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 :-