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'The Nice Parts of Technical Curatorship' by Dr Jim Andrew
2024-10-02 19:00 - 21:00 (Europe/London) | BIRMINGHAM Think Tank, Birmingham Science Museum,, Curzon Street, Birmingham, West Midlands, B4 7XG
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This is a joint meeting with Thinktank: Birmingham Science Museum
Most of a senor curator’s time is spent on typical management activities as in any other job, but from time to time the curator can do some research or hand on aspects of exhibits’ history or use.
This talk will look at a few of these sagas and even blocking attempts to “poach” the exhibits for display elsewhere, or dare one say it, to sell!
About the Speaker
Dr Jim Andrew was Honorary Secretary of the Midlands Branch of the Newcomen Society, and is currently Chairman.
After starting his working life in environmental protection for local government, he joined the Birmingham Museum Service at the Birmingham Museum of Science and Industry, where he remained, as curator responsible for the Science Museum’s technical collection.
Although now retired, Dr Jim Andrew remains as a volunteer technical adviser at the Thinktank Museum.

'The Telegraph to India in the Victorian Era' by Dr John Moyle
2024-11-06 19:00 - 21:00
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Much has been heard about laying the under-sea telegraph cables across the Atlantic and other oceans, particularly around the 150th anniversary of the first transatlantic cable laid in 1866. However, the need to extend the telegraph lines, mainly over land routes to, and across, India was also vital to British colonial and military interests.
With strained relations between Britain and several other European countries in the mid-18th century, there was also a need to route the lines to avoid crossing unfriendly countries. Before the technology for underwater cables had been perfected, there were sometimes gaps in the route, requiring messages to be forwarded by steamer before re-entering the telegraph system.
About the Speaker
Dr John Moyle is a Chartered Engineer, retired physician & anaesthetist plus historian with a particular interest in telegraphy and medical technology.

'How Chaddesley Corbett changed the world' by David Hardwick
2024-12-04 19:00 - 21:00
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The Role of the Potter family in the Industrial Revolution
The beginning of the Industrial Revolution is often traced back to 1712 when Thomas Newcomen built a mechanical pump that was not powered by wind, water, or human/animal power in Dudley. There are, however, many myths and mistakes in this traditional narrative, particularly regarding the role played by a small boy called Humphrey Potter in creating the first truly self-acting machine. The Potter family were from Chaddesley Corbett.
This talk looks at the facts around the earliest Newcomen Engines and what role the family played in changing the world.
About the Speaker
David Hardwick is a Chartered Building Surveyor specialising in historic properties and particularly in industrial archaeology. He is an experienced lecturer at colleges and universities in all aspects of construction and heritage, as well as giving talks to a wide range of local and national history organisations. It is his passion for industrial archaeology and, in particular, mining history and the development of the early Newcomen Engines, that results in his latest research.

'Drifting into Digital Dependence' by Vaughan Pomeroy
2025-02-05 19:00 - 21:00
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Digital systems can be found in all sorts of unlikely, and arguably sometimes unnecessary, places that we increasingly depend on in modern life. Unlike most changes in technology where take-up follows a similar pathway from early adoption to market dominance, the digital revolution is more subtle. The distance between the operator or user and the ‘machine’ she controls becomes invaded by digital systems which have the seductive power to lull a sense of security whilst being an incomprehensible black box.
Using the modern merchant ship as the basis, the talk will consider the pathway towards adoption of new technology, the development of automation and the resulting impact on usability. When did we become dependent on digital systems without a manual work around? How should this sort of development be recorded for historical purposes to inform future generations? The speed of change is extraordinary, and the drivers for adoption are not always clear.
About the Speaker
Vaughan Pomeroy joined the British Aircraft Corporation at Weybridge from school in 1970 as an undergraduate apprentice. His daughter points out that it is now a museum! After graduating, Vaughan returned to Weybridge working on aircraft systems, particularly avionics. He joined the consulting engineers Mott, Hay and Anderson in 1974 working on a variety of infrastructure projects, before joining Lloyd's Register of Shipping in 1980.
Vaughan retired in 2010 as Technical Director, since when he has worked with Southampton University and with universities in Singapore.

