George Saxon & Co
Encyclopedia
George Saxon & Co was a company that manufactured stationary steam engine
s. It was based in the Openshaw
district of Manchester
in England. The company produced large steam-driven engines for power stations and later for textile mills
in Lancashire and elsewhere.
in 1821. He served an apprenticeship with William Fairbairn
, and rose to supervisor. In 1851, he moved to be foreman at Benjamin Goodfellow's works in Hyde, Greater Manchester
. Here in 1854, he invented and patented a fusible plug
for steam boilers. That year he formed his own business at Spring Works, Openshaw, trading as George Saxon. He was a mill-wright. He probably started manufacturing steam engines in 1860. He patented many small improvements to engine design. He was elected president of the Manchester Association of Engineers in 1871. He was also a member if the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. In February 1879 he patented an automatic cut-off motion, which made his engines more economical. He believed in the use of a long cylinder stroke on his horizontal engines to produce more power. His sons followed him into the business and continued it after his death in 1879.
. The construction of larger engines had started by 1870/71 when they built a horizontal cross compound engine, possibly for an Oldham customer, which used steam at the relatively high pressure for that time of 100 lbs psi. By 1875 Saxon was building engines of between 750 and 1,000 ihp, for the new 'Oldham Limiteds'. These were mostly horizontal twin tandem compound engines - a 4-cylinder design for which Saxons became noted during the last quarter of the 19th century. During 1871-80 Saxons are known to have built at least 10 engines with a capacity of about 6,800 ihp, mostly for cotton mills.Collier p 225-226; 265-266
George Saxon engines were charactised by having a long stroke and high operating speed.
They used Corliss valves on their large mill engines from around 1890 onwards, having previously used slide valves in their engines. The Saxon design dispensed with the wrist plate and unusually placed Corliss valves on both the HP (high pressure) and LP (low pressure) cylinders where other designers, such as McNaught and Petrie would have used piston valves. Saxons were late adopters of Corliss valve engines but were quick to adopt the efficient triple expansion engine design. During 1891 and 1892 they converted a number of large compound engines to triple expansion, with a saving in fuel of up to 18% and in 1892 they built their first horizontal twin tandem triple expansion engine, 1,260 ihp, for Rock Mill, Ashton-under-Lyne. They also continued to build large horizontal twin tandem compound engines. Near identical engines Saxons built in 1902 for Dawn Mill, Shaw
and Magnet Mill, Chadderton
developed 1400 hp at 140psi and 1700 hp at 160psi. The flywheels of these engines were 26 ft in diameter and weighed between 80 and 90 tons. The speed of 60rpm and stroke of 5 ft, were standard at this time.
Saxons built their first inverted vertical engine in 1896, a space efficient design which became quite popular with mill builders. They built some particularly large engines. In 1908 they built a 2,750 ihp engine for No 2 Mill, Times Mill, Middleton - their largest to be built in the Oldham area. In Pear Mill, Stockport, and Hall Lane Spinning Mill, Leigh, George Saxon used the Manhattan design. This design was so named because Allis-Chalmers
, in designing an 60,000 h.p. engine to generate electricity for the Manhattan transport system, had been faced with a small site, and had laid out the 88in diameter low pressure cylinders horizontally, and the 44in high pressure cylinders vertically. This had enabled eight strokes per revolution instead of the former four leading to a smoother motion.
Saxons were very busy during the first decade of the 20th century, especially during 1901-02 and 1905-08. They built 85 engines aggregating 90,240 ihp between 1901 and 1910. However with the advent of the First World War in 1914 their engine oiutput declined rapidly. They also exported a small number of horizontal cross compound engines to India during the 1890s and early 1900s.
The last mill engine produced by George Saxon is reputed to be one made for J J Hadfield, a bleachworks in Chinley
. This final specimen was built in 1928, and was a 450 hp cross compound engine. The technical specifications included 16 ½"HP,(diameter high pressure cylinder) a 31"LP and 3ft 6" stroke. It was steamed at 120psi, and drove a 16 ft flywheel with 12 ropes, at 100rpm. It had Corliss valves on both cylinders. The horizontal condenser was behind the LP cylinder.
No engines have survived.
