John McCarter
of Londonderry (died before 1876)
Inventor of the McCarter condenser for steam engines.
1876 The condenser was in use at Messrs. Dewhurst's Aspley Print Works; maker Francis Preston of Huddersfield/[1]
1876 'Mr. W. P. Marshall (secretary), read a paper prepared by Mr. Francis Preston, of Huddersfield, on "McCarter's Condenser without Air-pump for Steam Engines.” The writer stated that many attempts, with varied success, had been made to introduce a condenser without an air-pump, but he believed there had been no successful application of a condenser without the aid of an air-pump, and capable of lifting its own injection water, previous to the one which formed the subject of the present paper. The construction and working were then explained by a number of diagrams. The condensers had been successfully work upwards of three years, in conjunction with engines from 12-inch cylinders to 37-inch cylinders, giving every satisfaction, effecting a considerable saving in coal, besides giving much steadier motion to the machinery, caused by the regularity of the working of the condensers without the great strain being put upon the engine through the ordinary air-pump at every revolution of the engine. Illustrations were next given of the successful applications of the condensers. In one instance it was stated that the engines had done more work in the mill than in any other month, with a regular speed and with greater ease, besides saving fuel in money value amounting to 33 per cent. The paper concluded with reference to a recent calculation made Mr. James Wood, engineer, of Burnley, in which comparison was made as to the relative volumes of steam expended in the working an ordinary air-pump, and the McCarter condenser, in an engine at Messrs. Crossley and Son’s, Albion Mills, Halifax. Mr. Wood’s report showed that there was a difference of 1,161 lb. deg. of heat in favour of the condenser, or equal to 25 per cent., a percentage which must not be considered as showing the whole economical advantage which existed over the ordinary air-pump.'[2]