SPECIALIST EQUIPMENT Its original commission was to
allow the pit to exploit deeper coal reserves. It cost £167 19s 3 3/3d, and was constructed by John Bargh of Chesterfi eld. T e engine was classifi ed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 1972. It is currently being restored. Geoff
Wallis is the conservation engineer overseeing the project on behalf of Barnsley Council. He tells IME, “T e Newcomen Engine was the world’s fi rst technically and commercially successful steam engine, developed by a Devon ironmonger to de-water the mines of that area. In the 17th century mines were being dug deeper as the demand for minerals grew, but their depth and hence output and profi tability were often limited by fl ooding. Traditionally horse, water, wind or human power was used to pump out water, but these were soon outstripped by increasing depth and size of the mines. Steam power was seen to hold a potential answer, but boilers could not be made to hold suffi cient pressure. “T en, over at least a decade in the early 1700s, T omas Newcomen developed an engine that used vacuum rather than steam pressure and soon hundreds of his engines were in use throughout the UK and the British Empire. T e output of mines increased and the supply of greater quantities of all metals and the technology to smelt
DREDGED UP S
and form them were important factors in facilitating the industrial revolution.” When the machine is fully working,
the Heritage Centre is planning to open full time to the public, and while restoration is on-going, special open days will be held throughout the year. As technology moved on, a new type of Beam Engine proliferated above Cornish tin mines, and as such became known internationally as the Cornish Pumping Engine. T e largest of its type is at the Chapin Mine in Michigan, USA. According to the Menominee Range Historical Foundation, it was commissioned in 1889 from the E. P. Allis Co. of Milwaukee, at a cost of approximately US$250,000. By January 1893 it was ready for action. Its performance fi gures are staggering. It weighs 725 tons, and the 160 ton fl ywheel is 40ft across. T e cylinders plus upper and lower cylinder heads weigh 60 tons. It could pump at a rate of 3,400 gallons per minute. In one year alone the giant machine enabled the extraction of a record 742,843 tons of ore, while some 2,000 men were employed at the mine. From 1880 to 1932, the mine produced 27,506,868 tons of ore. It ran for the last time in 1932, and when it was switched off the subsequent fl ooding created two new bodies of water, known as the Chapin
These early machines were reciprocating Beam Engines with the pump hung from the nose of a wooden, or later cast iron beam protruding over the shaft
ometimes a pump alone just won’t do, and this is where
dredgers come in. Italian outfi t Dragfl ow has just delivered a DRP18 remote controlled dredger to a client in Padova. The task at hand was to collect mud in an acidic environment. Dragfl ow says in a statement,
The DRP18 rapidly removed the sediment and reduced the water level by 2m
“Thanks to the remote control operation, the ability to calculate exactly the working depth of the pump and the maneuverability of the dredge, all the customer concerns were addressed.” As well as the normal on-board electric pump, unusually the machine is fi tted with an explosimeter. ●
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