Francis Thompson, engineer: designer of the Pentrich engine

Hulse, David, Francis Thompson, engineer: designer of the Pentrich engine, Transactions of the 2nd International Early Engines Conference, Volume 2, IEEC & ISSES, 2023 [ISBN: 9781872986258/ISSN: ISSES, Stationary Power v.25 0960-0663], pp.223-238 doi:10.54267/ieec2-2-13

The atmospheric engine built by Francis Thompson at Pentrich Colliery in 1791 was dismantled and re-erected in the Science Museum at South Kensington in 1921. This paper provides a detailed insight into the methods, process and materials of David Hulse’s painstaking model of the Pentrich engine. It makes detailed use of photographs, drawings and descriptions of the engine provided by W.T. Anderson in the 1917 paper ‘Notes on an early pumping engine (1791)’. The model’s construction provides useful insights into how the engine worked as part of an integrated mine drainage system, and the particular challenges of making scaled models that can be made to work in an accurate way.

For access see Volume 2 of the Transactions of the 2nd International Early Engines Conference