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Surrey Industrial History Group Newsletter 159
www.sihg.org.uk
September 2007
Contents
3 The Elsecar Newcomen Engine by Jan Spencer
3 Summary of the SIHG Accounts
4 SIHG Weekend Visit to Sheffield IA Sites by Bob Bryson
The Bessemer Converter at Kelham Island Sheffield
Only three converters still exist
SIHG weekend visit to Sheffield IA sites, see page 4
SIHG Newsletter #159 September 2007 Web Edition
This edition of the Surrey Industrial Group Newsletter has been reformatted so that it is more easily read
online or printed out as a PDF. Diary entries have been curtailed to cover SIHG events only. Other editorial
matter is practically as originally published.
Readers are advised that the views of contributors are not necessarily the views of SIHG.
€ Copyright SIHG and individual contributors 2007.
SIHG is a group of the Surrey Archaeological Society, Registered Charity No 272098
Castle Arch Guildford Surrey GU1 3SX
Group Patron: David Shepherd OBE, Group President: Prof AG Crocker FSA
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Surrey Industrial History Group Newsletter 159
September 2007
SIHG Newsletter No 159 September 2007
DIARY
The 32nd series of Industrial Archaeology Lectures
Held on alternate Tuesdays, 1930 - 2130, from 25 September 2007 at the University of Surrey (Lecture Theatre F).
Parking is free on the campus in the evening, in the main car park. Single lectures at €5, payable on the night, are open to all.
Diary September
25
Tue
SIHG LECTURE SERIES
THE LIFE AND WORKS OF THOMAS TELFORD
Dr Michael Bailey (Past-President of the Newcomen Society)
Diary October
9
Tue
SIHG LECTURE SERIES
SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW ABOUT INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY!
John Silman & Tony Yoward (HIAS)
23
Tue
SIHG LECTURE SERIES
THE LEAD INDUSTRY IN LONDON
Tim Smith (GLIAS)
27
Sat
SURREY BRIDGES AND TUNNELS
Symposium by Surrey Local History Committee of SyAS
10am to 5.30pm Chertsey Hall, Heriot Road, Chertsey
Diary November
6
Tue
SIHG LECTURE SERIES
THE GOLDEN AGE OF ENGLISH CLOCKMAKING
David Thompson (Curator of horology at the British Museum)
20
Tue
SIHG LECTURE SERIES
LOYAL SERVANTS OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY
Janet Bateson (RH7 History Group)
Diary December
4
Tue
SIHG LECTURE SERIES
MEMBERS' TALKS
Editorial Note
We apologise for the late publication of the Newsletter.
Unfortunately, David Evans is having problems with his sight; we send him our best wishes and hope he will be better
soon.
This edition has been put together by Jan Spencer.
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Surrey Industrial History Group Newsletter 159
September 2007
The Elsecar Newcomen Engine
From Exit 36 of the M1 the route to Barnsley’s Elsecar Heritage Centre is marked with brown signs. The Elsecar Railway Engine Sheds
and Railway are clearly visible behind the small shops and craft
workshops and the very popular Playmania indoor adventure playground. The Newcomen Engine, however, is hidden on the far side of
the railway tracks, obscured by modern buildings and leafy trees.
Thomas Newcomen’s Atmospheric Engine of 1712 was the World’s
first useful steam driven source of power and was very successful.
Even during the years of Watt’s patent, 1769 - 1800, more Newcomen type engines were built than Watt engines. Newcomen engines avoided the royalties due to Boulton and Watt for the use of
their engines, but did consume 2.5 times the fuel!
The Elsecar Newcomen Engine is the only one in the World still on
its original foundations. It was declared a scheduled ancient monument in 1972. Although the machinery is not currently moving, it
should be possible to restore it to working order, at least for occasional demonstrations. All that is needed, according to Peter Clayton,
who did a lot of the work in documenting and preserving the Engine,
is (lots of) money and the will to do it.
On my way to the SIHG visit to Sheffield on 8 September, a Heritage
Open Day, I was able to join an ad hoc group to explore the Newcomen Engine. The five of us were guided by Peter. Before entering
the building, we could see the external half of the 24ft (6.8m) castiron beam and a frame carrying weights equivalent to the burden of
the original pump. The lintel above the doorway into the building
says 1787, but the real date must be 1795, as the mineshaft to be dewatered was only sunk in 1794. The Engine drained the mine continuously until 1923.
