STEAM ENGINES AND WATERWHEELS

[Stanley]

This is how the Lilley Injector works disposed of waste moulding sand until it closed. The River Roche took care of it....

[Stanley]

Nobody could ever describe Dick Bonser's operation at the Lilley Injector Works as a model of organisation or tidiness. The first impression in the workshop was that it was a mess. However, you have to judge people by what they produce and I always thought he was tops when it came to non -ferocious castings, particularly his knowledge of the bronzes. Others evidently thought the same because I went in one day and saw a big aluminium casting on the shop floor. I asked Dick what it was and he told me I hadn't seen it! It turned out it was an aluminium casting of the block for an experimental Jaguar engine. It was a very complicated casting and he made several for the company. A pretty good recommendation for a small foundry in a back street in Rochdale.

[Stanley]

One little known fact about old steam engines. When we dismantled the Jubilee engine at Padiham I got confirmation of something I had suspected about that engine for a long time. I knew that there had been trouble with the right hand bearing supporting the flywheel. Walt Fisher and Newton had both told me about overheating problems. From the wear they described it seemed obvious that over the years the engine foundation had settled on that side (nearest to the beck, possibly made up ground). When we had the flywheel out and the bed exposed I put a level across at the flywheel end and I was right, it had settled about 1.5", enough for the shaft to be sliding towards that side and generating heat in the shoulder of the journal.
The new bed at Masson is dead level!

[Stanley]

One of the cracked bottom bearing brasses from Jubilee engine.

[Stanley]

The Jubilee rebuild at Masson in 2004. The new bearings are in place and the flyshaft is sat in them. Notice the new steel bed under the cast iron bed of the engine. This is dead level! The base is designed to be better than the original stone bed. If anyone wants to run this engine at its full 600hp in the future they have nothing to fear from the foundation, it is better than the original. This was an early decision in the design, no short cuts.

[Bodger]

An interesting story of creating the power of steam from coal to mercury
http://saltofamerica.com/contents/displ ... rTopOfPage

[Stanley]

Good link telling an old story Bodge. That's the reason why I have such an interest in Industrial Archaeology. Just think of the fun I have had playing with these big boy's toys, and in many cases getting paid for it! Here's my baby in 1991.

[Stanley]

The engine in about 1986. So much had been done but a lot left to do! In late 1984 I gave Coates, who owned the site, a plan for reviving the complex and I'm happy to report that we stuck to it until 1991 when they decided I had reached my sell-by date. They then dropped the rest of the plan and in the process lost some major future assets. All water under the bridge now but I often wonder if the rest could have been achieved and what difference it would have made.

[Stanley]

Running the Ellenroad engine for Coates Brothers Inks on 5 July 1988. They owned the engine at the time and were an essential element in the fund-raising. There was a lot more to Ellenroad than the engineering. I had the responsibility of raising the money and I think my score was about £3million in the end. Anyone who takes on a job like this will agree that this is the biggest headache!

[Stanley]

One of the most generally heard comments about engines is that they are gentle giants. They can become raging monsters if not run well as this picture shows. This is an insurance company picture of the interior of a mill at Oldham after the flywheel had exploded during an overspeed. Even a preserved engine running on low pressure is capable of doing this.

[Stanley]

Another image from the Bolton smash. You can see the flywheel boss, all that is left after the wheel disintegrated after an overspeed. The broken pieces had enough energy to break the back wall of the house. Preservationists beware! This can happen on only 40psi if the engine is running light!

[Stanley]

An even bigger smash at Dalton Mills Keighley. This was reputed to be the largest mill engine made by Bracewell at Burnley and what we see here is the engine after a mechanical fault demolished the jack gear on the side of the flywheel. It was decided to scrap the engine and replace it with two large Pollitt and Wigzell engines from Sowerby Bridge.

[Stanley]

In 1949 the Bishop House flywheel in Burnley exploded due to overspeed and here's the replacement cast by Roberts at Burnley.

[Stanley]

If you read Newton Pickles' account of the repair in the LTP you'll find that the jack wheel gear was out of true and caused a lot of trouble. Cast gears could be fine but were no match for modern machine cut gears, they could be incredibly noisy. There was one bevel in the main lineshaft to the sheds towards New Road in Earby at Victoria Mill that was incredibly noisy, you could hear it all over Earby centre when the mill was running.

[Stanley]

Bishop House pinion arriving at Brown and Pickles for machining.

[Bodger]

http://31.media.tumblr.com/6114b34d2929 ... nteresting. This "apparently a Triple Steeple: the two outer cylinders are steepled (Intermediate cylinder on top, Low pressure cylinder below) and the center non-steepled cylinder is the high pressure cylinder. "
From Practical Machinist Forum

[Bodger]

Another try!
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/an ... ia-291281/

[Stanley]

Bodge, big problem with steeple engines and derivatives from the same idea was that access for maintenance and repair was so difficult. The most successful variant on the idea (to save floor space) was the Willans High Speed Engine. (LINK), which in its later forms with totally enclosed forced lubrication was very successful as dynamos and generators could be driven at the correct speed direct off the shaft. Another related type which was also designed to save on floor space was the Manhattan engine. Here's one by Saxon at Fox Mill, 2200hp.

[Stanley]

A small self-contained beam engine at Helmshore Museum. Maker unknown and I don't think it was used at that mill. Pic done in 1978.

[Stanley]

[Stanley]

One of Edna Lumb's paintings of the rope race at Ellenroad. There was plenty of work for the makers of driving ropes!

[Stanley]

George Saxon twin tandem compound engine from the Vine Spinning Co ltd, Mill in Royton, Oldham, built in 1898, 1,800 h.p. at 62 r.p.m. with a 26ft. flywheel driving 35 ropes. John Burlison pic.

[Stanley]

Ellenroad advertisement, 1944.

[Stanley]

Have a look at this LINK to a Wiki article on 'K' Class steam submarines. Long forgotten and for very good reasons. For a very funny account of service in these boats see Gilbert Hackforth-Jones' book 'Sixteen Bells'.

[Stanley]

I've never had confirmation but I was once told that there was some sort of water wheel in the cellar of one of the houses on the left as you go down Lamb Hill into Wapping. It wouldn't surprise me. One thing I learned while I was researching water site in the Lake District for the old DOE was the number of small water power sites that were used for various purposes in even residential homes. A very old example is the water powered roasting spits found in some old houses and even the 'smoke jacks' powered by the draught up the flue are a similar technology.