West Point Beam Engine, Manati, Puerto Rico

Pedro Bermudez has since told me (4th September) of a preserved 1883 McOnie mill engine at an old sugar mill called, "Hacienda La Lucia". located in Yabucoa. A quick internet search has thrown up the following page which shows it well - http://redescubriendoapuertorico.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/1883-mconie-steam-engine-santa-lucia-yabucoa.html. If anyone has some pictures I could upload to avoid the risk of the page vanishing, as often seems to happen, that would be very welcome.

Ivonne Sanabria, Para la Naturaleza, Coordinadora de Historia, Cultura y Arte emailed me the following update (29th April 2020).

The Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico has changed its website, it is now www.paralanaturaleza.org. The organization, operating now under the name Para la Naturaleza, restored steam power to the sugar mill in 2014 with expertise from the London Museum of Water and Steam. The following link from 2015 shows this operation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuQT3vqiRK4. This other link also shows a little of the machinery during a tour of the property: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmJwqpgor5I. Both videos are narrated in Spanish.

Hacienda La Esperanza’s steam engine and sugar mill were declared a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1979 by the American Society of Mechanical Engineering. In the introductory paragraph of their document, ASME wrote at the time: 

“The decorated steam engine is the only West Point Foundry beam engine known to survive. It is also the only known 6-column beam engine by any American manufacturer. Additionally, it is one of only eight beam engines of American manufacture known to exist anywhere. It is properly classified as a 6-column, drop valve, side crank, beam engine with a 16-inch bore and a 40-inch stroke. When running on 60 PSI of steam, the engine turned at about 20 RPM and developed approximately 25 HP. The cast-iron beam, pivoted at its center, serves as a rocking lever connecting the piston rod and crank. The piston produces reciprocating motion, while at the other end of the engine the crank converts this to the rotary motion needed to drive the machinery."

Thomas Kautzor writes:

Here are some photos of the 1861 West Point Foundry steam engine (25 hp) at Hacienda La Esperanza in Manati, Puerto Rico. It has been restored by the Fideicomiso de Conservación de Puerto Rico (Conservation Trust of PR, http://www.fideicomiso.org/home.html, link broken by 1st November 2018), which owns and manages the property, and is powered by an electric motor (and chain) for demonstration purposes. There has been an incident with the viewing platform, so visitors are not allowed to the upper level anymore. There is a video of it at work available here too - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMEnOLuUYpg. 

When the owner of HLE imported it into PR, in order not to pay customs to the Spanish Crown he had it offloaded from the ship at the small seaside village of La Boca just to the northwest of the plantation. There is a picture of it from some time back on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hacienda_La_Esperanza_Engine.jpg.