Whilst rooting about for Cornish engine houses I came across this at the Severn Tunnel, at 40 feet diameter and 12 feet wide is it the largest in the UK?

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://farm1.static.flickr.com/30/65805891_881f2b9965.jpg&imgrefurl=http://flickr.com/photos/18016822%40N00/65805891/&usg=__VkFrDdU5XtVWnW4tyv9R4Xe_TuI=&h=375&w=500&sz=146&hl=en&start=42&tbnid=FaZUr89Xdlj5FM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsudbrook%2Bsevern%2Btunnel%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D40 

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=51.58302&lon=-2.712807&z=20&r=0&src=msl 

Edit: Found one at St Hilda Colliery at 50 feet diameter although various sites give differnt sizes!

Those both sound like crackers.

We've got the remains of a couple of 30ft ones locally.

http://www.hidden-teesside.co.uk/2008/03/20/huntcliffe-ironstone-mine-guibal-fanhouse/ 

http://www.hidden-teesside.co.uk/2007/06/07/skelton-mine-guibal-fanhouse/ 

Those both sound like crackers.

We've got the remains of a couple of 30ft ones locally.

http://www.hidden-teesside.co.uk/2008/03/20/huntcliffe-ironstone-mine-guibal-fanhouse/ 

http://www.hidden-teesside.co.uk/2007/06/07/skelton-mine-guibal-fanhouse/ 

Not forgetting the 'SS Castle' of course at Eston with a 37ft diameter.

Thanks, some large units about. 🙂 I've ordered the British Transport video which includes the Severn Tunnel pumps, boilers etc, it may have a bit more info on the fan and its drive.

Came across this earlier which might be of interest.
https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/1811/32736/1/OH_MIN_JNL_v26_067.pdf 

Came across this earlier which might be of interest.
https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/1811/32736/1/OH_MIN_JNL_v26_067.pdf 

Very interesting, seems the calculations for the shape of the Evase were still at an early stage. 🙂

If you pop across the Atlantic you can find one here. If I'm correct in asuming this is what you are discussing. http://www.aditnow.co.uk/mines/Dorrance-Coal-Mine/?gowhere=%2fmines%2f%3fpid%3d1%26ac%3dA%26ad%3d50 

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If you pop across the Atlantic you can find one here. If I'm correct in asuming this is what you are discussing. http://www.aditnow.co.uk/mines/Dorrance-Coal-Mine/?gowhere=%2fmines%2f%3fpid%3d1%26ac%3dA%26ad%3d50 

Some nice pics & info, thanks, makes Tower Colliery fan look small.

[photo]Tower-Colliery-Coal-Colliery-User-Album-Image-30708[/photo]

If that is the fan at Tower Colliery then it's not a Guibal, it looks more like a single inlet Sirocco, probably made by Davidsons of Belfast. The Guibal had 8 or 12 large vanes and rotated at say 60 r.p.m while the fan illustrated has numerous small vanes around its circumference and is designed to rotate at several hundred r.p.m.

The illustration of the fan at Dorrance seems to show a Guibal.

I think the fan at Sudbrook for the Severn Tunnel was originally a Guibal but the big one last in use there was a Walker and went out of use about 15 years ago. Unusually for such a fan it blew air into the tunnel; mine fans were invariably exhausting.

All the Guibal fanhouses I have come across were single-inlet but a double-inlet was quite possible. The great problem with the Guibal, as successful as it was, came about because of its huge square vanes; as each outer edge rushed past the shutter it caused a vibration which had a potential to cause damage within the fan itself. A solution was the Walker design which looked very similar but the shutter was more extensive with a large v-shape cut out so that the air was expelled from the fan without causing significant vibration.

Two preserved Walker fanhouses exist at Crumlin Navigation Colliery in South Wales, one at least with the fan still inside some 30 feet diameter. The twin-cylinder engine to drive it was preserved in the Cardiff Industrial Museum.

Now if you want to talk about big fans, the Waddle at Abergorki was the most impressive. 42 feet in diameter, out in the open, and standing vertically above head height. And only its engine was preserved.

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If that is the fan at Tower Colliery then it's not a Guibal, it looks more like a single inlet Sirocco, probably made by Davidsons of Belfast. The Guibal had 8 or 12 large vanes and rotated at say 60 r.p.m while the fan illustrated has numerous small vanes around its circumference and is designed to rotate at several hundred r.p.m.

