World's oldest steam engine brought to life

The world's oldest steam engine designed by James Watt has been brought back to life in Birmingham, England, where it was built in 1775.
The Smethwick engine was the forerunner of all the steam engines which powered the Industrial Revolution in Britain and the world beyond.
It is now on display at the ThinkTank part of Birmingham Museums.
Learn more about James Watt and the steam engine at History West Midlands www.historywm.com

[@bruceraykiewicz6274]

As a 78 year old 'live steamer', it does my old heart good to see a young man working on this historic stationary steam engine. Thank you for this video.

[@mindeloman]

The main oak beam is original from 1779. Makes me wonder how old the oak tree was from which they harvested it.

[@killerdeamonking]

Most likely 15th \ 16th century trees can live 200-400 years depending on the type of tree and it's environment.

[@donaldasayers]

Would prefer to hear the engine not the music.

[@philrowe689]

Why in Heaven's name is it felt necessary to have "music'" playing throughout this otherwise excellent video. We're allowed to SEE the engine running, but not HEAR it. It's the sight AND SOUND of steam that is so special. Completely ruins the experience. I wonder what Dr Andrew would think if, at one of his lectures, there was someone with a radio playing music while he was speaking ...

[@SteamCrane]

It's maddening! It would be easy to re-edit the same video with the original sound. Didn't watch it.

[@paullee4033]

When I was a apprentice in1971 i worked at a agricultural engineering workshop there was a man who allways worked in the work shop called Fred Poole he had worked for Birmingham bus department during the Second World War and after the war had bad health he bought a little cottage just outside Welshpool to convales after a while he got better and worked at our workshop he told me he did his apprenticeship at a place called bellis and morcom in Birmingham who built steam engines I will never forget Fred he taught me a lot of things that people today could not do and I owe him a lot

[@bigredc222]

Hopefully, you've been able to pass on some of what you've learned to a younger generation.

[@artisanwhitehall]

We are a dying trade we people who understand massive steam engines.

[@tobybrown1179]

Have you started a channel to teach other from the lost ways? Hope you used some of his knowledge during your career

[@johnblackburn2237]

It is amazing that this engine survives to this day

[@renegadeoflife87]

Yeah, just surviving at all is quite the feat. Most of these engines were replaced by newer designs a century ago and left to rot or dismantled to clear space for other things. But can you imagine anything from today still existing, let alone being in working order, 200 years from now?

[@remote_photography_services_CO]

That is amazing. All of those who worked to preserved this engine deserve a lot of credit.

[@AEKarnes]

Great work all of you, a fantastic achievement. Thank you for not being afraid to run this beautiful machine.

[@drlegendre]

Great job.. replacing a rope packing? All in a day's work 100 years ago.

[@johndavies9270]

A wonderful 3 minutes worth of film. I'm delighted to see her running under steam, and know how much of this incredible, historic machine is in fact original. 119 years of duty? That itself is amazing. Thanks for this

[@williamarmstrong646]

But aren't Newcomen engines atmospheric engines, the function of steam being to create a vacuum, air pressure doing the work?

[@christophersmith3376]

Why did you add clanking sound effects? Would have been great if you let the machines speak for themselves!

[@lewiemcneely9143]

Just because it's old doesn't mean it's TOO old!

[@crazyhorsetrading8655]

brilliant to see this engine so well preserved. Well done to all who where and are looking after this treasure from our past.

[@haroldpearson6025]

The old science museum in Newhall St was much better. It was housed in an old industrial building with many rooms on different levels. Creaky wood floors and passages, subdued lighting. It was a place to explore with a surprise round every corner. It was also free entry!

[@paulbrent7293]

You’re dead right there Harold, the old Science Museum was a place of wonder and awe for me as a kid in the 1950’s. As you say, the layout helped and all the interesting things gave it a great ambience. Yes, it was totally free entry as all museums ought to be, they should be a place of inspiration not a money making enterprise.

[@davidcockayne3381]

Absolutely, the new place is soulless.

[@gregorymalchuk272]

What happened to the old building?

[@Nigel_Gardiner]

@@gregorymalchuk272 demolished for posh apartments

[@flybobbie1449]

Spot on, the new one has no soul.

[@slackalice100]

Fantastic piece of Engineering history.

[@uncommonsense360]

Older than the US

[@ddoty2073]

By a year

[@mr.randomgamer888]

the fact a machine like this is even comparable just shows how new America really is

[@royfearn4345]

US is nobbut a babby.

[@absinthefandubs9130]

@@mr.randomgamer888 Most European nation-states are way younger but somehow still pride themselves in having millennia of history. As it turns out, patriotism is a cluster of lies people tell themselves to avoid acknowledging they're, well.. people.

[@Neat_profile]

It shows how NOT REALLY SPECIAL Watts is. If he hadn't done that, someone else would have.

