This plaque is at Cape Point Lighthouse, South Africa. Picture taken January 2013 - note the tower made at Victoria Foundry - which was on Deptford Creek in the Norway Street area.
Thanks to Hew Prendergast for sending it
Sabtu, 26 Januari 2013
Greenwich made Lighthouse
The picture below has been kindly sent by a reader from South Africa
This plaque is at Cape Point Lighthouse, South Africa. Picture taken January 2013 - note the tower made at Victoria Foundry - which was on Deptford Creek in the Norway Street area.
Thanks to Hew Prendergast for sending it
This plaque is at Cape Point Lighthouse, South Africa. Picture taken January 2013 - note the tower made at Victoria Foundry - which was on Deptford Creek in the Norway Street area.
Thanks to Hew Prendergast for sending it
Kamis, 17 Januari 2013
Meetings and stuff in the post
First of all. Please remember the next GIHS meeting -
In the post today is the Lewisham Local History Society newsletter with their new programme for 2013.
They lead with the sad news of the death of their Chairman, Paul Newing - known to many in south east London for his involvement in many local causes beyond local history had also been a Labour councillor in Lewisham
Their next meeting is of particular interest - about Blackheath based Burndept - which became one of the largest wireless makers in the world. The talk is by David Shaw and is on 25th January - at the Methodist Church Hall, Albion Way, SE13 7.45 - parking available, and all visitors welcomed - along with donations.
Other meetings of LLHS of particular interest to Greenwich industrial historians are
29th November - Julian Watson on The Changing Face of Greenwich
13th December - Alex Windscheffel on Gladstone - our MP, the PM.
they also have
22nd February - John Beasley on the history of Southwark
22nd March - their AGM and John King on Grove Park in the Great War
26th April - Gordon Dennington on My Post War Years in Lewisham
24th May - Rudie Daley - Memories of a Mayor of Lambeth from Jamaica
28th June - Steve Grindlay - A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body. Victorian Philanthropy Forest Hill
26th July - Alan Payne - Monsters in our Midst. 4 locals who became Hollywood Horrors
27th September - Jennie Howells - The Road to the Abbey - Bermondsey Street
25th October - Ben Honeybone - A History of Hither Green
Also received
Charlton Parks Reminiscence Project's new booklet
This is a wonderful little booklet full of interesting comments and interview material on the Charlton Parks. Also see www.charltonparks.co.uk
Carol Kenna is coming to tell GIHS about the project at our meeting on 14th May
Also received
Industrial Archaeology Review. This is the journal of the national Association for Industrial archaeology. And this is Vol.34 No.1. May 2012.
It includes articles on 'An introduction to the Archaeology of the Glass Industry. The Monuments Protection Programme' by David Crossley and 'Three and a half centuries of Bottle Manufacture'. by David Dungworth. Needless to say you can look in vain at these articles for any mention of Charlton - largest glass works in Europe in the 1960s. To be a little bit fair to David Crossley he is talking about the development of the glass industry and concentrates on the remains of early sites - and he does mention some early inner London sites. To be honest though I was involved several years ago in asking him down to London and showing him some sites, and impressing on him the importance of some of the remains in the Charlton Pits.
David Dungworth's article also concentrates on development issues in bottle making and thus is not interested in Charlton
On 19th February the GIHS meeting is about Johnson and Jorgenson, bottle makers of Charlton. Please come along
22ndJanuary English Heritage's Mark Stevenson on SHARP (an association of European Arsenals) and English Heritage’s new archaeology assessment for Greenwich
as ever this is at Age Exchange's Old Bakehouse, off Bennett Park. 7.30.In the post today is the Lewisham Local History Society newsletter with their new programme for 2013.
They lead with the sad news of the death of their Chairman, Paul Newing - known to many in south east London for his involvement in many local causes beyond local history had also been a Labour councillor in Lewisham
Their next meeting is of particular interest - about Blackheath based Burndept - which became one of the largest wireless makers in the world. The talk is by David Shaw and is on 25th January - at the Methodist Church Hall, Albion Way, SE13 7.45 - parking available, and all visitors welcomed - along with donations.
Other meetings of LLHS of particular interest to Greenwich industrial historians are
29th November - Julian Watson on The Changing Face of Greenwich
13th December - Alex Windscheffel on Gladstone - our MP, the PM.
they also have
22nd February - John Beasley on the history of Southwark
22nd March - their AGM and John King on Grove Park in the Great War
26th April - Gordon Dennington on My Post War Years in Lewisham
24th May - Rudie Daley - Memories of a Mayor of Lambeth from Jamaica
28th June - Steve Grindlay - A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body. Victorian Philanthropy Forest Hill
26th July - Alan Payne - Monsters in our Midst. 4 locals who became Hollywood Horrors
27th September - Jennie Howells - The Road to the Abbey - Bermondsey Street
25th October - Ben Honeybone - A History of Hither Green
Also received
Charlton Parks Reminiscence Project's new booklet
This is a wonderful little booklet full of interesting comments and interview material on the Charlton Parks. Also see www.charltonparks.co.uk
Carol Kenna is coming to tell GIHS about the project at our meeting on 14th May
Also received
Industrial Archaeology Review. This is the journal of the national Association for Industrial archaeology. And this is Vol.34 No.1. May 2012.
It includes articles on 'An introduction to the Archaeology of the Glass Industry. The Monuments Protection Programme' by David Crossley and 'Three and a half centuries of Bottle Manufacture'. by David Dungworth. Needless to say you can look in vain at these articles for any mention of Charlton - largest glass works in Europe in the 1960s. To be a little bit fair to David Crossley he is talking about the development of the glass industry and concentrates on the remains of early sites - and he does mention some early inner London sites. To be honest though I was involved several years ago in asking him down to London and showing him some sites, and impressing on him the importance of some of the remains in the Charlton Pits.
