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 Wanlockhead Beam Engine, Dumfries and Galloway
N 55° 23.951 W 003° 47.147
30U E 450235 N 6139494
Wanlockhead used to be the centre of a lead mining area. This beam engine pumped water out of a mine. Now preserved and in the care of Historic Scotland. Free parking and viewing.
Waymark Code: WMGX53
Location: Southern Scotland, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/19/2013
Views: 4
There is an information board provided by Historic Scotland. quote:
This unusual machine was used to pump water from the lowest levels of a small lead mine up a shaft to a side tunnel leading to a stream. Water to power the engine was collected in a tank on the hillside, and piped to the right-hand side of the engine. There it ran in to a wooden bucket attached to the beam by an iron rod. The weight of the full bucket pulled the pump rod up the shaft. At the bottom of its pit a valve opened to allow the water in the bucket to run out. The pump rods then pulled the beam down, lifting the bucket up to be filled again, and operating the pump at the bottom of the shaft.
The concrete slab on the left-hand side covers the mine shaft. This led down to the Straitsteps lead vein. It was fitted with wooden ladders. When the engine was in use, in the later 1800s, there was a wooden structure over the shaft to allow pump parts to be lifted for maintenance. A wooden drum on a vertical shaft was turned by a horse walking round a circular track to raise these parts.
Engines of this type, sometimes called "Bobbing Johns", were used in coal and metal mines, but were superseded by steam engines. This is the only reasonably complete one surviving in Britain. There is a working model of the pump in the Wanlockhead Museum of Lead Mining.
Undiscovered Scotland have a good page of information.Wanlockhead Lead Mining Museum have excellent informationWikipedia has a section on the Wanlockhead page.Britain Express have brief informationEngineering Timeline have a different viewScottish Gazetteer have contradictory information (as usual)
Type of Machine: Beam Engine
Year the machine was built: 1870s
Year the machine was put on display: 1972
Is there online documentation for this machine: [Web Link]
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