'A Warwickshire Eclipse' by Mike Frost
2025-03-05 19:00 - 21:00
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On February 18th 1737, there was an eclipse of the Sun visible from Warwickshire. It was one of an extraordinary series of British eclipses which occurred in the eighteenth century, and inspired a generation of astronomers and cartographers to produce ever-more elaborate charts and maps of the eclipse tracks.
Henry Beighton – surveyor, engineer, draftsman and mathematician, drew one such chart to illustrate the 1737 eclipse. Mike Frost found this chart in the papers of Roger Newdigate, a young aristocrat who lived in Arbury Hall, Nuneaton.
Mike uses the story of these two fascinating historical figures, and the map that connects them, to trace the flowering of mathematical talent in the wake of Newton, Halley and others. In the case of Beighton and Newdigate, these talents played a direct part in bringing the industrial revolution to Warwickshire.
About the Speaker
Warwickshire’s Mike Frost is a Systems Engineer working in the steel industry. In his spare time, Mike is an astronomer who chases eclipses and visits astronomical sites worldwide.
Mike is a member of the Coventry and Warwickshire Astonomy Society, The Society for the History of Astronomy, The British Astronomical Association and The Royal Astronomical Society. He also writes articles and gives talks to societies around the UK & beyond. In April 2010, Mike became director of the Historical Section of the British Astronomical Association.

'History of research in British Gas' by Chris Hodrien
2025-04-02 19:00 - 21:00
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The British gas industry has a long and proud history of technical innovation, but very little is known or appreciated by the general public.
Town gas production technology for gas lighting by the carbonisation (destructive heating) of coal was invented by William Murdoch in Redruth in 1793 and subsequently developed by him in Boulton & Watt’s Soho Foundry in Smethwick during 1995-1805, initially for the gas lighting of factories and mills. This was the first industrial scale example of what is nowadays termed the Process Industry, and long predated the better-known chemical industry.
The basic production technology remained unchanged into the 1950s, with gradual evolutionary equipment improvements, but formal R&D on both production and utilisation was considerably accelerated first during WorldWar 2, then by the nationalisation of the industry in 1948 and again with the formation of British Gas Corporation in 1973, forming a powerful fully vertically-integrated organisation covering all aspects of gas technology. This led to two successive and very successful total technical revolutions, from coal carbonisation to steam reforming of light oils in the 1960s-70s followed immediately by the conversion to North Sea natural gas in the 1970s-80s.
By the time of the privatisation in the early 1990s , British Gas was one of the most powerful, modern, technically advanced and profitable industries in the UK, with an R&D budget of c. £55M/year and a long term 25-year R&D strategy.
About the Speaker
Chris Hodrien is the son of two industrial chemists who met in the laboratory. He formed an intent to become an industrial Chemical Engineer at about age 11 and had by far the largest home chemistry set in the neighbourhood! Chris graduated with an M.A. in Chemical Engineering from Pembroke College, University of Cambridge in 1973 and went straight to work in cutting-edge world-class gas production R&D at Midlands Research Station, Solihull.
One important role (1974) was the introduction of brand-new computer-aided gasification process simulation methods, another (1980-83) was as team leader of the initial pilot plant for the world’s highest efficiency coal gasification process. A project for advanced low-cost drying of natural gas (1996-2000) won an internal Chairman’s Award for Chris.
Subsequently, the work was relocated to a new integrated national Gas Research Centre at Loughborough after privatisation in 1993, under the new banner of Advantica plc.
Chris is a visiting industrial tutor on biotechnology scale-up, industrial design and costing, bioenergy and process egineering for the University of Warwick.

