MYSTERY OBJECTS

[plaques]

I can only think of Bessemer, "Sir Henry Bessemer was an English inventor, whose steelmaking process would become the most important technique for making steel in the nineteenth century." but since he virtually established Sheffield as a steel making centre I guess this rules him out.

[Tizer]

You're a step away from the answer now. Bessemer gets all the credit but he only managed what he did because someone before him cracked the secret of how to get the ingredients right. We don't usually hear about that someone, and unlike Bessemer he didn't make oodles of money out of it.

[plaques]

I think I've got him. Had to look it up though. Kept thinking of Keir . Still could be wrong.
Robert Forester Mushet (8 April 1811 – 29 January 1891) was a British metallurgist and businessman, born on 8 April 1811, in Coleford, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England. He was the youngest son of Scottish parents, Agnes Wilson and David Mushet; an ironmaster, formerly of the Clyde, Alfreton and Whitecliff Ironworks.[1]

[Stanley]

I think you're right P. He has been on my mind all along but I associate him more with alloy steels. 'Mushet' steel was the first practical High Speed Steel used for tool bits. But of course it was the successful alloying of carbon steel that produced using rare elements such as manganese that gave us alloy steels which were far better for heavy wear applications like steel rails.

[Tizer]

Spot on, Plaques, well done! His father, David, moved to the Royal Forest of Dean and set up the Titanic steelworks and Darkhill ironworks, both at Gorsty Knoll near Coleford. The railway pointwork monument was set up in 1999 to commemorate father and son and the remains of Darkhill are in the background.

Robert added `Forester' as his middle name to show his link to the Forest, a very close knit community, and took over the ironworks from his father. Titanic didn't last long and he concentrated on experiments to make better steel. He was very secretive and avoided Bessemer at first but eventually they got together and Bessemer benefited from the results of Mushet's work. Bessemer couldn't figure out how to get rid of the impurities yet retain the necessary carbon but Mushet showed him how to burn everything off then add back carbon and manganese in exactly the right quantities - the result of hundreds of experiments at Darkhill. Mushet made the first steel rails which were proven to be long lasting at Derby. He also invented the first self-hardening steel.

I mentioned there was a link with Mrs Tiz. Shown below is the cover of a book on Robert Mushet written by the late Keith Webb and published by Black Dwarf in 2001. Keith lived in a farmhouse at Gorsty Knoll and spent much time studying the site and the history. Mrs Tiz's father was one of Keith's friends and for a time was chairman of the local Forest of Dean industrial archaeology society. They spent many happy hours walking the site with the dogs while it was still open to the public; it was eventually fenced off for safety reasons. There's more about Mushet here: LINK

[Stanley]

Found a copy on Amazon for £9. Have just bought it. I've always regarded him as an unsung hero. At the 1851 exhibition he had a lathe turning steel with so big a cut that the tool tip was red hot but it kept on cutting. A carbon steel tool would have been destroyed at that temperature....

[Stanley]

Word from Amazon that the Mushet book was posted in Carnforth yesterday..... Try this one....

[David Whipp]

Assorted cutting tools...

[Tizer]

Stanley's cutlery drawer.

[Cathy]

Are they a collection of Rasps, Stanley?

[Stanley]

Not rasps Cathy, David is right, cutting tools but what's special about them? The rust is a clue.....

[chinatyke]

... David is right, cutting tools but what's special about them? The rust is a clue.....

Ahhh! Penny drops! Rusty cutting tools.

[Stanley]

Yes, but why?

[David Whipp]

Recovered from an old machinist's workshop many moons ago 'cos they'd come in sometime but never used as they are too big, soft, intended to be used with special steel... that's my guess.

[Tizer]

The metal they are made of is not stainless steel, i.e. doesn't contain any or enough chromium, or they've been subjected to high temperature and the chromium has migrated away from the surface leaving it susceptible to oxidation (rusting).

[chinatyke]

... never used... that's my guess.

Mine too.

[Stanley]

David gets too close for me to ignore him. They are old High Carbon steel turning tools, the standard until WW2 as alloyed High Speed Steel (Mushet Steel) and tungsten carbide (Wimet tips) was too expensive. They were fine as long as you didn't overheat the tip. These were Johnny's and I keep them to remind myself of what he used.

[David Whipp]

Given that I put around a score of guesses into pot, hardly a surprise if something was close!



What's it for recording, and where?

[Tizer]

Measuring seismic activity in the council offices?

[Stanley]

I know this one but will hold back and let everyone else have a go. Here's a clue for you, one of these gets a mention in the Calf Hall Shed Company minute books.....

[Stanley]

See Tiz post on July 11th.
I have now got the book and was skimming through it this morning and saw a picture of a 'Bear' [Page 72]. The caption in the book is wrong as it states that a bear is "a solidified mass of impurities skimmed off the molten metal before it was tapped"
In fact the bear is the mass of impurities that gathers over time in the base of the furnace below the tapping hole. It is removed when the furnace is blown out and allowed to cool for repairs which could be as long as a year as furnaces were kept in blow for as long as possible, the cooling severely damages the lining otherwise. In the picture you can clearly see the rounded bottom of the bear. I was sure I knew this but to be certain I checked it in my copy of Osborne's 'Encyclopaedia of the Iron and Steel Industry' which confirms my version.

[Tizer]

I think there are two reasons for that. First, Keith Webb was not an engineer or technologist, he was a solicitor who found himself living almost on top of the neglected Darkhill site and decided he ought to at least record some of its history, especially that of Mushet. Second, like many other rural places, the Forest of Dean tended to have its own words and meanings and it's possible the word `bear' was used in a broader sense there.

[Stanley]

It's clearly got a rounded base and so is definitely a bear under the traditional definition.

[PanBiker]

Back to the recording device, I reckon its a water flow meter and probably in the Winterburn pump house at Greenberfield, (knowing what David has been about lately).

[Marilyn]

An internal female matrimonial happiness meter. ( so many readings to take and things to consider)