Hi Peter,
500 yards sounds quite long, but as long as methods to reduce friction, ie: use of wire rope, greased sheave wheels & keeping the rope in a straight line, were used, I don't see any reason why not. On Tamar Valley mines in West Devon, we have several examples of this, though the distances are usually rather less, more like 100-200 yards maximum.
The usual reason was the difficulty of placing the power source (usually a water wheel) close to the shaft. This was also compounded by the fact that the wheel often did several jobs, such as winding, stamping and crushing, meaning that it had to be located on a reasonably level area suitable for dressing floors.
One 40ft diameter wheel on the George & Charlotte mine in the Tamar Valley, of 1840s-1860s date, drove two sets of pumps, one by flatrods, the other by chain on pulleys; it also wound from a shaft about 100m away via a winch which was declutchable from the wheel, and there is a possibility that a roller-crusher was also run off it, also via a clutch.
We don't have evidence for hauling using flatrods, but try The Cornish Beam Engine by D Bradford Barton, published by David & Charles of Newton Abbot. This describes unusual systems, albeit briefly.
Robert Waterhouse> Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2007 19:16:24 +0930> From: [log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Winding over long distances> To: [log in to unmask]> > At both the Kapunda and Moonta copper mines in South Australia there were> arrangements for hauling from multiple shafts with one engine, using> combinations of flat rods or winding ropes. These were in use in the late> 1840s at Kapunda, and from the mid-1860s until at least the late 1870s at> Moonta. The engine at Kapunda pumped three shafts at distances up to about> 100m with flat rods. Elders and Hughes engines at Moonta between them could> pump or wind a total of eight shafts, with flat rods extending to between> 200 and 300m horizontal distance, and one haulage rope extending nearly 400m> horizontally. > > The best description of these arrangements is in Greg Drew & Jack Connell,> Cornish Beam Engines in South Australian Mines, Department of Mines &> Energy, Adelaide, 1993.> > Peter Bell> > > On 10/8/07 6:19 PM, "D.R.Poyner" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:> > > I've been trying to make sense of the winding arrangements for coal mines> > on the Clee Hill, Shropshire. A photograph survives showing a single> > winding engine serving two shafts; one is a significant distance from the> > engine and the rope (or chain) is carried on rolley posts to the headframe. It> > is difficult to judge how far the shaft was from the engine from the> > photograph. However, looking at the relevant 1:2500 map from 1881, it> > seems that some, possibly active shafts, could have been around 400 yards> > from the nearest winding engine. Allowing for the depth of shaft, this would> > give a total length of chain or rope of around 500 yards.> > > > Has anyone any views on the plausibility of such arrangements?> > > > David Poyner
_________________________________________________________________
100’s of Music vouchers to be won with MSN Music
https://www.musicmashup.co.uk/index.html
|