Stationary steam engine
Stationary steam engines are fixed steam engines used for pumping or driving mills and factories, and for power generation. They are distinct from locomotive engines used on railways, traction engines for heavy steam haulage on roads, steam cars , agricultural engines used for ploughing or...
s. It was based in the Openshaw
Openshaw
Openshaw is a ward of the city of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, North West England. It lies about two miles east of Manchester city centre. Historically a part of Lancashire, Openshaw was incorporated into the city of Manchester in 1890. Its name derives from the Old English Opinschawe, which...
district of Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
in England. The company produced large steam-driven engines for power stations and later for textile mills
Cotton mill
A cotton mill is a factory that houses spinning and weaving machinery. Typically built between 1775 and 1930, mills spun cotton which was an important product during the Industrial Revolution....
in Lancashire and elsewhere.
Biography
George Saxon was born in ManchesterManchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
in 1821. He served an apprenticeship with William Fairbairn
William Fairbairn
Sir William Fairbairn, 1st Baronet was a Scottish civil engineer, structural engineer and shipbuilder.-Early career:...
, and rose to supervisor. In 1851, he moved to be foreman at Benjamin Goodfellow's works in Hyde, Greater Manchester
Hyde, Greater Manchester
Hyde is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2001 census, the town had a population of 31,253. Historically part of Cheshire, it is northeast of Stockport, west of Glossop and east of Manchester....
. Here in 1854, he invented and patented a fusible plug
Fusible plug
A fusible plug is a threaded metal cylinder usually of bronze, brass or gunmetal, with a tapered hole drilled completely through its length. This hole is sealed with a metal of low melting point that flows away if a pre-determined, high temperature is reached...
for steam boilers. That year he formed his own business at Spring Works, Openshaw, trading as George Saxon. He was a mill-wright. He probably started manufacturing steam engines in 1860. He patented many small improvements to engine design. He was elected president of the Manchester Association of Engineers in 1871. He was also a member if the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. In February 1879 he patented an automatic cut-off motion, which made his engines more economical. He believed in the use of a long cylinder stroke on his horizontal engines to produce more power. His sons followed him into the business and continued it after his death in 1879.
History
Up to 1860 Saxon appears to have mainly concentrated on engine repair work and producing mill gearing and shafting. Spring Works was extended in 1860 by the addition of an erecting shop, when engine making seems to have started in a small way, and was further expanded in 1870. An example of an early Saxon engine was one built in the 1860s for a Manchester confectionary firm which was a horizontal single cylinder non-condensing engine, 60 ihp, with a Meyer variable cut-off slide valveExpansion valve
An expansion valve is a slide valve used in a steam engine to control the cut-off. It rides on the back of an adapted main slide valve and is driven by an additional eccentric that has more advance than the main eccentric. The cut-off is adjusted in one of two ways...
. The construction of larger engines had started by 1870/71 when they built a horizontal cross compound engine, possibly for an Oldham customer, which used steam at the relatively high pressure for that time of 100 lbs psi. By 1875 Saxon was building engines of between 750 and 1,000 ihp, for the new 'Oldham Limiteds'. These were mostly horizontal twin tandem compound engines - a 4-cylinder design for which Saxons became noted during the last quarter of the 19th century. During 1871-80 Saxons are known to have built at least 10 engines with a capacity of about 6,800 ihp, mostly for cotton mills.Collier p 225-226; 265-266
George Saxon engines were charactised by having a long stroke and high operating speed.
They used Corliss valves on their large mill engines from around 1890 onwards, having previously used slide valves in their engines. The Saxon design dispensed with the wrist plate and unusually placed Corliss valves on both the HP (high pressure) and LP (low pressure) cylinders where other designers, such as McNaught and Petrie would have used piston valves. Saxons were late adopters of Corliss valve engines but were quick to adopt the efficient triple expansion engine design. During 1891 and 1892 they converted a number of large compound engines to triple expansion, with a saving in fuel of up to 18% and in 1892 they built their first horizontal twin tandem triple expansion engine, 1,260 ihp, for Rock Mill, Ashton-under-Lyne. They also continued to build large horizontal twin tandem compound engines. Near identical engines Saxons built in 1902 for Dawn Mill, Shaw
Dawn Mill, Shaw
Dawn Mill, Shaw is a cotton spinning mill in Shaw and Crompton, Oldham, Greater Manchester. It was built on the site of Shaw Mill at the "dawn" of the 20th century. Dawn Mill was equipped with mule weft spindles in 1950. It was powered by Engines named Venus and Mars, 1800 hp twin tandem...
