Steam engine in (new) Gothic style from 1852
In the 1850s, Norwegian workshops also began to build stationary steam engines, imitations of types that had been launched abroad many years earlier. An example is this vertical machine in Gothic style, built at Myren's Workshop in 1852.
In Norway, the stationary steam engine was not used until around the middle of the 19th century. The small industrial enterprise they had managed more than enough with power from water wheels. We can say that Norway's "industrial revolution" slowly began in the 1840s in the environment around Akerselva.
In the 1850s, Norwegian workshops began to build stationary steam engines, imitations of types that had been launched abroad many years earlier.
An example is this vertical machine in the Gothic style, built at Myrens Verksted in 1852. The machine is one of the first Norwegian-built steam engines, with Myrens Verksted's construction number 2. The machine is single-cylinder with a high-lying crankshaft stored in rack supports that are made in Gothic style. In particular, you notice that the only round things on the machine are the axle and the wheel.
From the 1830s, many architects began to experiment with elements from churches and other buildings built in the Gothic style. The Gothic style developed in northern France, in the area around Paris, around 1140. From France, the Gothic building style spread to the rest of Europe, and was to prove to be a leader in church architecture for approximately 200 years. The pointed arches are one of the distinguishing features of the Gothic. The master builders made bundles of thin slats grow out of the church floor, and at ceiling height they spread out in a network of columns and ribs. Symbolically, the pillars were a picture of people's striving towards God. Neo-Gothic in the 19th century was inspired by this style.
The design can also be seen as the result of a collision between traditional society and the modern industrial world. The machines were built to provide power inside factories, far from the public eye. Nevertheless, one had an urge
to harmonize the design of the world around.
The brothers Jens and Andreas Jensen started a small mechanical workshop at Øvre Foss in 1848, Øvre Foss mechaniske Værksted. From 1855, Knud Dahl joined this company, which from 1863 was given the full name J. & A. Jensen og Dahl, Myrens Verksted. As early as 1850, the workshop delivered its first turbines, steam engines and boilers. Later, the company specialized in the production of sawmill machines and woodworking machines. Myrens Verksted later became part of the Kværner group. Myrens Verksted's address was Bentsebrogata 20. Today, many different companies are located in Myrens Verksted's former buildings, including NRK Østlandssendingen.
Since The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology opened its permanent exhibitions in the Viking shiphouse on Bygdøy on 5 April 1932, the Gothic steam engine has had its place in the museum's exhibitions.
