The President Pumping Engine: A Mechanical Engineering Achievement

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The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Anthracite-Lehigh Valley Section had a goal of nominating an engineering landmark from the section’s geographic area for recognition in ASME’s National Landmark program.

At a meeting held in June, 2023, the leadership committee considered many potential candidates – including Bethlehem Steel’s Grey Universal Beam Mill and the first transistor manufacturing line—Western Electric at 555 Union Blvd. in Allentown. When the team looked out the window from a third-floor room at the Penn State Lehigh Valley campus they knew they gazed upon the perfect choice just a short distance away.

The President Pumping Engine (PPE), located at the historic Friedensville Zinc Mines, was a mechanical engineering feat that certainly fit the criteria for national recognition. The President Engine House ruins in Upper Saucon Township are the surviving remnant of The President Pumping Engine (1872-1900). The President Pumping Engine was the largest single cylinder walking beam engine ever designed and manufactured in the United States and a global engineering landmark that attracted worldwide interest.

When the combination of size, equipment weight and power generated are considered, it was the largest and most powerful single cylinder stationary steam engine ever constructed. It was the essential machine necessary to dewater a mine that represented the ore source for over one half of the growing market for zinc products in America. One of the engine’s walking beams fractured in 1891 and resources were not available to repair it. All other attempts to clear water from the mines failed and the operations were forced to close in 1893.

Mark Connar, lead historian for the President Engine House and Pumping Engine, was contacted by me o to inform him that the section was seeking national recognition for the Pumping Engine. Mark was instrumental in putting together the comprehensive nomination application which was submitted to ASME’s History and Heritage Committee. After submission, the section was informed that the committee is currently undergoing reorganization and all nominations are on hold.

The regional ASME section leaders decided to establish their own recognition program unanimously naming the President Pumping Engine the inaugural regional landmark for the Anthracite-Lehigh Valley Professional Section.

Mark also informed the group that Lehigh University, the current owner of the land, had already been approved for a Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) Historical Marker, one of 36 selected from 91 applicants in 2022.

The new marker would be added to the more than 2,500 familiar blue signs with gold lettering along city streets and country roads and highways throughout Pennsylvania. Since 1946 PHMC’s Historical Markers have chronicled the people, places, and events that have affected the lives of Pennsylvanians over the centuries.

On November 20th, 2024, the Historical Marker was unveiled at site of the mines. The dedication ceremony began at the National Museum of Industrial History located in Bethlehem where visitors can find a working model of the pumping engine. During the ceremony, Tracey Carbonetto presented a plaque recognizing the engineering achievement along with a donation towards the continued preservation efforts. The plaque will be placed alongside the working model and the section’s logo will be displayed at the site on a sign recognizing sponsors.

The section is considering the candidates for their next regional landmark.

Tracey Carbonetto is Chair, ASME Anthracite-Lehigh Valley Professional Section