Penrhyn Slate Mine· Page 2 · AditNow Community

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Vanoord
54.4% (Neutral)
Newbie

18 years ago

#21

Hehe, the above makes amusing reading! I remember when I had LAP's vigour of youth 😉 Anyway...

🔗Penrhyn-Slate-Mine-Archive-Album-Image-018[linkphoto]Penrhyn-Slate-Mine-Archive-Album-Image-018[/linkphoto][/link]

These really were rather massive: having seen a couple of the blondin trolleys (?) that are still in Dinorwig, the Penrhyn ones look a lot bigger.

For the record, here's a link to an aerial pic of Penrhyn - http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=53.162882&lon=-4.064767&z=15.2&r=0&src=msl - it doesn't look like there's a lot left of the pre-modernisation workings, other than the imprint of a few trackways on waste tips?

Hello again darkness, my old friend...

Wormster
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

18 years ago

#22

So,

Who's been down to Ogwen bank and taken wax crayons and paper to do rubbings on the bridge, there's loads of interesting graffiti (mostly carved by the quarrymen) on the parapets.

Better to regret something you have done - than to regret something you have not done.

JohnnearCfon
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

18 years ago

#23

It is indeed very unfortunate that such a lot of the origianl workings have been buried by the recent new tip. There were at least 3 blondin towers (including a wooden one!) A large number of Thomas Hughes (round) rails. Buildings etc etc.

I have a similar OS map to Graham's. I must say seeing it coloured/shaded like that makes it so much clearer! Especially the mauve quarry faces.

LAP
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

18 years ago

#24

"Vanoord" wrote:
Hehe, the above makes amusing reading! I remember when I had LAP's vigour of youth 😉 Anyway...

Yer well.. 😉

Very different design to those used at Dinorwig...!
Kein geneis kanaf - Cain gnais canaf
Byt vndyd mwyhaf - byth onddyth moyav
Lliaws a bwyllaf - Líows o boylav
Ac a bryderaf - ac o boryddarav
Kyfarchaf y veird byt - covarcav yr vairth
Pryt nam dyweid - poryth na'm dowaith
Py gynheil y byt - Pa gonail y byth
Na syrch yn eissywyt - na soroc yn eishoyth
Neur byt bei syrchei - nour byth bai sorochai

grahami
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

18 years ago

#25

Yes, the Henderson cableway carriages are much more massive, and complex than the rather basic ones used for the inclined cableways at Penrhyn and Dinorwic. Ones similar to those at Dinorwic were used in the Nantlle valley, where they were connecetd to massive timber frames on the edges of the pits. These had platforms which ran out over the edge of the pit and allowed the raised wagons to be lowered on to them, and then run off to the mills. They were usually worked in a (more or less) balanced pair and so were referred to as "chain inclines" as the wire rope used was originally a chain. Unfortunately although I have a photo of the foot of the Penrhyn ones, I don't know what the top looked like. I'll post some stuff on the blondins to the PenyrOrsedd album (if we have one , he said without looking, if not there soon will be!).

Graham

The map is the territory - especially in chain scale.

grahami
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

18 years ago

#26

Oh yes - forgot to say that, as far as I am aware, although Penrhyn did carve out chambers in the slate for their pumping engines, that was all. As has been pointed out above, the lie of the veins at Penrhyn made for a regular and organised working, once the quarry was a single operation, rather than independent adjacent quarries. The pumping engines were interesting in that two of them were twin-cylinder water pressure engines, working three throw lift pumps. A third pump was driven through gearing by a water turbine.

Graham

The map is the territory - especially in chain scale.

Vanoord
54.4% (Neutral)
Newbie

18 years ago

#27

The Dinorwig ones look better designed to me - simplicity is good!

From the looks of the Dinorwig ones, they were operated by a single cable which moved the carriage on the wire and lifted/lowered the truck - this seems to have required a stop to be fixed onto the main carrier cable and when the carriage reached that, the unwinding wire would then lower the truck? Assuming that's correct, someone must have had an interesting job in moving the stops along the cable...

The alternative - and the way I would initially design one - would be to have two 'control' cables, one to move the carriage back and forwards and one to lift and lower the truck. That, of course, would make life very difficult as the cables would have to be operated in conjunction, otherwise the wagon would be lowered as the carriage above was brought towards the tower.

I think I've got the gist of it now 🙂

Hello again darkness, my old friend...

grahami
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

18 years ago

#28

"Vanoord" wrote:
...From the looks of the Dinorwig ones, they were operated by a single cable which moved the carriage on the wire and lifted/lowered the truck - this seems to have required a stop to be fixed onto the main carrier cable and when the carriage reached that, the unwinding wire would then lower the truck? Assuming that's correct, someone must have had an interesting job in moving the stops along the cable...

The alternative - and the way I would initially design one - would be to have two 'control' cables, one to move the carriage back and forwards and one to lift and lower the truck. That, of course, would make life very difficult as the cables would have to be operated in conjunction, otherwise the wagon would be lowered as the carriage above was brought towards the tower.

Quite correct - there were stops on the cable! Hence the need for the movable platform at the top - as the cable was paid out the carriage tried to go back down the supporting cable thus landing the wagon. With the Henderson design there were separate traversing cables and lifting cables. These were wound on a pair of drums on a common shaft. The shaft was driven by steam or (later) electricity and each drum could be clutched to it as necessary. To raise a wagon the lifting drum would be engaged until the wagon was as high up as necessary, then the traversing drum would also be clutched in and the pair driven together to bring the wagon above the landing spot. The traversing drum would be clutched out and the lifting drum reversed to lower the wagon to the ground. The reason the water balances lasted so long at penrhyn was that they lowered an empty wagon at the same time as they raised a full one. That's double acting. The henderson blondins were essentially single acting - though more flexible in that they could pcik up and drop from anywhere under their catenary. (Incidentally there were some Henderson cableways that had masts on rails so that they could move from side to side as well - but they wern't used in the slate quarries!

Graham

The map is the territory - especially in chain scale.