and Magnet Mill, Chadderton
Magnet Mill, Chadderton
Magnet Mill, Chadderton is a cotton spinning mill in Chadderton, Oldham, Greater Manchester. It was built by the Magnet Mill Ltd. in 1902, but purchased by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in the 1930s. It was later taken over by the Courtaulds Group. Ceasing textile production in December 1966,...
developed 1400 hp at 140psi and 1700 hp at 160psi. The flywheels of these engines were 26 ft in diameter and weighed between 80 and 90 tons. The speed of 60rpm and stroke of 5 ft, were standard at this time.
Saxons built their first inverted vertical engine in 1896, a space efficient design which became quite popular with mill builders. They built some particularly large engines. In 1908 they built a 2,750 ihp engine for No 2 Mill, Times Mill, Middleton - their largest to be built in the Oldham area. In Pear Mill, Stockport, and Hall Lane Spinning Mill, Leigh, George Saxon used the Manhattan design. This design was so named because Allis-Chalmers
Allis-Chalmers
The Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co. of West Allis, Wisconsin, is an American company known for its past as a manufacturer with diverse interests, perhaps most famous for their bright Persian Orange farm tractors...
, in designing an 60,000 h.p. engine to generate electricity for the Manhattan transport system, had been faced with a small site, and had laid out the 88in diameter low pressure cylinders horizontally, and the 44in high pressure cylinders vertically. This had enabled eight strokes per revolution instead of the former four leading to a smoother motion.
Saxons were very busy during the first decade of the 20th century, especially during 1901-02 and 1905-08. They built 85 engines aggregating 90,240 ihp between 1901 and 1910. However with the advent of the First World War in 1914 their engine oiutput declined rapidly. They also exported a small number of horizontal cross compound engines to India during the 1890s and early 1900s.
The last mill engine produced by George Saxon is reputed to be one made for J J Hadfield, a bleachworks in Chinley
Chinley
Chinley is a rural village in High Peak Borough, situated on the western edge of the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire, England, with a population of around 2000. Before the railway, the area was economically dominated by agriculture and quarrying. Three textile mills were established in...
. This final specimen was built in 1928, and was a 450 hp cross compound engine. The technical specifications included 16 ½"HP,(diameter high pressure cylinder) a 31"LP and 3ft 6" stroke. It was steamed at 120psi, and drove a 16 ft flywheel with 12 ropes, at 100rpm. It had Corliss valves on both cylinders. The horizontal condenser was behind the LP cylinder.
No engines have survived.
Mills driven by their engines
- Junction Mill. Middleton - 1875, 1,000 ihp
- Boundary Mill, Oldham - 1875, 750 ihp
- Star Mill, Oldham - 1875, 750 ihp
- Hawthorn Mill, Chadderton
- Lark Mill, Hollinwood 1901
- Magnet Mill, ChaddertonMagnet Mill, ChaddertonMagnet Mill, Chadderton is a cotton spinning mill in Chadderton, Oldham, Greater Manchester. It was built by the Magnet Mill Ltd. in 1902, but purchased by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in the 1930s. It was later taken over by the Courtaulds Group. Ceasing textile production in December 1966,...
, - Broadstone Mill, ReddishBroadstone Mill, ReddishBroadstone Mill was a double cotton spinning mill on the northern bank of the Stockport Branch Canal in Reddish, Stockport, Greater Manchester, in England. The mills were started in 1903 and completed in 1907. They closed in 1957, and the southern mill was demolished and engine houses were...
- Cairo Mill, Waterhead, Oldham, Triple expansion.
- Irk Mill, Middleton, a Manhattan
- Fox Mill, HollinwoodFox Mill, HollinwoodFox Mill, Hollinwood is a cotton spinning mill in Hollinwood, Oldham, Greater Manchester. It was taken over by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in the 1930s and passed to Courtaulds in 1964.-Location:Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England...
, a Manhattan - Ridgefield Mill, Failsworth, a Manhattan