Chacewater (Wheal Busy), 1777

Cornish Mine Engines (3 items).

1295. Chacewater (Wheal Busy). 1777. 3 items.
Single-acting engine, with 30 inch cylinder, 8 foot stroke, chain connection, unequal beam.

General view of the engine marked "Chacewater engine & Messrs. Scott & Company"; sections and plans of the cylinder, condenser etc. - partially shaded drawing, with copy marked "Duplicate" and "Scott & Co." None of the drawings are dated.

Original Portfolio or 'Book' No. 11 [in the Drawing Office Index only].
Catalogue of Old Engines p. 300.

For Chacewater Mine. Chacewater Mine was also known as "Wheal Busy", "Huel Bussey" and "Wheal Spirit", and those names were at first occasionally used to refer to this engine. The Drawing Office Index lists the engine twice, under Chacewater and Huel Bussey. This was the first Boulton & Watt engine erected in Cornwall, although it was the second one ordered; Tingtang Mine [see Portfolio 5/1288] was the first one ordered. According to the List of Engines made at Soho, the engine stopped in Jun. 1778. It was then sold to Scorrier Mine, where it worked from Oct. 1778 to Sep. 1782 before moving to Wheal Virgin St. Hilary where it worked from Dec. 1782 to Jul. 1785. Between Apr. 1786 and Jul. 1787 it worked at Crane Mine, before being sold to the United Mines, who worked it at Poldory between Dec. 1791 and Dec. 1794. In 1797 it was bought by Wheal Susan, where it was still working in May 1798.
This engine was ordered at the same time as another 30 inch engine was being made, for the Bog Mine of Scott & Co. in Shropshire. Some drawings were used for both engines. Originally all the drawings were kept in the same book, which the Drawing Office numbered 11 in their series of books of pre-1778 drawings, but in the 1890s Henry Hazleton separated three drawings and put them in a separate portfolio for Chacewater Mine, leaving the rest as a portfolio for Scott & Co.

See also: Portfolio 5/628.