'From craftsman’s bench to factory floor: the Birmingham Rule Trade 1750-1920' by David Bryden
2025-05-07 19:00 - 21:00
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During the 19th century, there was a marked change in the structure and form of the rule-making trade in Birmingham and Wolverhampton. Making rules for tradesmen across the UK and abroad to measure, lay-out and calculate, effectively vanished from Wolverhampton. Established craft skills, practiced in small Birmingham workshops by a skilled master, assisted by trained journeymen using techniques passed onto apprentices, were swept aside by mechanisation.
Despite the active opposition of time-served journeymen, unskilled young operatives of both genders came to dominate a growing workforce, along with a decline in the number of employers and the emergence of a few large manufacturing units – the rule factory. A leading activist in this change was the entrepreneurial John Rabone II (1820-1892).
Informal and formal records kept by the Rabone business and preserved in Sheffield and Birmingham, together with data drawn from Census returns, the local press, and publications by or for the rule manufacturers, have been examined for the first time.
About the Speaker
David J. Bryden BSc MA PhD FSA took a degree in engineering at Leicester in 1964 followed by a year taking a taught course in the history and philosophy of science at Oxford.
David was then employed for nearly four decades in various national and university museums. His PhD (Cambridge 1993) was awarded on the basis of publications on early scientific instruments and the British instrument making trade.
Retiring to the West Midlands, David has continued to research and publish.

'The Hallmarking of Silver and Gold' by Dr Jim Andrew
2025-10-01 19:00 - 21:00
Photo Credit: Rodolph at the English-language Wikipedia
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This is a joint event with Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum
The UK’s consumer protection started some seven centuries ago with the marking of gold and silver products to show purity, date tested and the maker. The method of establishing the purity of silver products evolved over many years with a need for both accuracy and the time taken to test items submitted for assaying, particularly in busy assay offices.
Jim Andrew will explain the system and how to access the details of date and maker, with examples from the last two centuries.
About the Speaker
Dr Jim Andrew is a former museum manager at Birmingham Science Museum, and is currently Chairman of Newcomen Midlands.

'History of Research in British Gas - Part 2' by Chris Hodrien
2025-11-05 19:00 - 21:00
Photo Credit: Random Group
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This is a joint event with Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum
In April 2025, Chris Hodrien gave the first part of his account of the history of research in British Gas, including an introduction to the gas industry in the United Kingdom, and the consolidation and nationalisation of the industry in the mid-20th-century.
The basic production technology remained unchanged into the 1950s, with gradual evolutionary equipment improvements, but formal R&D on both production and utilisation was considerably accelerated first during WorldWar 2, then by the nationalisation of the industry in 1948 and again with the formation of British Gas Corporation in 1973, forming a powerful fully vertically-integrated organisation covering all aspects of gas technology. This led to two successive and very successful total technical revolutions, from coal carbonisation to steam reforming of light oils in the 1960s-70s followed immediately by the conversion to North Sea natural gas in the 1970s-80s.
By the time of the privatisation in the early 1990s, British Gas was one of the most powerful, modern, technically advanced and profitable industries in the UK, with an R&D budget of c. £55M/year and a long term 25-year R&D strategy.
In part 2 of his talk, Chris covers the later technical developments that resulted from the world-class research that he was involved in.
About the Speaker
Chris Hodrien is the son of two industrial chemists who met in the laboratory. He formed an intent to become an industrial Chemical Engineer at about age 11 and had by far the largest home chemistry set in the neighbourhood! Chris graduated with an M.A. in Chemical Engineering from Pembroke College, University of Cambridge in 1973 and went straight to work in cutting-edge world-class gas production R&D at Midlands Research Station, Solihull.
One important role (1974) was the introduction of brand-new computer-aided gasification process simulation methods, another (1980-83) was as team leader of the initial pilot plant for the world’s highest efficiency coal gasification process. A project for advanced low-cost drying of natural gas (1996-2000) won an internal Chairman’s Award for Chris.
Subsequently, the work was relocated to a new integrated national Gas Research Centre at Loughborough after privatisation in 1993, under the new banner of Advantica plc.

