Lap Engine: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:12, 16 March 2015

Revision as of 10:23, 16 March 2015

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|collection = [[Science Museum Group]]

|___location = [[Science Museum, London]]

|accession = 1861-46<ref name="Science-Museum-1861-46">{{Cite web

|title=Rotative steam engine by Boulton and Watt, 1788.

|website=Science Museum

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|working = No

}}

The '''Lap Engine''' is an earlya [[beam engine]] ofdesigned 1788by [[James Watt]], built by [[JamesBoulton and Watt]] in 1788. It is now preserved at the [[Science Museum, London]].

It is important as both an early example of a beam engine by [[Boulton and Watt]], and also mainly as illustrating an important innovative step in their development for its ability to produce rotary motion.<ref name="Dickinson & Jenkins, 1927" /><ref name="Crowley, Lap Engine" />

The engines name comes from its use in [[Matthew Boulton]]'s [[Soho Manufactory]], where it was used to drive a line of 43 polishing or [[lapping]] machines, used for the [[Birmingham toy industry|production of buttons and buckles]].<ref name="SM, Lap Engine" /><ref name="Hulse, web, Lap Engine" />

== Innovations ==

Watt did not invent the [[steam engine]] and there is no single '[[Watt steam engine]]' as such. He developed a number of separate innovations, each of which improved the existing engines of the day, beginning with [[Newcomen atmospheric engine|Newcomen's]]. The Lap Engine of 1788, also the [[Boulton and Watt steam engine (Powerhouse Museum)|Whitbread Brewery engineEngine]] (1785), represent survivors of the first engines to show all of Watt's major improvements in one.<ref name="Crowley, Lap Engine" />

=== Parallel motion ===

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[[File:Boulton and Watt centrifugal governor-MJ.jpg|thumb|upright|The Watt-type [[centrifugal governor]] at the Science Museum, London.]]

{{Details|Centrifugal governor}}

According to the Science Museum, it was the first steam engine to be fitted with a [[centrifugal governor]].<ref name="Science-Museum-1861-46"/>{{efn|The earlier [[Whitbread Engine]] of 1785 also has a centrifugal governor.}}

<ref name="Hulse, Rotary, Lap Engine" />

{{clear right}}

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{{Empty section|date=March 2015}}

== See also Notes==

{{Commons category|The Lap Engine}}

* [[Boulton and Watt steam engine (Powerhouse Museum)|Whitbread Brewery engine]], a similar engine of 1785, now preserved at the [[Powerhouse Museum]] in [[Sydney]], Australia.

{{notelist}}

== References ==

{{Commons category|The Lap Engine}}

{{Reflist|colwidth=35em|refs=

<ref name="SM, Lap Engine" >{{Cite web

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|url=http://www.davidhulse.co.uk/543/The-Lap-Engine/

}}</ref>

<!--<ref name="Hulse, Rotary, Lap Engine" >{{Cite book

|title=The Development of Rotary Motion by Steam Power

|first=David |last=Hulse

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|year=2001

|url=http://www.davidhulse.co.uk/551/David-Hulse---About-My-Books/

}}</ref>-->

<ref name="Dickinson & Jenkins, 1927" >{{cite book

|last=Dickinson |first=H.W.

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<!-- [[Category:James Watt]] -->

[[Category:Steam engines in the Science Museum, London]]

{{engineering-stub}}