Chapin Mine Steam Pump Engine

Last updated
Chapin Mine Steam Pump Engine
Chapin Mine Pump 1891.png
Illustration from E.P. Allis Co, manufacturer. Note figure at left for scale.
USA Michigan location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationKent St., Iron Mountain, Michigan
Coordinates 45°49′30″N88°4′12″W / 45.82500°N 88.07000°W / 45.82500; -88.07000 Coordinates: 45°49′30″N88°4′12″W / 45.82500°N 88.07000°W / 45.82500; -88.07000
Area1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built1891
ArchitectEdwin P. Reynolds
NRHP reference No. 81000305 [1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPJuly 9, 1981
Designated MSHSFebruary 19, 1958 [2]

The Chapin Mine Steam Pump Engine, also known as The Cornish Pump, is a steam-driven pump located at the corner of Kent Street and Kimberly Avenue in Iron Mountain, Michigan, USA. It is the largest reciprocating steam-driven engine ever built in the United States. [3] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981 [1] and designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1958. [2]

Contents

History

Iron ore was discovered in what is now the Iron Mountain area in 1878. [2] Development was rapid: Iron Mountain was platted in 1879 and the Chapin Mine Company was formed the same year. The Chapin Mine proved to be the most productive in the Menominee Range, [2] but part of the ore body was underneath a cedar swamp [4] and water seepage proved to be an ongoing problem. Ground pumps were used at first, but as the shaft depth increased, so did the problems. [4] In 1889, after a number of accidents, the mining company commissioned a water pump from the E. P. Allis Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (now Allis-Chalmers). [4] The company's chief engineer, Edwin P. Reynolds designed a "Cornish Pump" similar to those used in tin mines in Cornwall, England. [2]

The company constructed the pump in 1890-91, after which it was installed at Chapin Mine's "D" shaft. The pump engine was installed at the surface near a boiler, to minimize efficiency losses in steam transport and to prevent damage to the engine in case of an emergency shut-off. [5] It was housed in a massive red sandstone pump house, 60 feet (18 m) high, 36 feet (11 m) by 42 feet (13 m) at the base, with a foundation 23 feet (7.0 m) thick. [6] The pump itself cost $82,000, and the entire installation cost an estimated $250,000. [4] The pump began operation on January 3, 1893. [2]

An underground shift in 1896 misaligned the engine, [2] and further shifts cracked the engine house and the surrounding ground. [6] In 1899, the pumping engine was dismantled and stored away. [6]

In the meantime, the Chapin Mining Company had been expanding. In 1894, it acquired the nearby Hamilton and Ludington mines, both of which had been abandoned due to flooding problems. [6] Chapin dewatered the other mines and made underground connections to the Chapin Mine. [6] The Chapin Mining Company was purchased by the Oliver Iron Mining Company, a subsidiary of U.S. Steel, in 1901. [6] In 1907, Oliver reassembled the pumping engine and moved it to its current location near the site of the Ludington Mine "C" shaft. [2] They constructed a corrugated metal building on a red sandstone foundation to house the pumping engine. [6] The pump served the combined needs of the Chapin, Ludington and Hamilton mines until 1914, when it was replaced with electric pumps. [2]

By the time the Chapin Mine closed in 1932, it had produced over 27 million tons of iron ore, the most in the Menominee Iron Range. [4] Two years later, the Oliver Iron Mining Company donated the Chapin Mine Steam Pump Engine to Dickinson County as a "relic for sightseers to visit." [4] The county demolished the building housing the pumping engine and painted the engine to make it more attractive to tourists. [6] The engine was nearly scrapped during World War II for its metal content, and indeed the steel frame shaft housing standing nearby was dismantled, [6] but local sentiment saved the pumping engine. [7]

Cornish Pumping Engine and Mining Museum

In 1978, the county turned it over to the Menominee Range Historical Foundation, [6] who constructed a museum around it in 1982-83. [4] It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1958 [2] and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981. [1] In 1987, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers designated the pump a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark. [4]

The museum housing the pump, known as the Cornish Pumping Engine and Mining Museum, also displays a varied collection of mining equipment used in local iron mines; the museum is open to the public. [8]

Description

The Chapin Mine Steam Pump Engine is a vertical tandem compound steam engine. [9] At its maximum speed of 10 rpm, it produced over 1,200 horsepower (890 kW), [3] and during operation required 11,000 short tons (10,000 t) of coal per year to operate. [5] It is 54 feet (16 m) [2] tall with a flywheel 40 feet (12 m) in diameter, weighing 164 short tons (149 t). [10] The entire engine weighs 600 short tons (540 t). The drive shaft is 24 inches (61 cm) in diameter and the high and low pressure steam are 50 inches (130 cm) and 100 inches (250 cm) in diameter, respectively, both having a stroke of 10 feet (3.0 m). [10]

