The Boulton and Watt Governor, first manufactured at the Soho Foundry in Smethwick during 1788.
The Boulton and Watt Governor as used to regulate or govern the working speed of steam beam engines in the Canal Pumping Houses along the Galton Valley - Governor not to scale.
Manufactured by Hunt Bros Oldbury Ltd, Griffin Foundry, Oldbury, West Midlands.
Was commissioned by the West Midlands County Council. Now owned by the Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council.
The sculpture shows a much-enlarged version of Watt's 1788 model of the Fly Ball Governor, which regulated the amount of steam conveyed to the engine so that it could maintain a consistent speed. This machine consisted of two heavy iron balls located at the end of two pins, which were connected to a spindle that was itself connected to the flywheel. As the speed of the wheel increased, the two balls separated further. In doing so, they automatically reduced the amount of steam conveyed to the engine. If the pressure of the steam fell too much, the two balls would fall towards the spindle, thereby increasing the amount of steam conveyed again.
In the sculpted version, the balls rest upon the ground, their apparent weight contrasting strongly with the relative lightness of the open structure that represents the flywheel.
This piece which formed part of an overall West Midlands County Council initiative for the regeneration of Smethwick High Street, commemorates the invention of the Boulton and Watt steam engine and, more specifically, the centrifugal governor developed by the engineer and inventor James Watt (1736-1819). Together with Matthew Boulton (1728 - 1809), he ran the Soho factory in Foundry Lane from 1774 to 1800.
