WILLIAM SYMINGTON'S STEAMBOAT EXPERIMENTS FOR PATRICK MILLER OF DALSWINTON

William Symington's first experimental steamboat was demonstrated at Patrick Miller's Dalswinton estate in the autumn of 1788. At the time, he was employed as an engineer at the Wanlockhead mines. 

William and his elder brother George had built a model steam carriage which he demonstrated at Edinburgh where he attended the University in 1786. In his Petition to Treasury, William Symington wrote, in the third person:

"In July 1786, he went to Edinburgh, and submitted to the Professors of that University, and to other Learned & Scientific Gentlemen, the model of a Carriage, which he had invented and intended to be moved on public Roads by the power of Steam.  Upon this occasion, he met the late Patrick Miller Esq.re of Dalswinton, who had been informed not only of his model of a steam Carriage, but of his previous improvements on the Steam Engine, by Mr James Taylor, a school companion of the Petitioner, and who was then tutor in Mr Millar's [1] family." Millar examined the model steam carriage in the Edinburgh house of Gilbert Meason, William Symington's employer at Wanlockhead and sponsor. [2]

Patrick Miller 1731-1815 was an Edinburgh merchant and banker. He became the director of the Bank of Scotland in 1767 and was Deputy Governor for thirty years. [3] He was a major shareholder in the Carron Iron Works. Miller had experimented with double and triple hulled boats driven by manually powered paddle wheels. He purchased the estate of Dalswinton in 1785 where he erected the present mansion. [4] A swamp near the house was developed into a small loch where he pursued his experiments with novel vessels. He died at Dalswinton House on 9 December 1815 and is buried in the Greyfriars churchyard in Edinburgh.

[1] Both spellings are used

[2] Letter from Alexander Nasmyth dated 7 April 1834, published in the Mechanics' Magazine Volume XLII January-June 1845, page 270

[3] Obituary, The Scots Magazine 1 February 1816 pages 159-160

[4] Smith, Cameron, Dalswinton Before Patrick Miller, in Transactions of the Dumfries and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society, Third Series, Volume XVIII 1934

In 1787 Miller published a pamphlet on the propulsion of boats by paddle wheels which were worked manually. The pamphlet was illustrated by drawings which were made by his friend the artist Alexander Nasmyth. [1] Miller's plan was for a triple-hulled boat with two paddles which were situated between the hulls.

[1] Woodcroft, Bennet, The Origin and Progress of Steam Navigation From Authentic Documents London 1848

These explanatory figures were copied from the originals by Nasmyth's son. (from Woodcroft)

Miller also presented his written statement to the Council of the Royal Society, London, on December 20, 1787:

"The elevation, section, plans and views of a triple vessel, and of wheels, with explanation of the figures in the engraving, and a short account of the properties and advantages of the invention." (Cited in Smiles, Lives of Boulton and Watt; see Woodcroft page 29)

William Symington had constructed a working model land carriage which was powered by his patent steam engine. In the summer of 1786 he demonstrated his land carriage in Edinburgh where he was enrolled as a student at the University. He was sponsored by Gilbert Meason, managing partner of the Wanlockhead Mining Company. He was introduced to Patrick Miller by a fellow student, James Taylor, who was a tutor to Miller's children. Taylor's brother John was the overseer of the mines at Wanlockhead. [1] Miller inspected the land carriage at Gilbert Meason's house in Edinburgh [2] and engaged William Symington to apply his patented steam engine to drive an experimental vessel. A small twin cylinder steam engine, constructed to Symington's 1787 patent design, was installed in Miller's tiny double-hulled vessel. The bore of the brass cylinders, which were cast by George Watt and Company of Edinburgh, measured only four inches. Miller's "pleasure boat" was propelled across his loch by a pair of paddle wheels which were set between the hulls and rotated by a chain and ratchet mechanism. The engine was mounted in a frame on one hull and the boiler was placed in the other. The Dalswinton steamboat measured 25 feet in length, with a breadth of seven feet.[3] According to the engineer James Nasmyth, son of the portraitist, the hull of this vessel was made from tinned iron plate. [4]

[1] Wilson, Tom, Memorials of Sanquhar Kirkyard 1912 Died at Sanquhar 14 October 1806, aged 53 years

[2] Letter from Alexander Nasmyth dated 7 April 1834; Appendix to Miller, Major General William Henry, Patrick Miller and Steam Navigation. A Letter To Bennet Woodcroft, Esq. F.R.S. vindicating the right of Patrick Miller, Esq. of Dalswinton, to be regarded as the first inventor of practical steam navigation. 1862

[3] Taylor, James, Memorial, April 1824

[4] Smiles, Samuel, editor, James Nasmyth Engineer An Autobiography 1883

THE ENGINE OF THE DALSWINTON STEAMBOAT

William Symington included a detailed drawing of the machinery of the Dalswinton steamboat with his Petition to Treasury dated 4th November 1825.

