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Massive steam engine brought to life at Bethlehem museum

It is 1914. One machine pumps all the water into homes and other buildings for public consumption. It is a steam-powered, water-pumping engine that runs nonstop. As the water from a reservoir 300 feet above the engine is pumped out to multiple households, workers walk by to check on the machinery every 15 minutes. They place the backs of their hands against its parts to ensure the engine is not getting too hot.It is 1980. Steam-powered engines are being replaced by electrically powered forms of water-pumping or diesel engines. The machines were once a staple of everyday life (a sight to captivate and a common form of employment). Then, they disappeared. One engine, the Corliss engine, was in perfect working condition but it was dropped, mistreated and eventually fell out of working order.It is 2019. Quiet whirring fills the room of the National Museum of Industrial History (NMIH) on Thursday afternoon as the Corliss engine comes to life again for one of the first times in nearly four decades.NMIH spent the last 10 years renovating the engine so it would be in full working condition for the public to observe. Its debuts Friday with a special tour and presentation at 11 a.m. with Mike Piersa, the NMIH historian and museum specialist. The engine will be operating at 10 a.m., 12 p.m., and 3 p.m. Friday through Sunday. A special presentation will take place in the museum at 11 a.m. Saturday. The weekend will end with an encore presentation on the engine at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday. Admission to the museum is $12 per person.After the Corliss engine was no longer used,it was taken from its original location at the York Water Company in York to a museum where it was treated poorly and was split into five different parts as it was moved to the NMIH. Piersa said NMIH was the only museum willing to fix it. An engineer hired to work on the engine, Alexander Karnes, said he and other engineers had to fix antique machinery in the museum to make parts for the engine because the parts for a machine made over 100 years ago are longer available.“It’s sort of a sad story because when it came out of the waterworks, it was completely operable,” Karnes said.The engine is one of only four of its kind in the country that still works and it is the most powerful, Piersa said. It is also the only engine of its kind that is located in a museum that is open on a regular basis.“This is a very significant piece,” Piersa said. “This is really a national-level accomplishment.”The engine was one of the first parts of the museum. Work on the engine had to be paused so the cement flooring of the museum could be poured around it and other exhibits could be built.Although the budget numbers for the project were not readily available, the project was made possible by several donations from companies including Victaulic. Victaulic created the first grooved mechanical piping solution designed specifically for the Corliss renovation project in 2015.The engine uses compressed air because it is more time-efficient than running off of steam. When the engine is powered by compressed air, it only takes the touch of two buttons but to power it with steam, the boiler needs to be heated up for eight to 12 hours the night before. However, the museum plans to use steam in the future.Once the engine is officially open to the public, the museum plans to run it once a month. The engine will serve as a learning point for mathematics and history on school tours.“We’ve only touched on the things you can do with it,” Piersa said. “There are so many things that this can really inform about that we’ve only scratched the surface.”Steam-powered machinery like the Corliss show that steam can be used to power institutions like apartment buildings, colleges, and factories.“One of the things we want to do with the museum is show that steam isn’t just used for old engines,” Piersa said. “It’s actually a modern utility that people are still working with to improve.”
Source: Morningcall

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