This is probably not of much interest to most readers of this forum, but I'll comment anyway.....just in case it might fill in a little piece for someone .....
The
Walking Beam Engines that were the norm for paddle wheel steamers had one or two cylinders. The cylinders were verticle, and
Upside Down compared to the Screw Steamer engines that followed. The power was transmitted UP to the walking beam and then DOWN to the Crank Shaft (BellCrank) to the paddle wheel.
The cylinder was on the bottom...the piston rod pointed UP. This is the opposite of almost ALL engines that followed including the gas/diesel engines of today.
The very early engines had horizontal cylinders..they had a BIG wear problem because they were lying flat..and were abandoned...
The screw steamer engines had the cylinder heads on TOP..the crankshaft on the bottom....this connected nicely to a propeller shaft
NB