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Side-Wheeled Paddle Steamers
PS Leven, later installed in Queen of Beauty
Engines : Side Lever (1823) by Robert Napier
Photo by kind courtesy of Chris Allen
Displayed
outside the Denny Tank, the world's first ship hull testing tank at the
site of the former Wm Denny & Bros shipyard at Dumbarton, the site
is now part of the Scottish Maritime Museum. The engine is of
side-lever design and dates from 1823 and the first engine built by
Robert Napier whose company rose to fame on Clydeside in the mid
1800s. It was fitted in the wooden paddle steamer Leven, built by James
lang at Dumbarton. The engine was transferred to the PS Queen of Beauty
in 1844 and operated until 1877 when it was presented to the town of
Dumbarton by the sons of Robert Napier. She has been alongside the
Denny Tank since 1984.
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Preserved Engines