This drawing is inscribed as follows: “Falkirk 4th Novr 1825. This is the Drawing referred to on page 5th of my Petition of this date” and signed “William Symington”.

The engine has twin vertical cylinders with the condensers placed at the base and separated from the working cylinder by a second piston or "medium". The wheels were driven by a continuous chain and ratchet mechanism.

THE FATE OF THE DALSWINTON ENGINE

The fate of the Dalswinton engine was researched by Bennet Woodcroft [1] who rescued the little engine from oblivion and had it restored. Now the engine is in the collection of the Science Museum at South Kensington.

When Patrick Miller died in 1815, the engine was acquired by his eldest son. In 1828 he had it packaged in a deal case and sent it to Messrs Coutts and Co., bankers, of 59 Strand, London. On 17 February 1837 it was sent to the warehouse of Messrs. Tilbury and Co., 49 High-street, Marylebone, where it was kept until 31 January 1846. Then it was sent to Kenneth Mackenzie of 63 Queen street, Edinburgh. Bennet Woodcroft found that Mackenzie had consigned the engine into storage with an Insurance Company agent, Mr. Peter S. Fraser with the instruction  to sell the engine. Fraser sold the engine to his brother in law Mr. William Kirkwood, plumber, of West Thistle street, North-lane, Edinburgh, who removed the engine from the framing and put it aside, with the intention of melting it down as scrap metal. Kirkwood died. Woodcroft found the engine still in the possession of Messrs. William Kirkwood and sons, from whom it was purchased and despatched to the Great Seal Patent Office on 19 April 1853. Messrs. John Penn and sons, marine engineers of Greenwich, reinstated the engine in a frame and restored it to working order. The engine was returned to Woodcroft who placed it on loan in the Patent Office Museum.  About a year thereafter, Woodcroft retrieved the engine which was kept in his home until his death in 1879. [2] [3]  The history of the Dalswinton engine is also recounted in the Rankine Biography (pages 48-49).

[1] Bennet Woodcroft FRS 1803-1879 founded the Patent Museum, whose collections were ultimately transferred to the Science Museum at South Kensington. He established library and a Museum and Gallery of portraits of inventors within the Patent Office. In 1848 he published his "A Sketch of the Origin and Progress of Steam Navigation". Obituaries: Sheffield Independent 13 February 1879 page 8; Morning Post 14 February 1879 page 6; Edinburgh Evening News 15 February 1879 page 3.

[2] The Engineer 4 April 1902

[3] The Star 18 February 1879 page 4

NEWSPAPER REPORTS OF THE DALSWINTON TRIAL

A public demonstration on the Loch at Dalswinton on 14th October 1788. James Taylor placed the following notice in the newspapers of the day: [1]

The Edinburgh Advertiser October 24, 1788 [2] 

     The following is the refult of an experiment no lefs curious than new: - On the 14th inft. a boat was put in motion by a fteam-engine, upon Mr. Miller of Dalwinston’s piece of water at that place.  That gentleman’s improvements in naval affairs are well known to the public.  For fome time paft his attention has been turned to the application of the fteam-engine, to the purpofes of navigation.  He has now accomplifhed, and evidently fhown to the world, the practicability of this, by executing it upon a fmall fcale.  A veffel, twenty-five feet long and feven broad, was, on the above date, driven with two wheels by a fmall engine. It anfwered Mr. Millar’s expectations fully, and afforded great pleafure to the fpectators prefent.  The engine ufed is Mr. Symington’s new patent engine. 

[1]A Short Narrative of Facts relative to the Invention and Practice of Steam-navigation by the late Patrick Miller, Esq. of Dalswinston. Drawn up by his eldest son Patrick Miller, Esq. From the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, July 1825.

[2] Volume L, No. 2590, page 270, column A; also Scots Magazine, November 1788, volume 50, page 566, Dumfries Journal, November 1788, Manchester Mercury Tuesday 4 November 1788 page 1, Chelmsford Chronicle Friday 31 October 1788 page 2, Norfolk Chronicle Saturday 1 November1788 page 1 

In 1828, forty years after the Dalswinton trial, William Symington prepared this coloured drawing to document his original concept of a method of steam boat propulsion first demonstrated at Dalswinton, a design which he used again in a larger experimental vessel in 1789.

Following the Dalswinton trials, Miller engaged Symington to undertake further experiments on a larger scale. Miller's "pleasure boat" at Dalswinton was tiny and little more than a working model. In 1789, under Miller's direction, William Symington commissioned Carron Company to fashion parts for a larger engine which was installed on a larger double-hulled boat which was tried on the Forth and Clyde canal.

[1] Etching taken from a drawing by Alexander Nasmyth and published in the autobiography of his son, James Nasmyth