Description:General view of 'sun & planet' engine and side view of tilt hammer for John Wilkinson, Bradley, Shropshire.
One of the first applications for the rotative engine was working tilt hammers for hammering metal. Boulton and Watt had experimented extensively with steam-powered tilt hammers at Soho Manufactory. This large sun and planet engine, which had a 42 inch cylinder, was for the ironmaster John Wilkinson, who made most of Boulton & Watt cylinders during this period. The left hand drawing shows a side view of the hammer. The hammer head is on the right of the drawing, at the end of the beam marked “6 feet 6”. The projections on the wheel that raised the hammer can clearly be seen in the side view of the engine.
This drawing is part of the Archives of Soho collection, which is held by Birmingham City Archives [Ref. MS3147/Portfolio/5/239c]