[@robertpatrick3350]

When the engines moved from MSI to Thinktank there was a significant risk that they wouldn’t be able to run on live steam due to cost and would be operated on jockey motors, it required considerable effort to enable sufficient funds were available. Most of the installation work for the engines was undertaken by Heritage engineering of Glasgow…… some of the engines had been in pieces in long term storage which presented significant challenges when being assembled and commissioned.

[@rustyaxelrod]

Fascinating. It’s amazing to think how far we have come in such a short time. The designers and builders of this engine were working with basic principals that still govern such things today. We stand on the shoulders of those who came before and I suspect they would be proud and amazed to see what has been accomplished. I realize steam power is little more than a novelty now but it built an entire country before we moved to internal combustion and electrics and even so, many of the principals still apply.

[@bigredc222]

Steam is still used very much, all nuclear-powered ships use steam, and nuclear power plants use steam, all coal-burning power plants use steam, the city of New York sells steam to thousands of buildings throughout the city for heating, and thousand of building have boiler plants to make steam to heat them.

[@marknerren402]

Steam power just went from reciprocating to turbine but is still in wide use.

[@dannyhussain5489]

Phenomenal! I worked and studied at the Assay office, an institute that Matthew Boulton was a core part of!!

[@tonyking2030]

What a wonderful engine, so very nice to see it back in steam!

[@SteamCrane]

Fascinating! Could you post an edit without the music so we can hear the engine? Didn't watch, just skipped through to see if the "music" ever stopped. Thumbs down pending a version with natural sound. Looking forward to it!

[@derekferguson385]

OMG! What is that dreadful music all about. Whoever made the film must have thought the subject was so boring they would have to provide music to keep people awake. 🙄

[@JungleYT]

Well, I hope they took measurements on that Oak beam... Still, I've heard wood from old forests was denser, like Notre Dame that caught fire...

[@thomasburke7995]

What a fantastic feat .. to make that breath life again .. awsone job.

[@malcolmrichards8922]

Interesting video, but not the world's oldest, and why the silly background music?

[@tonytiger75]

Oldest surviving James Watt engine

[@Nigel_Gardiner]

Oldest working

[@chrischiampo7647]

Really Cool That it’s Still Working 😀😮😮👍🏼

[@gillbraund8800]

Great video, and even now we still use steam to drive turbines to produce electricity after all these years. How good is to know that it's all, even those oak radials, BRITISH....

[@Kevin-ix4qz]

When they used to build things that last

[@TheHunterg30]

the old science museum was free , now all the machines which were donated ,you now have to pay to see at the so called think tank, parking is ridiculous due to Birmingham's anti car policy

[@thomashenderson3901]

Thanks and noted, I'll plan ahead properly when I go there!

[@yakamarezlife]

Pay to go in a museum lol work at the Smithsonian there all free to all like every museum should be

[@hungryjack8032]

@@yakamarezlife somebody has to pay the bills. You want to see old stuff, you pay to see it.

[@yakamarezlife]

@@hungryjack8032 that ain't how it works in America

[@hungryjack8032]

@@yakamarezlife depends on where in America you are and which museum you go to. Some are pay to enter, others are "free" but supported by local taxpayers. Either way Utilities and taxes need to be paid because electricity is never free here in America.

[@simontaylor2319]

Nice building Nick

[@andy16666]

Cool engine.

[@50srefugee]

Fascinating subject, well presented. HOWEVER: many of us who enjoy videos of machinery, particularly the old historical beasts, want to hear their roars, hisses, and groans, not irrelevant music.

[@dw4956]

Now thats true sustainability.

[@ravichristian6364]

very good

[@jonksmodels]

I'm confused when you google "worlds first steam engine", you get 100 different answers?

[@Sorga_myth_dewa_real]

If Mr Savery and Mr Newcomen wasnt invented very first pressure engine.perhaps now i am still care and cleaning the horse pup/feses..thank you very much

[@clottedcreamtea8695]

I would go to brum just to see that . We have a newcomon engine where i live ,but its running on electric

[@peteacher52]

What a pity that the interesting content was spoiled by the addition of obtrusive added noise that some call music.

Song at the beginning??

[@tobybrown1179]

Wonder it wasn’t scrapped for the steel during world wars

[@mikego18753]

heh Jim,that,s fantastic,the oldest.you must be 'chuffed'.

[@JJStillOn60FPS]

Thanks for helping with hw

[@tunneltug]

The worlds oldest steam engine is the Newcomen engine in the Dartmouth Museum one of three built for the Griff Colliery in Warwickshire in 1712, 63 years before this one. This is just "The Oldest James Watt Steam Engine"

[@Shadow0fd3ath24]

Its still the worlds oldest steam engine though, they even said it in the vid. Not historys. Just in the world. Seeing as Newcomen ones arent even extant anymore

[@tunneltug]

Yes they are existent, the oldest steam engine in the world is on display in Dartmouth and the second oldest is on display in the Henry Ford Museum.

