Model representing Murray's portable beam engine, by James Fox, Derby, 1808

Matthew Murray of Leeds was the great rival to Boulton & Watt of Birmingham, and he developed this form of self-contained beam engine in 1805. It offered great advantages over the then-prevalent house-built beam engine, which was integral to a sizeable engine house. Murray's design was influential enough to have this model built by Fox, who was also a prominent mechanician. Relatively few engines of Murray's design were made, but a similar form, the side-lever engine, with the rocking beam mounted low on the engine, became widely used on ships.