Bradford Industrial
Museum
Ground floor Galleries
First floor Galleries
Outdoors
The Machinery Room
The machinery room is split into 2 sections. On the right hand side is the steam powered machinery and on the left had side is the line shafting equipment.
Engineering Workshop - Line Shafting
In the simplest definition, a line shaft is the rotating shaft part of a system of mechanical couplings between the power source in a factory and the machines that do work. These rotating shafts transmit mechanical energy throughout the factory, and were usually interconnected to each other and to machines using various systems of pulleys, gears, and other mechanical methods.
A line shaft would be installed in the fitting, machining and pattern making department of engineering workshops. A series of leather belts and pulleys would be fitted along walls and ceilings then powered by a steam engine or water wheel.
The Power of Steam
The high dependence on water power meant that, while the mills further downstream had a greater volume of water when it arrived, it sometimes didn’t arrive till lunchtime. Mills higher upstream had access to the water earlier in the day; but there was less of it
;Steam meant that factories could be built anywhere, not just along fast-flowing rivers.
Hoffman sprinkler system
Oil Engine Driven Water Pump
James Gordon Water Turbine
James Gordon formed his company in 1922 after working for Messrs. Ralph Douse and Company, engineers and contractors.
Vulcan Iron Works
Mechanical engineer Robinson Thwaites (1807-1884) founded Vulcan Iron works Bradford in 1855 as Robinson Thwaites & Co. Later in partnership with Edward Carbutt as Thwaites & Carbutt employing 200 men, and then in 1880 as Thwaites Brothers.
Below an example of a Thwaites engine.
Alternator Set.
A W Sisson of Gloucester inverted vertical tandem compound engine running at 600 rpm and direct coupled to an alternator rated at 20 kVA and built by the Lancashire Dynamo & Motor Company. The belt drives a Westinghouse DC generator to excite the alternator field
The vertical alternator and engine is steam powered but its belt drive produces electricity.
Crossley Gas Engine Madge
Crossley Brothers of Great Marlborough Street, Manchester, and later moving to Pottery Lane, Openshaw, Manchester. A pioneering company in the production of internal combustion engines. In 1988 it became part of the Rolls-Royce Power Engineering group.
Madge is a G 124 engine.
It used town gas which was made from coal. The ignition is effected by an electric spark produced from a low tension magneto and contact breaker spindle.
Larger gas engines of 115 and above were equipped with one large flywheel.
The flywheels on engine sizes 120 to 123 had holes and a lever rack whereas the flywheel on engine sizes 124 to 130 had a toothed ring with a hand-wheel turning or barring gear.
Governor-controlled igniting device in which the time at which the charge is ignited is varied
Forced central mechanical lubricator found on engine types G ( Town gas, natural gas ) & S ( suction gas ) 124 TO 130
1906 Horizontal single cylinder 25 HP steam engine
Rhoda is a single cylinder, non-condensing steam engine.
An engine could be run in simple ( non-condensing ) or condensing mode:
Simple mode meant the exhaust gas left the cylinder and passed straight into the atmosphere like a steam train. In condensing mode, the steam was cooled in a separate cylinder, and changed from vapour to liquid water, creating a vacuum that assisted with the motion. This could be done with a water-cooled plate that acted as a heat sink, or pumping-in a spray of water.
In Rhoda steam only expands in one cylinder to create 25 horse power.
1885 5 HP horizontal steam engine. Formerly drove machinery in mechanics' workshop of T. D. Whitfield and Sond of Oak Lea Mill, Bradford.
Tates Patent Electric Stop Motion No. 2315865. .Patented Aug; 31, 1880.
Instantaneously stops engines and power units by automatic features and remote units.
By combining with the stop-valve of the engine a pressure cylinder and piston provided with a rack and pinion and devices operated by electricity for opening the valve of the cylinder and throwing the pinion into gear with toothed wheels for closing the stop-valve.
