John Wesley Hackworth Part 2 Engineer / inventor - by Trevor Teasdel as published in the Globe -
Read the full magazine here on pdf https://www.sdr1825.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/The-Globe-April-2021-v2-post-circ-edits-high-res.pdf
“John Wesley Hackworth was a considerable engineer in his own right.” Ulick Loring.
“He was a man rich in inventive faculty” Robert Young
In part one, last issue, we saw how Timothy Hackworth’s son - John Wesley Hackworth and his team, successfully delivered his father’s locomotive to the Tsar of Russia at the age of 17, under perilous conditions. In part two we look at how John developed his own successful career as an engineer and inventor, building on his father’s reputation and skill and taking his work in new directions.
Painting of John Wesley Hackworth from the Joan Hackworth Weir Collection
Back in New Shildon
Returning to Shildon in 1837 John continued to work for the family firm at the Soho works, alongside his younger brother, also called Timothy Hackworth. Timothy Hackworth’s brother Thomas had hitherto managed the Soho works but Thomas left in 1839 to set up in business with George Fossick. Thomas had fallen into dispute with the directors of the S & D Railway and the pair set up Fossick & Hackworth, based in Stockton on Tees, where they built locomotives and carriages. (George Turner Smith’s book Thomas Hackworth is the best source on this).1
John continued to take care of routine operations at the Soho works but, things were not
always cosy! - “between 1840 to 1850, with Timothy Hackworth at the helm, the Soho Works struggled to survive. Timothy operated on the margins of profitability and the situation at the Soho Works deteriorated further when Timothy died in 1850…After Timothy’s death, there was a bitter dispute between John and the younger Timothy over whether to close the loss-making Soho works, or battle on and try and bring the company back into profit.” 2
Ulick Loring (great-great grandson of Timothy Hackworth) expands on this "The death of
Timothy Hackworth was followed by the sale of the Soho works though attempts were made to keep them going. It turned out to be a sad and unsatisfactory process for the family. It was not helped by the death of Hackworth's widow, Jane, two years after him, and then followed by the death in 1856, of his second son, also Timothy, who was keen to keep the works in the family." 3
On a more personal level, love was certainly on John Wesley Hackworth’s mind when he
returned to England in 1837 – Ulick continues -
"John proposed to a young woman by the name of Jane Dunton from Newburn, near
Newcastle who turned him down. Her letter of rejection of 1st July 1838 still exists (in the
Hackworth family Archives NRM York). It was said in the family that after this experience he vowed to marry the first girl he met. When he did marry it was to a girl called Annie Turner.” 4
By 1851, the Census shows -
“John Wesley Hackworth was living at Shildon, aged 30 (born at Walbottle), an Engineer,
with his wife Ann and their three daughters, and Joseph Salkeld (age 20) an apprentice. Plus a servant” 5
All in all, John had 8 children, four boys and four girls. The last 3 three of which sadly passed away in childhood. With Timothy Hackworth’s death, and the sale of the Soho works, John moved to Darlington in 1851 setting up his new company - John W. Hackworth of Darlington Engine Works, Priestgate, Darlington, Co Durham, making stationary engines and machinery.
Note to Darlington Local Historians and Researchers
The exact location of John’s Engine works in Priestgate is unknown and of course the area
has been redeveloped, but it would be interesting to learn more about John Wesley
Hackworth’s presence in Darlington. Jane Hackworth -Young has a photograph of the works, but so far, has not managed to find it!
It is worth noting that John held the Priestgate works until 1871 (according to Robert Young) although he signed off a tract as from Priestgate in 1875 (perhaps he also lived in Priestgate – not sure!) Around 1862 he set up another works at Bank Top to produce Cotton machinery for Egypt. Again, the exact location is unknown. So, lots of things to explore! 6 & 7
The Life and History of J.W. Hackworth
It is interesting to note that a more substantial volume on John Wesley Hackworth had once been proposed. Samuel Holmes (grandson of Timothy Hackworth) wrote in his unpublished introduction to Robert Young’s book, that “It is hoped Mr. Albert Earnest Hackworth (grandson of John Wesley Hackworth and great grandson of Timothy Hackworth), and who established the Worth Engineering Works of Toronto, Canada, will write the interesting life and history of J.W. Hackworth, which ought to be given to the world, as he has a great mass of papers, letters and much detailed information, bearing up on the subject.” 8
Sadly, Albert passed away in 1921, and his work on John Wesley Hackworth never came to fruition.
