The steam machine

The Vesdre river and the mill canal provided the water needed for the processing of wool and cloth, but also the motive power for the paddle wheels. During the first decades of the 19th century, steam did not entirely suppress this type of energy but added to it.In Verviers, the first two Watt-type steam engines were installed in 1816 at the home of Henri Sauvage, a cloth manufacturer (who bought an English machine), and at the home of James Hodson, son-in-law of William Cockerill, a textile machinery manufacturer, who built his own steam engine. Another textile firm from Verviers, Biolley, also produced steam engines during the first half of the 19th century, in competition with the Houget firm (founded in 1826).This type of rotary steam engine transforms the reciprocating movement of the piston into a circular movement by means of a connecting rod. Belts transmitted the driving force to the textile machines. The use of these machines made it possible to avoid the location along the watercourse required by hydraulic power and, in addition, it was a source of tremendous driving power.