First engine claim picking up steam

The first steam engine may have been installed in Wolverhampton - and not in Dudley as previously thought - according to an amateur historian at a city symposium.

The invention that changed the English landscape forever was designed by Cornwall blacksmith Thomas Newcomen and history records the engine was initially erected at a coal mine in Dudley in 1712.

However a Dudley college lecturer, who was born in Wolverhampton, claims the engine had already been used by an industrialist called Bache in Willenhall Road about a mile from the city centre.

The challenge was made at the local history forum at Bantock House, in Bantock Park, on Saturday.

The steam engine was perfected later in the 18th century by Scottish engineer James Watt who, with inventor Matthew Boulton, mass produced the machine at the historic Soho Foundry in Smethwick.

Suhail Rana, one of eight speakers at the symposium, made his case for a Wolverhampton engine after researching the firm's records.

Local historian Frank Sharman, one of the speakers at the event, said: "This is not a joke but a very serious argument with a lot of evidence from old documents in the archives.

"Bache would have used the engine to drain water from the mine. Rana argues the engine was dismantled after Bache died and moved to Dudley where it was erected some time later.

"The Dudley engine is in the record books - this claim, if taken up, could change all that."

The Newcomen model was an atmospheric engine which used condensed steam to create a vacuum which caused the pistons to press down under the weight of the atmosphere. The Watt engine used the reverse principle, using the steam to push the pistons up.

The symposium followed the success of last year's inaugural event and offered the public a chance to share local history knowledge.