| J & E Wood | |
|---|---|
Triple expansion in Trencherfield Mill, Wigan |
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| Location | Bolton, Manchester |
| Company | |
| Founder | James and Edward Wood |
| Industry | Engineering |
| Products | Stationary steam engines |
| Key products | Triple expansion cross compound with Corliss valvess, |
| Key sites | Trencherfield Mill. |
| Production | |
| Products | Stationary steam engines |
| History | |
J & E Wood was a company that manufactured stationary steam engines. It was based in the Bolton district of Manchester in England. The company produced large steam-driven engines for textile mills in Lancashire and elsewhere.[1]
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The firm started out as Knight and Wood, having premises at Victoria Foundry, Garside Street, Bolton. The name changed around 1860 to James and Edward Wood. J & E Wood engines were characterised by having their neat appearance, the valve gear being beneath the cylinders. From 1875 on, they only used Corliss valves.
On the 7th September 1893, one of J & E Woods engines that had been placed in Mutual Mills, Rochdale in 1892 was extensively tested by Mr JLF Crosland and the results published.These were triple expansion. They have 4 cylinders arranged in a horizontal double tandem formation. The HP (high pressure) had a bore of 21 inches (530 mm), the IP (intermediate pressure) had a bore of 33 inches (840 mm) and the two LP (low pressure) cylinders 35 inches (890 mm). The stroke was 6 feet (1.8 m) and the engine operated at 53 rpm. The engines were fitted with Corliss valves operated by a simple proprietary trip motion. The piston rods for the HP and IP are 4.75 inches (121 mm) and 5.25 inches (133 mm). During the test, the two 30 feet (9.1 m) by 8 feet (2.4 m) Lancashire boilers with 3 ft 2 in diameter flues produced steam at 156 psi. There were Galloway tubes in the flues and behind the boilers was an economiser with 288 pipes. Water was delivered to the boilers at 304 °F (151 °C). The boilers were fed by mechanical stokers that used coal known as Shaw slack. This has a calorific value of 12,963 Btu/lb. During the two days of the test the engine developed power of 1089.7 and 1049.4. The power developed on the two sides of the engine was balanced being 542.2 IHP and 547.5 IHP. On the two days 1.37 lb/IHP hr and 1.38 lb/IHP hr. Taking into account that coal could be bought at 6s/ton- this means that 1d would buy 23.1 IHP hrs or 5544 IHP hrs per pound sterling. For a thermal efficiency point of view, of the 14935 Btu of heat supplied, 2595 Btus were converted into mechanical work. This is an efficiency of 0.172 while a perfect engine gives 0.279, so the engine has a relative efficiency of 0.616. This is taken as the reference standard for a engine of this configuration.[2]
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