At the Ludington "C" shaft location, the pumping engine was connected via a 7 inches (18 cm) diameter shaft [11] to a series of eight pumps, the deepest of which was 1,500 feet (460 m) below ground [2] (at the original Chapin "D" shaft location, the depth was only 600 feet (180 m)). [6] Each pump had plungers 28 inches (71 cm) in diameter with a stroke of 10 feet (3.0 m). [10] Water was pumped by each pump through a vertical pipe to a discharge tank just beneath the next pump in series, and thus was carried in eight steps to the surface. [11] The total capacity of the pump system was 3,400 US gallons (13,000 L) per minute. [2]

Although the Chapin Mine Steam Pump Engine is popularly known as "The Cornish Pump", it is not actually a Cornish engine, which lacks the rotating parts (connecting rod, crank and flywheel) seen in the Chapin Engine. [6] Rather, the name comes from the similarity between the Chapin engine and those used in tin mines in Cornwall in the 19th century. [5]

Chapin Mine panorama, c. 1909 Chapin Mine c 1909.jpg
Chapin Mine panorama, c. 1909

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iron Mountain, Michigan</span> City in Michigan, United States

Iron Mountain is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 7,518 at the 2020 census, down from 7,624 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Dickinson County. in the state's Upper Peninsula. Iron Mountain was named for the valuable iron ore found in the vicinity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Trevithick</span> British inventor and mining engineer (1771-1833)

Richard Trevithick was a British inventor and mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He was an early pioneer of steam-powered road and rail transport, and his most significant contributions were the development of the first high-pressure steam engine and the first working railway steam locomotive. The world's first locomotive-hauled railway journey took place on 21 February 1804, when Trevithick's unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks, in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beam engine</span> Early configuration of the steam engine utilising a rocking beam to connect major components.

A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used by Thomas Newcomen around 1705 to remove water from mines in Cornwall. The efficiency of the engines was improved by engineers including James Watt, who added a separate condenser; Jonathan Hornblower and Arthur Woolf, who compounded the cylinders; and William McNaught, who devised a method of compounding an existing engine. Beam engines were first used to pump water out of mines or into canals but could be used to pump water to supplement the flow for a waterwheel powering a mill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corliss steam engine</span> Type of steam engine using rotary steam valves

A Corliss steam engine is a steam engine, fitted with rotary valves and with variable valve timing patented in 1849, invented by and named after the American engineer George Henry Corliss of Providence, Rhode Island. The principal novelty was the application of pulse width modulation to regulate the flow of steam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Museum of Water & Steam</span>

London Museum of Water & Steam is an independent museum founded in 1975 as the Kew Bridge Steam Museum. It was rebranded in early 2014 following a major investment project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cliffs Shaft Mine Museum</span>

The Cliffs Shaft Mine Museum is a former iron mine, now a heritage museum, located on Euclid Street between Lakeshore Drive and Spruce Street in Ishpeming, Michigan. The museum, operated by "Marquette Range Iron Mining Heritage Theme Park Inc.", celebrates the history of the Marquette Iron Range. The site was designated a state of Michigan historic site in 1973 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornish engine</span> Type of steam beam engine originating in Cornwall

A Cornish engine is a type of steam engine developed in Cornwall, England, mainly for pumping water from a mine. It is a form of beam engine that uses steam at a higher pressure than the earlier engines designed by James Watt. The engines were also used for powering man engines to assist the underground miners' journeys to and from their working levels, for winching materials into and out of the mine, and for powering on-site ore stamping machinery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Man engine</span>

A man engine is a mechanism of reciprocating ladders and stationary platforms installed in mines to assist the miners' journeys to and from the working levels. It was invented in Germany in the 19th century and was a prominent feature of tin and copper mines in Cornwall until the beginning of the twentieth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dolcoath mine</span> Former copper and tin mine in Cornwall, England

Dolcoath mine was a copper and tin mine in Camborne, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Its name derives from the Cornish for 'Old Ground', and it was also affectionately known as The Queen of Cornish Mines. The site is north-west of Carn Brea. Dolcoath Road runs between the A3047 road and Chapel Hill. The site is south of this road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leavitt-Riedler Pumping Engine</span>

The Leavitt-Riedler Pumping Engine (1894) is a historic steam engine located in the former Chestnut Hill High Service Pumping Station, in Boston, Massachusetts. It has been declared a historic mechanical engineering landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The pumping station was decommissioned in the 1970s, and turned into the Metropolitan Waterworks Museum in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prestongrange Museum</span> Industry museum in Prestongrange, Scotland

Prestongrange Museum is an industrial heritage museum at Prestongrange between Musselburgh and Prestonpans on the B1348 on the East Lothian coast, Scotland. Founded as the original site of the National Mining Museum, its operation reverted to East Lothian Council Museum Service in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chatterley Whitfield</span>

