingham Canal Navigations]]
[[Category:Smethwick|Engine]]
[[Category:Collection of Thinktank, Birmingham]]
[[Category:1779 in England]]
[[Category:1779 in science]]
[[Category:History of the steam engine]]
[[Category:Industrial Revolution]]
[[Category:James Watt]]