[@Nigel_Gardiner]

@@tunneltug do they both run as smoothly as this one?

[@tunneltug]

@@Nigel_Gardiner Who cares? smoothness isn't what is claimed or disputed, it's just as relevant as asking do they both weigh as much as this one

[@Nigel_Gardiner]

@@tunneltug this is the world's oldest WORKING steam engine. There are a couple of others older but not working. This one works and so is promoted as the oldest working engine. That is why the matter of the engines working is relevent.

[@Neat_profile]

World's oldest steam engine was the Aelopile.

[@larsiabobam17]

Es ist sehr spannend

[@williambeaumont1312]

A lot has changed since then.

[@hisexcellencytrump855]

Engines made today can't get past warranty period

[@raymondo162]

get a honda m8 !!

[@mr.slaphappy3794]

No description?? lol

[@billyfoster3223]

America was still being founded as a country when this engine was new!!😁😁

[@user-hb5hb1bk8i]

Он талант!

[@davidaustin2172]

Just proves how the old stuff lasts, will any stuff built today still be working in 50 years time, never mind 250.

[@mdtransmissionspecialties]

Could you imagine if they restored one of uss Texas’s engines?

[@jackrm1170]

I saw Smethwick and thought of Danny G

[@walterbennie816]

More efficient, thermodynamic problems,, steam and steam condensate meeting, improvement, vacuum needed to operate the engine, what a load of bluster! Newcomen's Atmospheric Pump couldn't be improved, even by Watt, it was a 70 years long dead-end. A 100% efficient Atmospheric Newcomen Pump will only give 14.7psi. of Atmospheric Pressure, and we know that's impossible. It would be more like 10 psi. A vacuum isn't needed for a Watt High Pressure Steam Engine to work, straight from Watt's mouth, a condenser is optional. The story of a model Newcomen Atmospheric Pump (true or not) is worth mentioning? The change from Newcomen's Atmospheric Power to Watt's High Pressure Steam Power and his invention of the world's first PRACTICAL High Pressure Steam Engine to achieve that, (the big change) isn't worth mentioning? (as usual). And this is straight from the top man! No wonder us minions don't know any better.

[@trevortrevortsr2]

It's great that the operators of the engine are young and not made to wear fancy dress garb that is so naff in museums

[@richardwatts5230]

ONE TON EVERY MIN.

[@drlegendre]

He quoted "1500 buckets of water per minute".. whatever that's supposed to mean. Is a bucket some antiquated unit of measurement? Either way, without knowing the height they were raised, we can't calculate the power.

[@who-gives-a-toss_Bear]

@@drlegendre 1 bucket [UK] = 4 gallon [UK]

[@richarddefour5220]

Not the older, haven't you earder of the "Fardier", from Cugnot?

[@Nigel_Gardiner]

Oldest working

[@Zebred2001]

Bleedin' clever what?

[@philnewcomers9170]

where were the first atmosferic steam engine parts made Bristol orColbrookdale that is a much more important question What was an improuver No one has taken this point up Darby and Goldney founded Colbrook dale on the back of Nnewcombes ground breaking invention The other point is when was the pickel pot condencer first made those chaps would have seen the problem and fixed it with the pickel pot ,dont you think ?

[@wattage-uk9zt]

James Watt didn't improve Newcomen's Atmospheric Pump, it couldn't be improved, even by Watt. James Watt realized Newcomen's Atmospheric Power was the problem. So Watt dumped Newcomen's Atmospheric Power for High Pressure Steam Power. To achieve this he had to INVENT a new engine, the world's first High Pressure Steam Engine. It was nothing to do with efficiency, although it was more efficient. His new engine could work without a separate condenser but it made his engine more efficient by recirculating hot water and eliminating Atmospheric Pressure, which opposes a Steam Engine. Watt's engine didn't need a vacuum to run, straight from Watt's mouth, if you don't have enough cold water for a condenser, just release used Steam to the Atmosphere. Then? An Industrial Revolution! No more Newcomen Atmospheric Pumps or Arkwright's Water-Wheels.

[@Pocketfarmer1]

Was the pump diameter really 90cm? Did Watt work in metric measures?

[@who-gives-a-toss_Bear]

Worlds oldest steam engine, so not an atmospheric engine. In 1712 Newcomen invented the world's first successful steam engine. This engine is powered by steam pressure not atmospheric pressure. 2:33 1500 Buckets =166.666’ Barrels = 55.555’ Pipes = 6000 Gallons (UK) =27.27654 Kilolitres. No preservation order on the old museum site, somebody slipped up! Can’t make a profit from FREE. Back to the old days where the rich pricks rule and can buy your seat in the government.

[@GopalKrishnan-ku3hn]

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