Can anybody tell me what these are? At Diffwys mill.

They look like they provide some sort of reciprocating motion and so I suppose possibly related to dressing of the slate?

🔗Diffwys-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-49489[linkphoto]Diffwys-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-49489[/linkphoto][/link]

🔗Diffwys-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-49492[linkphoto]Diffwys-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-49492[/linkphoto][/link]

---

Are they the blades from the early slate trimmers (pre Greaves)? I am at work but see if I can google an image.

---

I think it's one of these;http://www.aditnow.co.uk/photo/Diffwys-1984-Image-34294/?order=desc 

...Lister;~)

---

I think it's one of these;http://www.aditnow.co.uk/photo/Diffwys-1984-Image-34294/?order=desc 

...Lister;~)

Certainly looks like it, what did the complete thing look like, how did it operate?

That is what I thought it was in my earlier post.

Unfortunately I could not find any pictures of it.

---

Busy at the moment after a week in NYC but I'll post some details of this beast later. It was a double sided reciprocating dresser seemingly indigenous to Diffwys - we thought originally it was a double Matthew, but it wasn't!

Grahami

---

OK - here we are - patented by Wren and Hopkinson in 1866, this was an attempt to reduce the footprint of slate dressers by fitting two into (roughly) the space of one and a half. Greaves did the same thing with his double sided dresser, but in the process lost the main advantage of his rotary dresser by forcing the actual dressing rotor to oscillate.

Here there are two working blades and fixed edges operated from cranks on the shaft above the machine which itself was driven by the usual fast and loose pulley arrangement.

The original patent drawing shows an iron frame. (The drawing needs re-doing as I hastily traced the patent many years ago):

🔗Personal-Album-54-Image-49731[linkphoto]Personal-Album-54-Image-49731[/linkphoto][/link]

While the machines at Diffwys Floor 6 Mill clearly had wooden frames. This is my reconstruction sketch based on what we found there. (AGain this is in great need of redrawing.):

🔗Personal-Album-54-Image-49732[linkphoto]Personal-Album-54-Image-49732[/linkphoto][/link]

Cheers

Grahami

---

Thanks Graham, drawing explains it nicely. 🙂

Interesting machine.I have seen something similar at work in a Pennsylvania quarry in the book `Slate Roof Bible`by Joseph Jenkins.

I always wondered what that was. Now the mystery is solved. Many thanks Graham. :thumbsup:

---