``
in the beginning
It is nearly 200 years since two brothers designed and built one of the most extraordinary machines in the history of engineering. It drove their flax mill hidden in a remote Derbyshire valley - a mill that exists to this day.
Very few people have heard of their invention and, of those that have, very few understand how it worked. Powered by high pressure water from higher up the valley it produced rotary motion yet it did not itself turn. Essentially, if it had only two parts and it had no valves to control the flow of water.
Any engineer understanding the principle of the engine would almost certainly say it would not work or, even if it did, it would be extremely inefficient. And indeed, when other pioneers adapted the design for steam working, many engineers of the time were scathing. Although several hundred were built in the first half of the 19th century, the sceptics were eventually proved to be a right.
At least they were partly right. Whilst it's use as a prime mover virtually died out after 1850, today a device based on the original concept is in widespread use in the Western World. If in fact there is a better than even's chance that there is one in your home if you live in Europe or North America.
And, against all the odds, this arcane design has once again recently emerged as a power plant.
This site will tell you all about the origins of the engine and trace its history over the centuries. Hopefully you might even understand how it works!
Patent No 5882 of 1830
" A hydraulic machine for communicating
motion to machinery "