Enter the Inventor - A String of Patents
A fresh start in Darlington enabled John Wesley Hackworth to unlock his full engineering and inventive faculties, build a successful business and widen the application of his skills. His first venture was the ‘Patent High Pressure Horizontal Steam Engine’ which had many unique features. In 1854, he obtained a patent for a Hoisting Machine, with self-activating
contrivances for stopping the winding as desired. By 1857 he had turned his hand to the Iron and Steel industry, producing an apparatus for working blast furnaces by forcing in air in a continuous current and regulating the compression of the air”. 9
John took out another patent for a ‘Tubular Heating Cistern’ with the object of heating the
feed water of steam engines with the exhaust steam of the engine. “This was of rectangular form with top and bottom cast in, and projecting over the sides. The top and bottom of the cistern were perforated with holes corresponding with each other, into which were inserted a series of copper or other metal tubes, the exhaust steam being discharged over the tubes, while the feed water was pumped through them to the boiler. By this means the feed water reached boiling point before entering the boiler.” 10
A lot more of the technical detail can be found in Robert Young’s book – I’ve drawn a balance here to make it more accessible to the general reader.
From Robert Young’s Timothy Hackworth and the Locomotive. |
Dynamic Valve Gear
A more important discovery was to come. “John Hackworth had long occupied himself with
an improvement of the ordinary link motion, by obtaining a constant ‘lead’ and by easy
reversing.” 11
In October 1859 he took out a patent for a variable expansion valve gear applicable to locomotive, marine, and other engines, which he named “Dynamic Valve Gear”
“The chief original feature of this was an arrangement and combination whereby two motions were obtained from one ‘excentric’, crank or radial pin. One motion for working the lead of the slide valve, and the other at right angles to the first, to obtain variable expansion and reverse motion.” 12
It became known as the ‘Hackworth Radial Valve Gear’ and as Professor Perry says, “It is the parent of all the radial gears.” 13 It had a host of imitators, but those that followed were mere variations of the original. Some 20 of them were in existence and were
applied to every description of steam engine!
From Robert Young’s Timothy Hackworth and the Locomotive.
The Great Exhibition London 1862 – Another Turning Point.
The International Exhibition of 1862, or Great London Exposition, was a world's fair, held
from 1 May to 1 November 1862, sponsored by the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Trade, and featured over 28,000 exhibitors from 36 countries, representing a wide range of industry, technology, and the arts.
| The Great Exhibition |
combined the ‘pass over’ slide valve originally patented in 1849 and applied in the Sans
Pareil No2, the patent Tubular Heating Cistern, the ‘Dynamic’ Valve Gear, and some original features in construction which included an improved wrought iron crosshead in one piece.
Robert Young notes “The piston rod was carried through the cylinder into a box to prevent
elliptical wear and undue friction. All the journals, joints and motions had double the usual
amount of rubbing surface and special regard was paid to strength and simplicity in details,
oil syphons were provided, and the cylinder was lagged with mahogany. The foundation plate was of the ‘box girder’ type and the whole appearance was neat and every working part easily accessible.” 14
Economy in fuel was the primary object aimed at, and a number of these engines were sent to places where the cost of coal was a serious factor.
In Egypt, at this period, there was a great trade opening. The civil war in the United States
had ruined the cotton industry, and in looking for other suitable countries for cotton growing
the prospects of Egypt were specially promising. The Khedive had visited the exhibition of
1862 and John Hackworth’s engine was brought to his notice. With an economy in fuel of 25 to 30% over other engines, simplicity in construction, and economy of space, the engine achieved a high reputation, and many were manufactured and sent both to Egypt and elsewhere. One of them was sent to the exhibition at Dublin in 1865 and received a prize for its excellence.
“Following up this opening, John Wesley Hackworth began manufacturing cotton machinery for Egypt, which was carried out with great success for some time. He also designed a steam winch, which was largely used on steamers. Out of the proceeds he built himself a new works at Bank Top, Darlington. These he specially designed and they were commodious and complete in every respect.” 15
From the Joan Hackworth Weir Collection.
When the Khedive fell, John had orders in hand for huge quantities of machinery of various
kinds, and the fall came just at a time of completing. Not only was a great amount of it left on his hands, but for much that he had already dispatched he never received any payment. He was thus placed in a position of financial difficulty and it was feared he would have to go into the workhouse but through the efforts of his family, and particularly his sister Prudence, he escaped that fate. He carried on his works, though with small success for some years. Like his father, he also built winding engines for collieries, one of which at Shildon Colliery, was erected in 1870 and was still there in the 1920’s. The engineering works in Darlington were given up about 1871.
