Steam revolution: pre-visit exhibition slideshow
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Transcript of Steam revolution: pre-visit exhibition slideshow
Pre-visit exhibition walkthrough
The steam revolution
This exhibition walkthrough provides an overview of the:
• Physical layout and exhibition sections
• Key objects
• Audiovisuals and interactives
• Relevant online teaching and learning resources
Exhibition entrance
The steam revolution
Go on a journey to discover the development of steam technology — from the scientific experiments of the 1600s to the steam turbines that power electricity generators today.
Original engine roomThe Steam Revolution gallery was the original engine room of the Ultimo Power House, which generated power for Sydney’s electric trams. The engine room
was completed in 1899 and remained in use till 1963.
The steam revolution exhibition floor plan
Section 1: Introduction
Section 2: Steps towards
steam
Section 4: Steam
goes bush
Section 3: Turn on the tap
Section 5: Designed for power
Section 6: Steam on the move
Section 7: All work …
no play
Section 8: Roll up! Roll up!
Section 9: Designed for speed
Section 10: The city electric
Section 11: The Earl
Spencer’s cargo
Section 1: Introduction
Section 7: All work …
no play
See how traditional methods of work changed after the arrival of steam power about 300 years ago. The video shows a sawmill engine working at a relentless pace.
Section 1: Introduction
Section 2: Steps towards steam
1
This section covers the scientific discoveries about air pressure and the nature of steam that led to the invention of the Boulton and Watt rotative steam engine
Interactive: Feel the
weight of air
Scientific discoveriesabout air
pressure and the nature of
steam
Video: Boulton and Watt – how
their engines work (2 min)
Interactive: Boulton and Watt engine
model
Interactive: Feel the weight of airFind out what makes the piston lift the weight.
Step 1: Turn the red handle to pump air out of the cylinder below the piston. What happens to the weight?
Step 2: Pull the yellow handle down. Can you feel the air pushing down on the piston?
Step 3: Press the air valve lever on your right to let air back in the cylinder. What happens?
Some early scientific discoveries:
1654: Otto von Guericke – What did he demonstrate?
1690: Denis Papin – What did he invent and what did he use to move a piston inside a cylinder?
1698: Thomas Savory – What did he invent?
1712: Thomas Newcomen – What was his steam engine able to do?
Interactive: Working model of our Boulton and
Watt engine
Touch the button to bring the model to life. This model
reveals the separate condenser which improved the engine efficiency at least threefold. This is a scale model of the
engine upstairs.
Video: Boulton and Watt – how
their engines work (2 min)Interactive: Put
steam to work[This interactive is
to be replaced]
Section 3: Turning on the tapFollow the development of Sydney’s water supply and look at the huge cylinder from Botany Pumping Station. Compare it with the cylinder of the engine behind you and imagine how big the Botany engine was.
These mechanical partsensured that steamentered the cylinder
above and then below the piston, over and over.
Cylinder withtimber
insulation
Stone water filter
Section of wooden pipe that
formed part of Busby’s Bore
Bucket Basin and ewer
Until the 1850s, few people in Sydney had taps in their houses. Most had to pump water by hand from public pumps and wells and then carry it home, walking up to half a kilometre each way.
Interactive: Pump some water
Get an idea of the effort involved in using a hand
pump
Audio:‘Not a drop fit to drink’
Hear what people thought about Sydney’s
water supply in the 1800s (3 min)
Section 4: Steam goes bushThis section is set around a Maudslay steam engine. Brought to Australia in 1837 along with two boilers, it drove a brewery and flour mill at Goulburn.
Maudslay steam engine
Wagon boiler
Boiler tools
The story of Henry Maudslay and his team of engineers is told here. They brought new levels of accuracy and standardisation to manufacturing.
Section 5: Designed for powerCompare these high-pressure steam engines developed in the 1800s. They could fit into confined spaces in factories or boats. Find each engine’s cylinder. One (compound) engine has two cylinders to make better use of steam.
Table engine
Inverted vertical engine
Horizontal engine
Video:Simple and compound
engines[behind the
plinth]
Section 6: All work … no playThis section looks at the large steam engines that drove factory machinery all around the world before World War II. The relentless pace of the machines made work monotonous as well as noisy, dangerous and dirty.