Just inside the door is the plugtree which controls the valves. The
base of the massive cylinder (48in, 1.2m, in diameter) dominates the
rest of the ground floor. Two sets of pipes and valves are visible. One
lets in steam at the very low pressure of only 2.5psi (170millibar) to
fill the space below the piston and allow the beam to descend out of house under the weight of the pump assembly. The second injects a
spray of water into the cylinder (Newcomen’s experimental insight of genius!) to condense the steam. This allows the pressure of the atmosphere (15psi, 1000millibar) to push down on the top of the piston during the power stoke. A third pipe allows water (and any air
which may have leaked in) to drain from the cylinder into the hot well in the cellar. On climbing to the first floor, we could look down
into the open top of the cylinder and observe the piston, which has a stroke of 5ft (1.5m). Above our heads, we could see the beam and the
parallel motion links. From the second floor we could touch the beam and see the top of it.
Currently, there is no steam boiler and no header tank for the injection water. The original cylinder had a diameter of 42in (1.1m)
and the piston hung from the earlier wooden beam by chains. The Engine could make up to eight strokes per minute, lifting 50gallons
(0.23cu m) of minewater up 130ft (50m).
Jan Spencer
Summary of the Accounts of the Surrey Industrial History Group
The SIHG accounts were presented at the AGM on 15 July 2007.
In the year 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007 the Group made a surplus on publications of €975. This figure when incorporated
into the publications balance sheet shows a cumulative balance of €15,746.
SIHG made a loss of €221 for the year on all its other activities. Combining this figure and the publications balance into the
overall balance sheets shows the assets of the group standing at €28,572.
As SIHG is part of The Surrey Archaeological Society our accounts will be combined with those of the Society. The Society
accounts will be presented at its AGM on Sunday 25 November 2007 at the Guildford Guildhall.
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Surrey Industrial History Group Newsletter 159
September 2007
SIHG Weekend Visit to Sheffield IA Sites
Demonstation
at Wortley
Top Forge
On Saturday 8th September a number of SIHG members set off to Sheffield for a long weekend to visit various industrial sites,
mostly connected with the cutlery trade for which Sheffield was famous. The visit was inspired by a talk given at the start of the
2006/7 lecture series by Christine Ball of the University of Sheffield entitled Sheffield: Iron, Steel, Landscape and Craft Skills.
As there was only thirteen of us from SIHG we were fortunate to be joined on the trip by fourteen members from the Cumbria
Industrial History Society. Unfortunately our first visit on Saturday afternoon should have been to the Kelham Island Museum,
The Museum stands on a man-made island over 900 years old but remains closed after suffering severe flood damage when the
River Don burst its banks during the recent floods.
We were therefore not able to go inside the museum to see the 12,000 horse power River Don Engine, built by Davy Brothers
of Sheffield in 1905 to drive Charles Cammell's armour plate rolling mill. The engine ran at Cammell's mill for almost 50 years
before being transferred to the British Steel Corporation's River Don Works. At the Works, the engine continued to drive a
heavy plate mill until 1978 when it was transferred to Kelham. I particularly would have liked to have seen the engine as it is
claimed to be the most powerful working steam engine remaining in Europe, however we were able to see the large Bessemer
Converter which stands at the entrance to the museum site.
The Bessemer Converter at Kelham is one of only three converters left in the world. It was used by the British Steel
Corporation in Workington until 1975, and was brought to the Museum in 1978 as an example of the revolutionary steelmaking
process which first took off in Sheffield. Henry Bessemer patented the Bessemer process to convert iron into steel in 1856. The
egg-shaped converter was tilted down to pour molten pig iron in through the top and then swung back to a vertical position and
a blast of air was blown through the base of the converter in a dramatic 'blow'. The first converters could make seven tonnes of
steel in half an hour.
Kelham Island is located in one of the city's oldest industrial districts and our guide, Robin Fielder, took us on a tour of the
industrial district around Kelham Island pointing out some of the early factories that had been established in the area. That
evening back at the hotel with the aid of old maps and slides Robin was able to explain how the industry had developed from
small water powered industrial hamlets to vast steel works like the River Don Works.
On Sunday morning we all boarded a coach and went to visit two of the water powered industrial hamlets Robin had mentioned
in his talk. While on the coach we took a short diversion to see the laboratory in which Harry Brearley discovered stainless
steel. Harry Brearley was born in Sheffield in 1871 and was appointed lead researcher at Brown Firth Laboratories in 1908. In
1912 Brearley was given a task by a small arms manufacturer who wished to prolong the life of their gun barrels. Brearley
began experimenting with steel alloys containing chromium. During these experiments he made several variations of his alloys,
ranging from 6% to 15% chromium with differing measures of carbon. On the 13th August 1913 Brearley created a steel with
12.8% chromium and 0.24% carbon, argued to be the first ever stainless steel. Brearley struggled to win the support of his
employers, instead choosing to produce his new steel at local cutler R.F Mosley. Brearley had initially decided to name his
invention 'Rustless Steel', but the cutlery manager of Mosley dubbed it 'Stainless Steel' after testing the material in a vinegar
solution, and the name stuck.
