Geograph - photograph every grid square

An 1889 Corliss valve horizontal single cylinder steam engine by Crepelle & Garand of Lille. It was a gold medal winner at the 1889 Paris Exhibition and subsequently used in a hospital. It was moved to this site in 1975-6 and re-erected in the former coal store. The cylinder is 13" x 34", the flywheel 13' diameter and it produced 91 horsepower at 80 rpm. The valve gear is to Corliss's 1859 patent and known as the spring lever trip gear. This French firm favoured it and several examples survive.

American George Henry Corliss patented the first version of his eponymous valve gear in 1849. The fully developed gear used separate valves for inlet and exhaust, typically in the four corners of the cylinders, with the steam valves provided with a rapid release (cut-off) under the control of a governor. This design allowed for both close regulation of speed and economy in the use of steam. This photograph shows the governor, inlet valve trip gear and the forward inlet (above) and exhaust valves on the cylinder. This is the only example of this particularly elegant design to be seen in the UK.