Marshall compound
steam engine
Printing press
Interactive:Corliss mill engine model
Weaving loom
Pulleys to transmit energy from engine
to machinery
Horse-drawn fire engine
Portable steam engine
AV:… making
steam move (3 min)
AV:Fire! Fire!
(4 min)[behind the engine]
Section 7: Steam on the moveThis section displays ‘portable engines’, which could be moved from place to place to do their work. These high-pressure engines were compact and light enough for horses to pull. Does this make them early hybrid vehicles?
Hard work before steam
Hand tools like these were used on farms in Australia and Britain before mechanisation. Great skill and strength were needed to get results.
Model plough
Shearers with hand shears
Steam on the farm
Farm workers saw mechanisation as a mixed blessing. It made some jobs easier, but people struggled to keep up with the relentless pace of machines. Many people had to move to cities because there were fewer jobs on farms.
The first fire brigades
In the days before governments employed fire-fighters, fire brigades were owned by insurance companies. These brigades would only put out fire in buildings insured by their own company.
The Fire King
Merryweather, the maker of our horse-drawn steam fire pump, was so successful that he was nicknamed the Fire King. The engine was made at Greenwich in England.
Section 8: Roll up! Roll up!In this section you’ll find out about fairgrounds and their steam-powered entertainments.
Tangye engine that powers two carousel horses Interactive:
View a fairground
Interactive:Stereoscopic photographs
Roll up! Roll up!
Travelling fairs brought a splash of gaiety and colour to people whose lives were spent in industrial surroundings.
Section 9: Designed for speedThis engine ran at the high speed needed to turn an electricity generator. The engine-generator set supplied electricity to machinery in the Uncle Toby’s Oats factory at Lane Cove in Sydney.
Belliss and Morcomtwo cylinder engine
Exciter to start the generator
The switchboard that controlled electricity
supply to the factory is displayed to the right
Peebles generator
Section 10: The city electricThis section looks at the spread of electricity and the turbines that generated it.
AV:Metropolis
(2 min)
Interactive:Light up Sydney
Parsons turbines
Interactive: Light up Sydney City lights
See how electricity produced by steam turbines transformed the way people worked and lived.
Spin the generator to light the Imperial Arcade model. How many rooms can you light up?
Interactive:Make power by impulse
Interactive:Make power by reaction
Cream separator made by turbine pioneer De Laval
Interactives explaining two basic types of turbine
Fantasies and failures
Steam power inspired many inventors in the 1800s. Here are two experimental models made by Lawrence Hargrave.
End of the line
Turbines and petrol engines began to take over in most fields after 1900.
Stirling class locomotive model
Triple expansion (compound) engine model
Steam turbine reaction model
Aircraft model engine
Parsons turbinesParsons turbines worked because they had many small blades to spin a
shaft very fast. We have lifted up part of the turbine so you can see them. Earlier turbine designers used a single blade, which in some
cases self-destructed at high speed.
Video: A simple turbine –
how it works[behind the plinth]
Interactive:The electric rollercoaster -
See how ‘electricity demand’ changes from
hour to hour and season to season
Section 11: The Earl Spencer’s cargoThis display looks at the arrival of the first steam engine in Sydney in 1813 and early use of steam in the colony. The main object is a large broken boiler.
Day Street boilerThe site where this boiler was found was once John Struth’s engineering works. The boiler might have exploded, or it could have been taken there to be broken up and melted down.
The Earl Spencer’s cargo
MedallionPlaque
Online resources:-1. Steam revolution exhibition
2. Steam revolution teachers exhibition notes
3. Beneath the Streets: the Tank stream by Erika Dicker in Object of the week blog of the Powerhouse Museum
Relevant Museum programs:-1. Boulton and Watt engine exhibition
2. Locomotive No 1 exhibition
3. Transport exhibition
4. Marvellous Machine Drawing Adventure, a self guided program for yrs 3-5
5. Zapped! science show for yrs 3-6
Image credit: All images used are from the Powerhouse Museum
-: Powerhouse Museum Learning :-