'The History of Measurement of Oxygen in Medicine' by Dr. John Moyle
2025-12-03 19:00 - 21:00
Photo Credit: Uusi Ajaja Creative Commons
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This is a joint event with Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum
Of the gases involved in life, oxygen is the most important!

This lecture relates the history of measurement of oxygen in medicine, as a gas, in solution in bodily fluids and on haemoglobin; from the Haldane apparatus to Pulse Oximetry.
As a gas:

Haldane
Paramagnetic
(Raman spectroscopy)*
(Mass spectroscopy)*
Acoustic
Fuel Cell

Dissolved in Plama:

Clark electrode

Attached to Haemoglobin:

Non-invasive “Oximetry”
Pulse Oximetry

*Research only
About the Speaker
Dr John Moyle is a Chartered Engineer, retired physician & anaesthetist plus historian with a particular interest in telegraphy and medical technology.

'A short version of the long history of automation on the railways' by Felix Schmid
2026-01-07 19:00 - 21:00
Photo Credit: Benutzer:Bukk
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This lecture was originally given as the Presidential Address to the Newcomen Society in London in 2025.
The presentation will commence by introducing very early mechanical systems, including some that were used on waggonways 300 years ago. These were quite primitive but reduced the labour requirement, e.g. by automating passing loops on tramways.
The automatic systems that came about in response to the Regulation of Railways Act 1889, which made the railway much safer and also improved its economy, will be discussed, followed by the origins of the train stop and warning systems that came into operation in the early 20th century. The electronic safety and operational management systems instigated by computerisation, where British Rail had a leading role, will be reviewed.
The presentation will finish with some reflections on fully automated railways and the role of machine learning and what is often termed artificial intelligence. Throughout the talk, the speaker will comment on the importance of including human skill and perception in automated systems for the railway.
About the Speaker
Felix Schmid is an Emeritus Professor of Railway Systems Engineering at the University of Birmingham and, currently, serves as the President of the Newcomen Society.
He has had a long-standing interest in railway systems and, more particularly, the automation of activities necessary for the safe and efficient operation of railways. Some automated systems support the work of people, others are carrying out tasks without regular interactions with humans.

'Before Valves: The Amazing Ingenuity of the "Electricians" before the Thermionic Valve' by Dr John Moyle
2026-02-04 19:00 - 21:00
Photo Credit: Wellcome Collection (1911 – Copyright free)

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This is a joint event with Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum

Man’s ingenuity before the invention of the thermionic valve was amazing!
This lecture will summarize the early methods of wireless transmission and reception & amplification.
About the Speaker
Dr John Moyle is a Chartered Engineer, retired physician & anaesthetist plus historian with a particular interest in telegraphy and medical technology.

'Housing the Great Exhibition in 1851' by Dr. Jim Andrew
2026-03-04 19:00 - 21:00
Image Credit: The Original Crystal Palace in Hyde Park – Painted for H. R. H. Prince Albert by Messrs Nash, Haghe & Roberts R.A.
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The Great Exhibition planned for the summer of 1851 was languishing in a committee until, in June 1850, Joseph Paxton was asked for a design of a building to go in Hyde Park, London.
The temporary building was possibly the largest single constructed building anywhere in the World, yet it was designed within a month and opened in ten months.
About the Speaker
Dr Jim Andrew is a former museum manager at Birmingham Science Museum, and is currently Chairman of Newcomen Midlands.

'150 Years of the Telephone'
2026-04-01 19:00 - 21:00
Photo Credit: United States patents (in public domain)
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This is a joint event with Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum
On 10 March 1876, 150 years ago, Alexander Graham Bell made what is usually considered to be the first telephone call, when he spoke the words “Mr. Watson—Come here—I want to see you” into his experimental apparatus.

To mark this anniversary, Newcomen Midlands, in a change to the usual format of our meetings, will be showing two videos produced by the Connections Musem in Seattle, USA, that describe how Bell submitted his patent, and how his first transmitter (microphone) and receiver (earpiece) worked.
The films show the museum’s attempts to make a working replica of his original apparatus.
