William Dent Priestman (23 August 1847 7 September 1936), born near

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south- ...

was a Quaker and engineering pioneer, inventor of the Priestman Oil Engine, and co-founder with his brother Samuel of the Priestman Brothers engineering company, manufacturers of cranes, winches and excavators. Priestman Brothers built the earliest recorded

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the ...

internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal co ...

Biography

William along with ten other offspring was the son of Leeds corn-miller (and latterly NER director) Samuel Priestman."Priestman, William Dent". Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology He was educated at

Bootham School Bootham School is an independent Quaker boarding school, on Bootham in the city of York in England. It accepts boys and girls ages 3–19, and had an enrolment of 605 pupils in 2016. It is one of seven Quaker schools in England. The schoo ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, and then apprenticed at the Humber Iron Works, later at the North Eastern Railway (NER) in

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Millennium Bridge, The Sage, and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary ...

. In 1869 he then joined the engineering company owned by William Armstrong. (William Armstrong & Company, later to become

Armstrong Whitworth Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. With headquarters in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth built armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles and ...

). His father purchased the Holderness Foundry in Hull, and he began to do business independently; his brother joined him at the company, which later became Priestman Brothers. In the 1870s a licence to manufacture petrol engines (of a type designed by Eugène Etève, similar to

Étienne Lenoir Jean Joseph Étienne Lenoir, also known as Jean J. Lenoir (12 January 1822 – 4 August 1900), was a Belgian-French engineer who developed the internal combustion engine in 1858. Prior designs for such engines were patented as early as 1807 ( ...

's engines) was obtained. The dangers and insurance costs of engines run on highly flammable petrol caused him to investigate the use of lamp oil in internal combustion engines. He obtained patents, including a patent for an oil vaporiser in 1885. His investigations led him to develop one of the first reliable engines to work on a fuel heavier (more viscous and with a higher boiling point) than petrol, known as the 'Priestman Oil Engine'. In 1894 William and Samuel Priestman were given the John Scott Award for their engine. Having lost control of the Priestman company in 1895 following insolvency William spent the rest of his life helping others. He died in Hull in 1936.

Legacy

The Priestman Oil Engine

Priestmann Oil Engine - Fig 150 p461 The Steam engine and gas and oil engines John Perry

The Priestman Oil Engine used a pressurised fuel tank, and fuel injection through a nozzle into a chamber heated by exhaust gasses in order to create a suitably combustible mixture in the cylinder. Incomplete vaporisation of the fuel resulted in some condensation on the walls of the cylinder; as a result the fuel both lubricated the cylinder as well as providing power. The engine also controlled the speed by connections between valves on the fuel inlets and a speed governor. Ignition was by

electric spark An electric spark is an abrupt electrical discharge that occurs when a sufficiently high electric field creates an ionized, electrically conductive channel through a normally-insulating medium, often air or other gases or gas mixtures. Michael F ...

. The engine was produced from 1888 to 1904 with over 1,000 engines manufactured, and found use on barges. One engine was trialled on the

Hull and Barnsley Railway Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in af ...

powering a shunting locomotive, this is the earliest known example of a locomotive powered by an internal combustion engine. One engine has been preserved as a stationary exhibit at the Streetlife Museum of Transport in

. The engine design was recognised by the Engineering Heritage Hallmark Scheme awarded by the

Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 120,000 member ...

in 2000 for its significance in British engineering history.

Priestman Brothers

The company founded by William and Samuel Priestman produced diggers and dredgers as well as engines; in 1895 the company became bankrupt, and the brothers lost control of the firm. The company continued in the business of producing diggers and dredgers well into the latter half of the 20th century.

Other

In addition to his contribution to industry Priestman was also credited with inducing Sir

Edward Fry Sir Edward Fry, (4 November 1827 – 19 October 1918) was an English Court of Appeal of England and Wales, Lord Justice of Appeal (1883–1892) and an arbitrator on the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Biography Joseph Fry (1795-1879) and Mar ...

to introduce an initial draft of the Bribery and Illicit Communications Act.

References

Literature

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Priestman, William Dent Engineers from Kingston upon Hull English Quakers British mechanical engineers 1847 births 1936 deaths Businesspeople from Kingston upon Hull People educated at Bootham School