Chatterley Whitfield Colliery is a disused coal mine on the outskirts of Chell, Staffordshire in Stoke on Trent, England. It was the largest mine working the North Staffordshire Coalfield and was the first colliery in the UK to produce one million tons of saleable coal in a year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wheal Busy</span> Disused metalliferous mine in Cornwall, England

Wheal Busy, sometimes called Great Wheal Busy and in its early years known as Chacewater Mine, was a metalliferous mine halfway between Redruth and Truro in the Gwennap mining area of Cornwall, England. During the 18th century the mine produced enormous amounts of copper ore and was very wealthy, but from the later 19th century onwards was not profitable. Today the site of the mine is part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Pool mine</span> Former metalliferous mine in Cornwall, England

East Pool mine, was a metalliferous mine in the Camborne and Redruth mining area, just east of the village of Pool in Cornwall, England. Worked from the early 18th century until 1945, first for copper and later tin, it was very profitable for much of its life. Today the site has two preserved beam engines and is part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site. It is owned by the National Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Consolidated Mines</span> Former metalliferous mine in Cornwall, England

Consolidated Mines, also known as Great Consolidated mine, but most commonly called Consols or Great Consols was a metalliferous mine about a mile ESE of the village of St Day, Cornwall, England. Mainly active during the first half of the 19th century, its mining sett was about 600 yards north–south; and 2,700 yards east–west, to the east of Carharrack. Although always much troubled by underground water, the mine was at times highly profitable, and it was the largest single producer of copper ore in Cornwall. Today the mine is part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parsonage Colliery</span>

Parsonage Colliery was a coal mine operating on the Lancashire Coalfield in Leigh, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England. The colliery, close to the centre of Leigh and the Bolton and Leigh Railway was sunk between 1913 and 1920 by the Wigan Coal and Iron Company and the first coal was wound to the surface in 1921. For many years its shafts to the Arley mine were the deepest in the country. The pit was close to the town centre and large pillars of coal were left under the parish church and the town's large cotton mills.

Wheal Metal is a tin-mining sett in west Cornwall, England, UK. Whilst not as famous as neighbouring Wheal Vor, it was thus described by the Mining Journal in July 1885: " Truly this is a wonderful mine—probably the richest tin mine in the world." It also hosts a very remarkable engine house of the mid-19th century that once stood over Trelawney's shaft on Wheal Vor, and since the Wheal Vor area itself has no visible remains, this is the only large surviving engine house of this group of mines which accounted for over a quarter of Cornish tin production in the mid-19th century.

Resolution was an early beam engine, installed between 1781–1782 at Coalbrookdale as a water-returning engine to power the blast furnaces and ironworks there. It was one of the last water-returning engines to be constructed, before the rotative beam engine made this type of engine obsolete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newcomen Memorial Engine</span> Preserved beam engine in Devon, England

The Newcomen Memorial Engine is a preserved beam engine in Dartmouth, Devon. It was preserved as a memorial to Thomas Newcomen, inventor of the beam engine, who was born in Dartmouth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basset Mines</span> Mining company in Cornwall, England

Basset Mines was a mining company formed in Cornwall, England, by the amalgamation of six copper and tin mining setts. It operated from 1896 until 1918, when it was closed due to a fall in the price of tin.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "Chapin Mine Steam Pump Engine". Michigan State Housing Development Authority: Historic Sites Online. Archived from the original on December 24, 2012. Retrieved February 4, 2012.
  3. 1 2 Robert T. Balmer (2010), Modern Engineering Thermodynamics, Academic Press, p. 474, ISBN   978-0-12-374996-3
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "The Cornish Pumping Engine". Exploring the North. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 "Cornish Pump: Iron Mountain, Michigan". Michigan Interactive. Retrieved February 6, 2012.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 CHAPIN MINE PUMPING ENGINE: National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark (PDF), The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, June 6, 1987, archived from the original (PDF) on October 5, 2006
  7. "Cornish Pump Engine & Mining Museum". Hunt's Guide to the Upper Peninsula. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
  8. "Iron Mining Museum and Gift Shop". Exploring the North. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
  9. Diane B. Abbott; Charles K. Hyde (1978), The Upper peninsula of Michigan : an inventory of historic engineering and industrial sites, Historic American Engineering Record, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation, Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, p. 117
  10. 1 2 3 Edward P. Allis Co; Robert Henry Thurston (1894), Duty tests of pumping engines, and reprint of Dr. R.H. Thurston's paper on The maximum contemporary economy of the high-pressure multiple-expansion steam engine, The Evening Wisconsin Company, p. 621
  11. 1 2 Robert B. Brinsmade (April 22, 1909), "The great Iron Fields of the Lake Superior District", Mining Science, LIX: 304–306, 325–327