the fire machine

In order to sump (= pump out water) the mine, which was under water, it was decided after some time to acquire a fire engine. The term fire engine is the name given at the time to a steam engine which, in our case, set a water pump in motion. The first fire engine that could be used at all was constructed by Thomas Newcomen in 1712 and was also used at that time to pump water in a mine. This type of construction is also called an atmospheric steam engine, since its mode of operation is based on an interaction between a negative pressure generated by condensing steam and the weight of the pump linkage. This is done by filling the cylinder space under the piston with steam and then cooling the steam to condensation by injecting water. A vacuum is created, and the external atmospheric pressure pushes the piston into the cylinder and lifts the pump linkage via the balancer imparting the motion. In the next stroke, the dead weight of the pump linkage pulls the piston up in the cylinder again and the cylinder is filled with steam once more.

The mode of operation of the atmospheric steam engine was decisively improved by James Watt in 1769. However, the machine ordered for the Düppenweiler mine in England and largely delivered in 1776 was probably not yet a Watt-type fire engine, since its practical use did not take place so quickly. Because the operating company eventually ran into financial difficulties, the remaining parts of the machine were not delivered and the machine was never put into operation. According to current knowledge, it would probably have been the first fire engine in a German mine.

The plant that can be seen now is the foundation built at that time for the construction of the firing machine. The facility was excavated, restored and partially rebuilt by Dr. Gerhard Müller from Scheidt and his team starting in 1995. The old structure and the rebuilt part are separated by a copper band.