During a visit last year, I downloaded an article on a surface tour of the above mine.
On reading I was particularly interested in the description of the Lordshill 60 inch pumping engine, which gave a stroke in the pumps of 9ft and in the engine of 6ft, this seemed strange to me for two reasons:
The engine stroke is very short for a 60 inch engine
Pump stokes are usually equal to or shorter than the engine stroke.
Not having measuring equipment with me I decided to do a rough measurement of the beam lengths to ascertain the approximate stroke in the engine and pumps, pacing out the distance from centre of the bob wall to the centre of the cylinder and the centre of the bob wall to the balance slot at the shaft. These distances were approximately equal, giving equal stroke in pumps and engine, (in fact if anything the distance to the balance slot from bob wall was the shorter which gives a shorter stroke in the pump). This confirmed my suspicion that information I read might be incorrect.
I have since read and article in a PDMHS bulletin on lead mining at Pontesford which mentions this engine and gives a stroke in the engine of 10ft and in the pumps of 9ft which would tend to confirm that I am right.
I am now looking forward to another visit to the Shropshire lead mines this year with equipment to measure the engine house properly and have a wander around as many more sites as I can in a week!!
A couple of other points about this pumping engine is the size of the pumps which at 6 inches seem rather small for a mine of this size and indeed this engine, (in fact the are quoted as 9.5 inch bore pumps in the PDMHS article), the other is the cylinder size which is sometimes quoted as 60 inch and other times 61 inch. If the size was indeed 61 inch, then the engine is almost certainly a rebored second hand engine.
If anyone as plans of this engine house I would love a copy to study, I would also be very happy if someone had information on the origins of this engine (foundry, where it worked before Snailbeach etc) and also more information on engine and pump stroke.
Thanks in anticipation.
Paul
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