Unusually for such a fan it blew air into the tunnel; mine fans were invariably exhausting.

I never said it was! 🙂 Looking at the drive motors and reduction gearbox I'd be very suprised if it ran at several hundred RPM.

[photo]Tower-Colliery-Coal-Colliery-User-Album-Image-30709[/photo]

That particular Severn Tunnel (blower) fan was designed to overcome the corrosive effects of the tunnel exhaust air.

If there is anyone left on site I'll see if I can get the details of the Tower fan. 🙂

In the People's Republic of Cleveland we have several remaining Guibal fanhouses in varying states of decay including the 'S.S. Castle' (NZ 580188) which in spite of what Richard said contained a fan a mere 30 feet in diameter. The larger one, 36 feet by 12 feet, was at Eston New Bank (NZ 566185), installed in 1869. In 1989 the site was dug out to reveal that the bottom half of the casing was still there, then filled in again so as not to leave a hole about 18 feet deep! The top half of the casing had been built of wood and iron sheeting. The site is probably now buried under undergrowth just in front of the drift visible at that point.

A Guibal at North Loftus mine was a mere 12 feet diameter (NZ 712192).

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A nice bit of info on Capell, Waddle and Walker (Indestructible) fans here.

http://www.pleasley-colliery.org.uk/html/waddle.htm 

One more shot from Dorrance if it's of interest.

🔗Dorrance-Coal-Mine-Archive-Album-Image-43418[linkphoto]Dorrance-Coal-Mine-Archive-Album-Image-43418[/linkphoto][/link]

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The largest Guibal fan recorded as wotking in a UK mine was that at St.Hilda Pit of Harton Colliery, Durham: 50 ft diam x 12' wide, Black Hawthorn & Co, Order No.284 of 1873, installed 1874. "Early large diameter Guibal fans (45 feet diameter and over) were prone to problems caused by deflection of the centre shaft resulting in overheating of the bearing areas. The constant reversal of pressure on the fan blades, well in excess of half a million reversals in 24 hours for an eight bladed fan running at 50rpm, resulted in fixing bolts working loose very rapidly and falling out. At some collieries the fixing bolts were tightened on a monthly basis. Experience showed that fans working at damp pits became wet and slimy and the fixing bolts were found to work loose even more rapidly than at a dry pit." [A.Hill 'The History and Devlopment nof Colliery ventillation", Matlock Bath, 2000, pp.49-66, esp. pp.52-3, 61, 63.] Hill provides a catalogue of all known installations, with dates, dimensions and makers. Guibal fans seem to have had the greatest diameter of all the models he describes. In his gazetteer of fan house and fan remains known to exist as at 1994, he lists ten sites at which there at Guibal fan or house remains: Duke Pit, Whitehaven (chamber for 36ft diam fan c.1870); Eston Ironstone Mine, New Bank, Cleveland (foundations for 30ft diam fan 1869); Eston Ironstone Mine, Lazenby, Cleveland (chamber and enginehouse for 30ft diam fan c.1872); Huntcliffe Ironstone Mine, Cleveland (chamber and enginehouse for 30ft diam fan c.1874); New Hawne Colliery, West Midlands (chamber for 21ft diam fan c.1875); North Loftus Ironstone Mine, Cleveland (fan remains under excavation; diam n.k. date n.k.); Plumbley Colliery, Eckington, Derbyshire (remains of 30ft diam fan c.1880); Stafford Colliery, Barnsley (chamber and engine bed for 35ft diam fan date n.k.); Wharncliffe Carlton Colliery, Barnsley (remains evasee chimney for 24ft diam fan 1883); Ynyscedwyn Colliery, Upper Swansea Valley (remains of evasee chimney for 30ft diam fan c.1880)

One more shot from Dorrance if it's of interest.

Nice bit of brickwork. 🙂

Ynyscedwyn Colliery fan remains: NGR SN 802 112

Ynyscedwyn Colliery fan remains: NGR SN 802 112

Thanks, I could not find it as it's in Penrhos. 😉

Edit: I have some pics somewhere.

Go on then, what is a guibal fan?

I've got a copy of the colliery fans book handed out at this years NAMHO but I've not read it yet 😞

Go on then, what is a guibal fan?

I've got a copy of the colliery fans book handed out at this years NAMHO but I've not read it yet 😞

Largish, paddle bladed slow running fan.
🔗Personal-Album-1695-Image-43490[linkphoto]Personal-Album-1695-Image-43490[/linkphoto][/link]