The device was introduced to Cornwall in January 1842, following the award of a premium for the best design, by the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society. The winner, Michael Loam, built one for the proprietors of the Tresavean Mine, in Lanner near Redruth. He used a double-rod design, driven by a waterwheel. In October of that year Loam proposed that the water wheel be replaced by a steam engine. A 36-inch bore, 6-foot stroke, double-action steam engine was employed, through reduction spur gearing of 5:1. At the same time the stroke of the man-engine beams was increased from 6 feet to 12. Coal consumption was 24 hundredweight (1,200 kg) per day; the engine was in use for only six hours a day, but the boiler was kept at operating temperature continuously. The miners' journey time (in either direction) was reduced from about an hour to twenty-four minutes and output per shift increased by one fifth.