Our unique steam engine

Steam engine power is perhaps the most remarkable survivor at the brewery.

Installed in 1899 to supply through a series of belts, cogs and shafts the motive power the brewery needed to produce it's beer. It is no longer in daily use for its original purpose, but it is still a fully functioning steam engine and will occasionally provide power for the brewing process.

The Earliest Steam Engine

John Harris, the brewery's founder, had an earlier steam engine installed in the brewery, probably in 1880 but little is known about it. The steam engine was used to pump the liquor (water), to drive the grist mill and for hoisting sacks and barrels. A rough plan of the brewery in the 1880s shows it's position and various belt drives running from it. When the new brewery was built at the turn of the century the accounts include "thoroughly overhauling and fixing the present steam engine and barrel hoist for loading out stage, including additions and alterations to shafting and gearing for same", suggesting that it continued to have a limited use for some time even though the new steam engine had taken over the main role.

The Boilers

In the 1970s two disused boilers were recorded at the brewery: a Cornish type, supplied by Burrows and Co of Banbury and dated 1891, and a Lancashire type. These were probably the original boilers for the two steam engines. Both were coal fired, and this system remained in use until the 1970s. A variety of coal seems to have been in use, including steam coal, nuttyslack,anthracite and some coke.

Plant Driven occasionally by the Steam Engine

The steam engine drives a range of machinery in the brewery via belts and line shafting.

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Mashing

The Steel's Masher (patented in 1853) connected to the lineshafting.

Grist Mill

On the top floor of the first stage is the grist mill for crushing the malt so that it can release its sugar in the mashing process. Supplied in 1899 by Nalder and Nalder of Wantage, this is another example of original machinery which is still in use, and it may be the last one of its kind.

Overhead Line Shafting

A particularly interesting detail of the mechanism is that in each pair of gearwheels in the overhead drive system one wheel has wooden teeth while the other has iron. This simple engineering strategy means that if there is ever a sudden jamming of the drive, the only result will be damage to a few wooden teeth which can easily be replaced, instead of a whole casting being ruined. The same advantage confines everyday wear mainly to the wooden teeth, which normally last for about ten years. They are still made of hornbeam, the traditional timber used for this purpose because it is durable without being too hard. New teeth are shaped and fitted by the brewery's own engineer. Ooe other advantage was the the wood and iron combination would produce no sparks.

Steam Heating

The copper in which the wort is boiled was heated directly by a coal fire until the 1970s when steam pipes were inserted to do the work rather more efficiently. Steam also helped to maintain the efficiency of the staff, by supplying a heating system to the new office building when it was completed in 1897.

Cask Washing

Cask washing required ample supplies of hot water, which was heated by reusing the exhaust steam from the engine. A note in the brewing book for 1901 records that the temperature of the water in the washing tank was raised by this means from 74oF at 8.00 am to 180oF by 3.30 pm. Modern metal casks are still washed using water heated in this same way.

Hook Norton Steam Wagon

The most exciting development in the brewery's transport arrangements in the early twentieth century was the purchase of a steam powered wagon in 1904. The wagon was used for moving large loads as it was claimed that it "does the work of six horses, and if within a radius of 7 or 8 miles this wagon would do the work of ten."

The Wagon Style

A letter setting out the colour scheme to be used states. "the engine and wagon to be painted a dark chocolate picked out in red", with name boards on both sides of the wagon. However the same concern was not shown for the wagon driver, as it was decided to dispense with the drivers shelter to save money.

Driving the Wagon

Training a driver of the wagon was a matter of some importance as the brewery staff only had experience of horses. The brewery's initial choice of trainee driver proved to be less than successful and we find that the role of steam wagon driver was undertaken by one of the Draymen.

Not everyone was happy with the wagon and it was referred to by one local as "this clanking hissing monster" after it terrified his horse. Another poor man ended up in a hedge after an encounter in a narrow country lane while out for a bicycle ride one summer afternoon.