Canada and the United States 1872
In 1872 John Wesley Hackworth visited Canada and the United States, partly to recuperate his health and partly with a view to introducing his Variable Expansion Valve Motion. He brought it before the United States naval authority but without success. However, when he left England some 50 steamers had been fitted with the gear in addition to a number of stationary engines. In America, a locomotive on the Hudson River Railway was provided with it experimentally in 1873.
In 1872 John Wesley Hackworth visited Canada and the United States, partly to recuperate his health and partly with a view to introducing his Variable Expansion Valve Motion. He brought it before the United States naval authority but without success. However, when he left England some 50 steamers had been fitted with the gear in addition to a number of stationary engines. In America, a locomotive on the Hudson River Railway was provided with it experimentally in 1873.
However, he was a man rich in inventive faculty, and obtained a patent in 1874 while in the
United States, for Metallic Packing, which he described as an invention to secure internal and external tightness, that is freedom of leakage in the moving parts of machinery under vacuum or pressure, in dealing with fluids such as steam, gas, air, oil or water.
Consultant Engineer 1875
In 1875 he returned to England as a consultant engineer in Darlington, later moving to
Sunderland, and eventually to London. Robert Young says “He devised an arrangement for a better ventilation of mines and spent a considerable sum in preliminary experiments, but the cost of installing it prevented its adoption. Mine ventilation was no new hobby with him. It had been the subject of deep interest and concern to Timothy Hackworth, and the son had given much time and study to a question which affected the lives of the mining population among whom he had been brought up.” 16
John’s scheme was “to sweep the mine clear of explosive fluid by pumping in compressed
air, considerably above atmospheric pressure, through pipes into the extremities of the
working and conducted back to the ‘up-cast’ to be done by one powerful engine duplicated to meet contingencies. Having collected and expelled the poisonous gases, the second part of the problem was the introduction and uniform distribution of pure air.” 17
He amended his patent for the Radial Valve gear four times up until his 67th year and called it various names. It was patented in many countries and taken up by many manufacturers and used to a large extent in marine engines but in a letter written in 1873 he declared he’d spent more on it than he ever received and in addition there was money spent on procedures against his imitators in long and costly lawsuits. His fate was that of many an inventor, where others reaped the benefits which should have been his.
In 1884 he took out another patent for Improvement in Steam Engines, he called this
Hackworth’s Steam and Vacuum Repeating Engines and the improvements consisted in
obtaining a succession of distinct forces from one charge of steam.
Robert Young says, “With all his engineering skills, John was no businessman and never
made that position for himself which his genius merited.”
According to the 1881 census John W. Hackworth was living as a Lodger at 31 Hurworth
Terrace, Darlington, (age 60), a Widower and Civil and Mechanical Consulting Engineer.
He died in Sunderland on July 13th, 1891 aged 71 and was buried in West Cemetery,
Darlington. His descendants, starting with his son Albert Hackworth, settled in Thornaby on
Tees where the Hackworth family (or rather John’s descendants) had a presence for most of the 20th century. Engineering remained a tradition in the family for many decades.
John Wesley Hackworth’s gravestone, West Cemetery
Darlington (Joan Hackworth Weir Collection)
In part 3, next issue, we will look at the more controversial issues surrounding John Wesley Hackworth and his responses / objections to aspects of Samuel Smiles book The Life of George Stephenson, Railway Engineer 1857.
Trevor Teasdel
References
1. George Turner Smith – Thomas Hackworth – Locomotive Engineer 2015.
2. Ibid p99
3. A Railway Family (The quest for Timothy Hackworth) published by the author 2015.
4. Ibid
5. Grace’s Guide https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/John_Wesley_Hackworth
6. The Hackworth Family Archive at NRM York provide a good source of information letters plans addresses.
7. Robert Young remains the main written source of information on John Wesley Hackworth, see chapter X1X of Timothy Hackworth and the Locomotive 1923, with additional material on page 276 / 7 regarding the Russian engine and The Joan Hackworth Weir Website.
8. You can view a pdf version of the Samuel Holmes proposed forward here
9. Robert Young – Timothy Hackworth and the Locomotive – Robert Young 1923 Chapter XIX
10 to 17. Robert Young Ibid
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