Astley Green, Astley
Part of the steam crane at the Astley Green Colliery Museum. This mechanism could be argued as one of the greatest inventions of all time. The movement of the piston (linear motion) is converted by means of the connecting rod (big silver thing) to a crank arm off-set on the flywheel (red disk) to produce rotary motion.
Why is this great... it powered Stephenson’s Rocket, which lead to our railways, was used throughout the Industrial Revolution, and is still the fundamental working principle of the internal combustion engine in every petrol and diesel car we drive today.
Tags: Astley Green colliery museum crane Rodley Smith machinery engine piston connecting rod crank arm linear rotary motion Stephenson Rocket Industrial Revolution car petrol diesel invention greatest
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Astley Green, Astley
The opportunity to shoot with other photographers at the same location on the same day provides an insight as to how others see the world. I did think of calling this upload “The Blind Men and the Elephant” but couldn’t be bothered explaining the meaning of the title (that’s why we have Google now... so go look it up if so inclined!).
Some see the whole picture, whereas others see the smallest detail. Brian has posted the jib end of this crane and Eddie has posted the power end of the crane.
Me... I just saw some small mechanical details I liked. Had I looked closer I might have noticed the spider’s web anchored in the broken boiler doorway and made this the focus of my image.
Tags: Astley Green colliery museum crane Rodley Smith machinery gear boiler rusting derelict spider web Flickrites vision sight detail viewpoint different individual
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Astley Green, Astley
Another visit to the AGCM to meet up with a few Flickr friends. It’s just a question who posts first...
Tags: Astley Green colliery museum headgear structure rusting derelict sunshine starburst silhouette Flickrites Canon
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Astley Green, Astley
A dip into the archives when a few Flickr friends met up at the Astley Green Colliery Museum (AGCM) back in May. I'd forgotten that I'd tried to capture the full size of this mammoth machine in the Engine House. This is more of a 180 degree image than a panorama as I'm more or less stood between the two cylinder stroke guides (extreme left and right of image). The image is a horizontal three frame panorama stitched together in Elements Photomerge with a 3.4:1 ratio crop... couldn't manage a whole number ratio this time!
A few facts on the winding engines...
The winding duty for the Number 1 shaft required the installation of one of the largest steam winding engines used in Britain. It was manufactured by Yates and Thom of Blackburn and installed between 1910 and 1912. It has four cylinders in twin tandem compound arrangement which developed nearly 2.5 Mega Watts at 58 rpm. The rope speed was 26 metres per second when winding coal.
The Number 2 engine was also built by Yates and Thom but it was only half the size of the Number 1 engine with two cylinders in cross compound arrangement. The delivery of the engine was delayed by the first world war and it was not operational until 1919.
Tags: Astley Green colliery museum engine house winding engine steam powered cylinders twin tandem panorama 180 degrees stitched Elements Flickrites meet up Canon EOS 5D MkIII
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Astley Green, Astley
A shoot out in the Engine House at Astley Green Colliery Museum.
Pete fired first, closely followed by me. Eddie’s still loading his gun!
Tags: Astley Green colliery museum Engine House machinery gear equipment tools rags dumped rusting derelict Flickrites Canon
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