One of the main purposes of these articles is to remind people of the treasures that survived the 2016 Fire at Yarloop. Many of these were steam engines. When steam engines are spoken about, the assumption is often that it is about railway engines or locomotives, but most steam engines never, or rarely, changed their location. Stationary steam engines, from their development very early in the Industrial Revolution, provided the power to operate other machines that had previously been powered by human labour, animals, wind and water. Fire and water fuelled the Steam Revolution for the manufacture of objects from cotton through to steel.
Today, I would like to introduce you to our Austral Otis stationary steam engine. This is one of our few Australian-made machines, as most came from the UK, with names such as Birmingham on our objects. Those who have travelled on lifts (elevators) in multi-storey buildings in Australia may recall the Otis name. This company was formed in South Melbourne in 1878 as Hughes, Pye & Rigby before becoming the Austral Otis Engineering Company Limited in 1893. It built machines for a wide variety of purposes. Engines for pumping stations and pumping generally were some of these and as an agency for Worthington pumps, it produced a number of the items we possess. It also produced the engines used for mining and with the Western Australian gold mining boom beginning in this period, their machines quite likely came West to power mines.
Steam engines from the Goldfields certainly found their way south into the timber industry. Our other large machine, a Davey Paxman & Co. Ltd. engine, was certainly one. The Austral Otis may have been another. We do know that from 1910 to 1979 it was the main engine powering the mill at Deanmill, just west of Manjimup. This engine is described as a horizontal, twin cylinder, duplex or reciprocating* steam engine, producing 350 horsepower (257 kW) at 100 RPM and driving a 12-foot (3.7 m) fly wheel. From this, via a complex belt system, saws, trolleys and winches used in the mill were powered. Each of the pistons had a bore diameter of 18” (45.72 cm) and a stroke of 32” (81.28 cm).
This engine was reputed to be the largest restored stationary steam engine in WA. Colin Puzey and a team of volunteers carried out this mammoth task. It is believed that a similar restoration can be repeated. We have found that the damaged engine is able to be turned over. In other words it does not appear to have seized. Also, the Institute of Marine Engineers has restored to full working condition three of our small steam pumps. These are all older than the Austral Otis. One of them is a Worthington. They were probably subjected to greater heat than the Austral Otis, which still has much of its original paintwork. So when its new home is built around it and willing volunteers – engineers or not – come forward, it could take on its original restored grandeur.
*I understand that these terms refer to steam engines or steam pumps where the steam is injected before and behind the piston.[1]
The Austral Otis before the Fire in 2016.
The engine after 4 years of neglect, February, 2020.
The engine before the beginning of the redevelopment of the site, October, 2021.
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[1] From ‘The Phoenix Rises Very Slowly’ Part 26, by Allan Ward.