STEAM ENGINES AND WATERWHEELS

[Bodger]

Tape drive, i take it there was a fast /loose pulley system to prevent the main engine from driving the donkey ?

[Stanley]

Dead right, you can see the fast and loose pulley on the donkey. Here's the rest of the drive.



There was a loose pulley for the main drive at the other side of the fast pulley on the countershaft. We replaced the countershaft about 18 months before the mill closed.

[Stanley]

County Brook Mill in 2004.

[Stanley]

The old waterwheel shaft at County Brook. See Newton Pickles transcripts in the LTP for an account of repairs to the wheel.

[Stanley]

Water turbines at Quarry Bank Mill Styal in 1982. Note how the old Hewes' waterwheel shaft has been used as a structural member.

[Stanley]

The replacement flywheel for Bishop House in Burnley made by William Roberts at Nelson in 1949. See Newton Pickles for the full story. Roberts got the jack gear wrong and couldn't afford to recast it. It never meshed correctly for the rest of its life.

[Stanley]

A large vertical engine which drove a spinning mill in Lancashire. The engine ran 'boggart', it over-speeded and the flywheel exploded.

[Stanley]

Not sure whether I'm repeating myself here but no matter. This small corn mill served the Isle of Eigg, one of the Small Isles off Mallaig.

[Stanley]

The Victoria mill engine at Earby.

[Stanley]

The broken flywheel shaft at Victoria Mill in 1954.

[Stanley]

An indicator diagram from one of the four cylinders of the Victoria engine.

[Stanley]

Clover Mill engine at Rochdale. A lovely example of a spinning mill engine.

[Bodger]

Stanley, steam power for the home, see p. 177/9
http://books.google.ie/books?id=WCQDAAA ... &q&f=false

[Stanley]

Good link and the adverts are wonderful! You to can have a body like mine! The man was crackers of course, think of the attention and maintenance! Funnily enough it's still cheaper to generate your own power if you have a boiler that's needed for process steam, at Bancroft we were half price compared to the grid and I don't doubt the sums would be the same now. Think of the industries burning waste like sugar cane bagasse, the fuel is free!
Here's an example of waste fuel for energy. Annie in John Ingoe's shop at Rochdale. She was built for colonial use as a straw-burner but never exported to the A|rgentine because Paxman's din't get paid for the last one they sent. Biog firebox and 3" tubes. It steamed well off straw and wood as well.

[Stanley]

The state I found the Dee Mill engine in. 1992. You can see why I got scheduled monument consent to demolish it.By the way, the white parts you can see on the cylinders and pipes is asbestos. Not good....

[Stanley]

Dee Mill engine in its original condition.

[Bodger]

on the left there are 4 vertical valve control wheels, what was their function ?
With a "double" engine how did they balance their timing to stop them fighting each other ?

[Stanley]

Bodge, I never saw the engine in one piece but they are almost certain to be controls for the drains on the cylinders and the main steam lines, you always started with them open so that any condensate could get away before you got problems with water in the cylinders.
A double tandem engine like this (high and low pressure cylinders on each side) is essentially two separate engines controlled by one governor. Each side has its own valve gear driven off the flyshaft by eccentrics or gears and so the individual engine has steam and exhaust events timed to keep it running efficiently in the right direction. The synchronisation of the two engines is ensured by the fact that they are both driving the same flywheel and the effort from each is spread throughout each revolution by setting the individual cranks at 90degrees to each other. This gave more even turning of the shaft and better production from the spinning machinery. For some reason I have never quite understood, in a cross compound the LP crank was set forward of the HP crank and in a double tandem like this it was usually the left hand crank which was set forward.



The left hand flyshaft bearing. The crank is at bottom dead centre and on the inside you can see the single eccentric that drove the valve gear. Not a pretty sight!

[Stanley]

The Yates and Thom engine at Leigh Spinners in 1978. I think it's still there today.

[Stanley]

A 1911 Aveling and Porter steam roller. This is the type that BUDC bought at about that time.

[Stanley]

Newton Pickles with a gas engine at the Anson Museum near Poynton in 1990. He was a big fan of them and we forget these days how common they were in Barlick before the days of mains electricity and cheap efficient electric motors. Almost every chip shop had one for example.

[Stanley]

The refurbished Mather and Platt 'Underwriter' steam fire pump at Ellenroad in 1988

[Bodger]

Re fire pump, did you have to have an alterative power sourced one ? in th plastics industry we have a normal electric pump backed up with a diesel unit in case of power failure

[Tripps]

I've just got a new hi fi from ebay, and consequently have been playing CD's which haven't been played for ages. I came across this one today, and the audio is so good - I can actually hear the words for a change.

"In the 1980's Stanley Graham had a dream" http://audioboo.fm/boos/1115570-ellenroad

Enjoy.

[Stanley]

Thanks for that David, I'd forgotten about it. It was a local group in Milnrow, were they called the Spinners? Nice to hear it again and one of the few mentions still extant that I had anything to do with Ellenroad!
Bodge, there was a Mather and Platt electric set in the cellar but instead of being diesel, the stand-by at Ellenroad was the Underwriter. Other firms made them as well and they kicked in to supply the sprinkler tank on top of the mill if the level dropped and the electric pump failed. Of course, before the days of mains power the Underwriter was the first line pump. I've run it and it's a very powerful and efficient pump, I used it as boiler feed in the days before I got the other pumps working.



This is the Mather and Platt electric set that topped the reservoir up in case of fire. Fully automatic and a powerful pump. It's still in use at Ellenroad supplying the condenser water from the River Beal for the Whitelees engine.