What is this? · AditNow Community

Mine exploration, photographs and mining history for mine explorers, industrial archaeologists, researchers and historians

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

ironworks
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

13 years ago

This is a rolled castiron cylinder on the site of the old Pasture colliery at Wyke. one of the low Moor Colliery Pits. Theses closed at the end of the !9th Century . we could be looking at around 1850's. is it an old boiler?
ironworks

[tweak]image link corrected - sl[/tweak]

Wanna join the discussion?! Login to your AditNow Community forum account or Register a new forum account

staffordshirechina
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

If it is rolled, and it appears to be, it will certainly not be made of cast iron.

sinker
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

Odd....doesn't look like a boiler? Are the seperate sections bolted or welded together?

Yma O Hyd....

grimwald
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

Looks to be riveted rolled steel, does it go? could it be a shaft liner.??? :confused:

sinker
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

"grimwald" wrote:
could it be a shaft liner.??? :confused:

:thumbsup: That's what I thought :thumbsup:

Yma O Hyd....

rikj
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

It's an air shaft, though I took the question to be what was used to make it.

Is this a normal type of shaft liner anywhere? I've got vague memories of metal tubbing being used where there was a lot of water ingress in a shaft.

It's unlikely that it's been left unfilled, but if it had, probably not the sort of place you'd want to visit! The haulage ways would have been high enough for tubs, but the seams would probably only have been 10-30 inches high. That was why children were used.

4737carlin
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

Is that tree growing out of it?? not behind it?

staffordshirechina
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

It has been some sort of tank, maybe even a low pressure boiler.
As Carlin says, the tree is growing out of a hole in the side with a ring of bolt holes around it.
Shaft linings were never riveted together like this, they were usually made of cast iron sections and bolted together, just as modern concrete sections are.
It may not be anything to do with a shaft, just an old tank reared up on end!

ironworks
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

13 years ago

Thanks for all the comments. I will supply more information
The site of this cylinder was an old colliery and stationary winding engine site for the Lowmoor Iron Company. They were world famous for their cast iron. During the late 19th century they still made cast iron by the traditional process. They never went into steel. The speciality was rolled cast iron boiler plate. I am sure this cylinder is cast iron.it is beautifully rivetted and of solid construction. The treee grows out of it.
The area abounds in brickworks and clay so it does not make sense for it to be a ventilation shaft, shaft liner or traditional chimney. it is a stand alone piece of equipment.
I wondered about the lagging cover for a vertical steam engine.
ironworks

Boy Engineer
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#10

http://www.sblha.com/ht.html
The plates in the account seemed to be produced from wrought iron, but I stand to be corrected.

inbye
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#11

May be completely wide of the mark but can't see how this could be made from cast iron. The large heating boilers you see in older buildings are normally made up of sections of cast iron that are bolted together, to allow for movement when heating/cooling. Also, the fact it's riveted, cast iron & hammer blows don't get on too well together.
Anyway, a quick test to prove/disprove, would be to take a battery drill & drill a small hole in it, somewhere out of sight. If the cuttings are granular & the bit soon loses it's edge, then it's cast. If the cuttings come out twirly, it's steel.

As to the idea behind it, again could be completely wrong, if the shaft needed to be made safe but not sealed (i.e. capped) & there was an old disused boiler, air receiver, whatever on site, it would be a quick & effective solution.
Just my two-penny worth... 😉

Regards, John...

Huddersfield, best value for money in the country, spend a day there & it'll feel like a week........

rikj
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#12

"inbye" wrote:
As to the idea behind it, again could be completely wrong, if the shaft needed to be made safe but not sealed (i.e. capped) & there was an old disused boiler, air receiver, whatever on site, it would be a quick & effective solution.
Just my two-penny worth... ;D

I'd go with that one. It's marked on OS maps as "Air Shaft (disused)"; possible, of course, that they have misinterpreted the feature.

Prior to that it is marked as a pumping pit, at a guess after it finished as a winding pit. So maybe to protect an open shaft at an unmanned, but functioning site?

Will try and dig out any photos later.

Phil Ford
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#13

Its a Lancashire Boiler. Many small mines have used them to get into good groung from the surface. The last that I saw was at Tan Llan Colliery, Treuddyn, Mold, N wales. They did an open cut down to solid ground, then they put in three Lancashire boilers end to end and back filled over them. Having done this it made a good portal to the drift mine.

Graigfawr
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#14

Lowmoor's fame and prestiege stemmed primarily from the quality of its wrought iron production. This object appears to be wrought iron or steel rather than cast. It is difficult to gauge its diameter which would go a long way to narrowing down options but a former boiler shell (Cornish or Lancashire rather than egg-ended most likely) reared up vertically for some reason seems the obvious candidate.

Boggy
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#15

can someone not go and put a ladder up against it and look in..if its a shaft you may see down it if its a metal bottom it might have been a water storage tank as the tree filled hole might have been a valve take off,it dose's seem to be set in a spoil heap so maybe its a reciever for the pumped mine water if the shaft is marked as a pumping shaft at some point.
the other option is its a large plant pot for a nice tree to grow in.

if its a hole explore it...