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Surrey Industrial History Group Newsletter 159
September 2007
The first industrial hamlet we visited was Wortley Top Forge, which was a Water Powered Iron Forge, now in the care of
the South Yorkshire Industrial History Society. The Wortley Ironworks originally comprised the Low Forge and the Top
Forge; the Top Forge building itself is largely eighteenth century in date. Records of iron making in this area go back to
1621 when a bloomery is mentioned; it could well be, however, that the Cistercian monks worked iron in this part of the
Don Valley three or four hundred years earlier. The first evidence of the present Forge dates from the 1620's and by 1695
there are firm records of the production of wrought iron at Wortley The site has been used for various processes but it is best
known for the Wrought Iron Railway Axles that were made from 1840 until production stopped around 1910. Exhibits at
Top Forge included the original water wheels and water powered drop hammers within the original Forge building that is
progressively being restored to 1900s condition. We were able to see all three Water Wheels running. Adjoining buildings
house a 1920s Machine Shop that is used for most of the restoration work, displays of medium sized and small stationary
steam engines and displays of old machine and hand tools.
We then moved on to the Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet. The recorded history of Abbeydale dates from 1714, but it was
possibly occupied earlier. The industrial history of the area goes back at least 800 years. Originally called Abbeydale
Works, it was one of the largest water-powered sites on the River Sheaf. The main products of the works were agricultural
scythes, but other edge tools were made too, such as grass hooks and hay knives. At the Hamlet, you can see waterwheels,
tilt hammers, grinding wheels and the only intact crucible steel furnace surviving in the world today. Abbeydale closed as a
working site in 1933 and was donated to the City of Sheffield. It was then developed as a museum by the City Council,
opening to the public in 1970. The crucible furnace was briefly reopened during the Second World War to make high grade
steel for the war effort.
In the evening back at Sheffield Park Hotel, Christine Ball who had joined us at Wortley gave a talk on the importance of
water and the development of the various water systems around Sheffield. As she explained, water was not only required to
drive water wheels, but was also needed to cool steel, wet grinding wheels and top up steam engines, as well as for domestic
uses like washing and drinking.
On Monday morning prior to driving home, a number of us visited what must be one of the last of the very large steel works
in the area. Outokumpu is the world's second-largest stainless steel producer. The company, founded in 1932, has a turnover
of €4.1bn and a staff of 8,000 worldwide. Outokumpu manufactures and supplies low volume specialist products from its
Sheffield site. We all met in the appropriately named Brearley Visitors Centre to be given a short safety brief and to be
kitted out in safety helmets etc
During 2001 and 2002 the Outokumpu Stainless Melting and Continuous Casing plant at Sheffield was reconfigured. The
existing electric arc furnace, an Argon Oxygen Decarburisation and ladle arc furnace, were supplemented by a six-strand
billet caster with electro-magnetic stirring and turnover bed cooling. From a walkway above the shop floor we were able to
watch this process and saw the electric arc furnace being charged with about 120 tons of scrap. The furnace was heated and
then tilted back so the contents could be poured into a gigantic ladle, which transferred the steel to the Argon Oxygen
Decarburisation furnace. This furnace looked like a modern version of the Bessemer converter we saw on our first day. The
converter was tilted again and the newly made steel was teemed or poured out back into the ladle from where it was
transferred to the ladle arc furnace and the continuous casting machine. All this was very spectacular and noisy with flames
and fountains of sparks shooting out of the top of the electric arc furnace and the converter. Walking round to the back of
the factory we were able to see continuous steel billets emerging slowly from the vast machine to be cut into sections and
transferred to the turnover bed to cool.
In all we saw evidence of the Sheffield steel industry from its earliest water powered days through to one of the last
remaining modern steel plants. The organisation and accommodation were also excellent and I would like to thank Tony
Gregory for all his efforts in organising the visit. Some of us are already thinking of where to go next year!!!
Bob Bryson
SIHG Officers
Chairman & SIHG Lectures Organiser: Robert Bryson
Secretary: Alan Thomas
Treasurer: Robin Turier
Membership Secretary & Newsletter Editor: David Evans
Acting Newsletter Editor: Jan Spencer
SIHG Website: www.sihg/org.uk
Published by the Surrey Industrial History Group and printed by Kall Kwik
9 Bridge Street Leatherhead KT22 8BL € SIHG 2007 ISSN1355-8188