 View into Hall 1 | |
  Location within Ceredigion | |
| Location | Tan-y-groes, Ceredigion, Wales |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 52°07′12″N4°29′28″W / 52.11987°N 4.49122°W |
| Type | Technology museum |
| Website | Internal Fire – Museum of Power |
The Internal Fire Museum of Power is a museum of internal combustion engines in West Wales. The museum's collection is mostly of larger stationary diesel engines, as used for generating sets and pumping stations. The museum is located at Tan-y-groes, Ceredigion, near Cardigan.
Most of the engines have been restored to working order. Several engines are in operation when the museum is open.
The museum has the oldest working diesel engine in the UK, a 1912 Sulzer single cylinder air-blast injection Diesel, an example of the original Rudolf Diesel design.
The museum houses over 200 tons of working engines in nine halls and in 2020 was in the process of creating a new steam hall to house a 1903, J & E Wood, 500 hp tandem compound along with an 1879, John Penn, twin cylinder oscillating paddle steamer (ex Empress) as well as a number of smaller engines including the only surviving Petter steam engine.
In 2017, the museum's second Engineering Heritage Award exhibit [lower-roman 1] arrived. [1] A 1901, 140 bhp three cylinder Willans engine generating set had been used until 1957 at the Maples furniture shop in London. On retirement this had been placed on display at the original Willans factory in Rugby [2] [3]
One of the museum's most unusual exhibits was a 'Pocket Power Station', powered by a Bristol Proteus gas turbine engine. [4] [5] The regional electricity board installed several 2.7MW, remote-operated, generation sets for peak load powered by the Proteus. Designed to run for ten years many were still in use forty years later. [6] In 2010 this was recognised with an Engineering Heritage Award. [7]
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.
A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the use of these self-propelled vehicles is increasingly common for passenger trains, but rare for freight.
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be transformed, by a connecting rod and crank, into rotational force for work. The term "steam engine" is generally applied only to reciprocating engines as just described, not to the steam turbine. Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separated from the combustion products. The ideal thermodynamic cycle used to analyze this process is called the Rankine cycle. In general usage, the term steam engine can refer to either complete steam plants, such as railway steam locomotives and portable engines, or may refer to the piston or turbine machinery alone, as in the beam engine and stationary steam engine.
The Bristol Proteus was the Bristol Engine Company's first mass-produced gas turbine engine design, a turboprop that delivered just over 4,000 hp (3,000 kW). The Proteus was a reverse-flow gas turbine. Because the second turbine drove no compressor stages, but only the propeller, this engine was classified as a free-turbine. It powered the Bristol Britannia airliner, small naval patrol craft, hovercraft and electrical generating sets. It was also used to power a land-speed record car, the Bluebird-Proteus CN7. After the merger of Bristol with Armstrong Siddeley the engine became the Bristol Siddeley Proteus, and later the Rolls-Royce Proteus. The Proteus was to have been superseded by the Bristol Orion which would have given a Britannia a 75% increase in power for cruising faster.
A stationary engine is an engine whose framework does not move. They are used to drive immobile equipment, such as pumps, generators, mills or factory machinery, or cable cars. The term usually refers to large immobile reciprocating engines, principally stationary steam engines and, to some extent, stationary internal combustion engines. Other large immobile power sources, such as steam turbines, gas turbines, and large electric motors, are categorized separately.
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 120,000 members in 140 countries, working across industries such as railways, automotive, aerospace, manufacturing, energy, biomedical and construction, the Institution is licensed by the Engineering Council to assess candidates for inclusion on its Register of Chartered Engineers, Incorporated Engineers and Engineering Technicians.
Ruston & Hornsby was an industrial equipment manufacturer in Lincoln, England founded in 1918. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow and standard gauge diesel locomotives and also of steam shovels. Other products included cars, steam locomotives and a range of internal combustion engines, and later gas turbines. It is now a subsidiary of Siemens.
White Cliffs Solar Power Station was Australia's first solar power station. It is located at White Cliffs, New South Wales, which was chosen as it has the highest insolation in New South Wales, and in 1981 when the station was constructed had no grid connection.
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.
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.
James Laird Gray FREng (1926–2010) was an important figure in the field of steam turbine technology in the UK.
The term six-stroke engine has been applied to a number of alternative internal combustion engine designs that attempt to improve on traditional two-stroke and four-stroke engines. Claimed advantages may include increased fuel efficiency, reduced mechanical complexity, and/or reduced emissions. These engines can be divided into two groups based on the number of pistons that contribute to the six strokes.
The Anson Engine Museum is situated on the site of the old Anson colliery in Poynton, Cheshire, England. It is the work of Les Cawley and Geoff Challinor who began collecting and showing stationary engines for a hobby. The museum now has one of the largest collections of engines in Europe. The museum site also includes a working blacksmith's smithy and carpentry shop and a café.
William Dent Priestman, born near Kingston upon Hull was a Quaker and engineering pioneer, inventor of the Priestman Oil Engine, and co-founder with his brother Samuel of the Priestman Brothers engineering company, manufacturers of cranes, winches and excavators. Priestman Brothers built the earliest recorded railway locomotive powered by an internal combustion engine.
The Engineering Heritage Awards, formally known as the Engineering Heritage Hallmark Scheme, were established by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) in 1984 to identify and promote artefacts, locations, collections and landmarks of significant engineering importance.
Old Bess is an early beam engine built by the partnership of Boulton and Watt. The engine was constructed in 1777 and worked until 1848.
The Ultimo Power Station, or Ultimo Powerhouse, was an electricity generating plant located in the inner-city Sydney suburb of Ultimo, New South Wales. Commissioned in 1899, it was the first major power station in Sydney and was originally built to supply power for the electric tram network. Prior to this, a small installation had existed at Regent Street, which was brought into use on 15 June 1882. Additionally, experimental electric tram operations powered by small generators had been in intermittent use in Sydney since 1890.
The Willans engine or central valve engine was a high-speed stationary steam engine used mainly for electricity generation around the start of the 20th century.
Willans & Robinson Limited manufacturing engineers of Thames Ditton, Surrey. Later, from 1896, at Victoria Works, Rugby, Warwickshire, England. They were manufacturers of stationary reciprocating steam engines then steam turbines, Diesel motors and generators. They also ran their own foundry.
Maple & Co. was a British furniture and upholstery manufacturer established in 1841 which found particular success during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The company became one of the prime makers and suppliers of furniture to the aristocracy and royalty in both the United Kingdom and around the world.
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