Heslop's winding and pumping engine

Heslop's winding and pumping engine, 1795. The winding and pumping engine was erected about 1795 by Adam Heslop at Kells Pit, Whitehaven, where it worked for many years; subsequently used at other pits (Castlerigg Pit?; 1837, Wreah Pit, Whingill?). The arrangement is a combination of a single acting high-pressure cylinder with a Newcomen cylinder; patented by Heslop in 1790, although it would appear to have been an infringement of Watt's patent for the separate condenser which remained in force till 1800. Made at the Lowca Foundry/Engineering Works c. 1790.

Adam Heslop patented in 1790 a rotative beam engine in which, by employing two cylinders, he claimed advantages equivalent to those of a single-acting cylinder with James Watt's separate condenser, at a time when the latter's patent was still in force. There is some evidence that it was considered an infringement, but no legal action was taken. The invention was first tried in the neighbourhood of Coalbrookdale; later some fourteen engines, of which this was one, were built in the Whitehaven district. The engine was erected about 1795 at Kell's Pit, Whitehaven, and was used subsequently for winding and pumping at other pits in the district until its removal to South Kensington in 1878.