David Dungworth's article also concentrates on development issues in bottle making and thus is not interested in Charlton
Senin, 14 Januari 2013
Industrial education - Harveys in 1952
Harvey's - were a large metal working firm who used to be in the Woolwich Road in Charlton - roughly where the fire station is.
We were given a whole pile of their works magazines and they are very worth looking at for what it was like in the 1950s!
So June 1952 and there is a report of the Annual Prize Distribution - this is prizes to the works apprentices and the whole thing was handled like a proper educational awards ceremony.
First Mr. Eatwell - Managing Director - thanked everyone and said the firm had 18 apprentice draughtsmen, and 58 craft apprentices and 19 young men 'who would be considered for indentures in due course. He referred to the Works Welding School, and the Sheet Metal Class - with thanks to Mr. Johnson, foreman of the Zinc Shop.
Second - Sir Frederick Handley Page, no less, aircraft magnate. He said how Harvey's products were used in his aircraft --- and 'half and more of the people graduating from universities had only a knowledge of cultural subjects.... they were at a disadvantage with the apprentice who started in a workshop at a much earlier age'.
Sir Frederick also revealed that he had as a young man worked in Charlton for Johnson and Phillips (did he?? do we know any more about this??)
He then presented the Apprentice of the Year Award to Mr. Russell of the Heavy Tank Drawing Office. He had been apprenticed since 1945 and got his indentures in 1951 - interrupted by a year on National Service He got a wristwatch as well as the shield.
They then had some light refreshments - and students got their prizes, mostly things like useful slide rules, and text books.
What followed was a long list of the top three students in each category - all City and Guilds, Royal Society of Arts and National Certificate craft classes. They had studied on day release at Woolwich Poly, or SE London Tech. The only exception being a cost accountancy student who got a brief case as a prize for passing his three part exam in Factory Organisation
Note that these are all men
The Women's Page is at the back - including a recipe for Daffodil Biscuits, which I am happy to share.
We were given a whole pile of their works magazines and they are very worth looking at for what it was like in the 1950s!
So June 1952 and there is a report of the Annual Prize Distribution - this is prizes to the works apprentices and the whole thing was handled like a proper educational awards ceremony.
First Mr. Eatwell - Managing Director - thanked everyone and said the firm had 18 apprentice draughtsmen, and 58 craft apprentices and 19 young men 'who would be considered for indentures in due course. He referred to the Works Welding School, and the Sheet Metal Class - with thanks to Mr. Johnson, foreman of the Zinc Shop.
Second - Sir Frederick Handley Page, no less, aircraft magnate. He said how Harvey's products were used in his aircraft --- and 'half and more of the people graduating from universities had only a knowledge of cultural subjects.... they were at a disadvantage with the apprentice who started in a workshop at a much earlier age'.
Sir Frederick also revealed that he had as a young man worked in Charlton for Johnson and Phillips (did he?? do we know any more about this??)
He then presented the Apprentice of the Year Award to Mr. Russell of the Heavy Tank Drawing Office. He had been apprenticed since 1945 and got his indentures in 1951 - interrupted by a year on National Service He got a wristwatch as well as the shield.
They then had some light refreshments - and students got their prizes, mostly things like useful slide rules, and text books.
What followed was a long list of the top three students in each category - all City and Guilds, Royal Society of Arts and National Certificate craft classes. They had studied on day release at Woolwich Poly, or SE London Tech. The only exception being a cost accountancy student who got a brief case as a prize for passing his three part exam in Factory Organisation
Note that these are all men
The Women's Page is at the back - including a recipe for Daffodil Biscuits, which I am happy to share.
Senin, 07 Januari 2013
Cesspool emptying equipment made in Greenwich
Thank you to Brian for drawing our attention to an article in Vintage Spririt - this is by Ron Henderson and appeared in their May 2012 edition. It is on the romantic subject of cesspool emptiers.
The article starts by explaining the need to empty cesspools before the days of main drainage - and how Greenwich based Merryweathers were on of the first to recognise that this process 'could be mechanised and improved'.
Early on a tank was mounted on a horse drawn cart - air would be withdrawn from it with a pump and the contents of the cesspool would then be removed into the tank. Initially the pump was hand powered but Merryweathers a 'power pump driven by steam or in later years by a light single cylinder petrol or paraffin motor'. However 'a more advanced method of making an air vacuum was by means of high pressure steam supplied by one of Merryweather's light water tube boilers' .
An early local authority to adopt this apparatus was Rochester who took three 500 gallon cylinder vans and three hand pumps in 1897 - and they later became one of the first to take on steam pumps because of the difficulties with Rochester cesspools.
Merryweather also supplied deodourising equipment - air pumped from the tank passed through portable stove or disinfecting chamber to limit the smell. Steam pumps did not need this as such air was passed through the firebox of the boiler to cut down the smell. This process meant that cesspools could be emptied in the day time - in London, by law, they could only be emptied after midnight when the process was carried out by gangs of men with buckets.
The first steam vacuum exhauster was supplied to Romford District Council in 1905 - the article gives a detailed description of the vehicle - and was a 'huge financial saving for the council'. A similar machine went to Eton District Council.
Merryweathers also developed a petrol propelled chassis and also supplied vehicles which could also be used for street watering and gully emptying.
The article is lavishly illustrated with photographs of Merryweather equipment - some of it clearly taken at their Greenwich High Road works.
- a pump designed to be horse drawn with a separate manually operated pump destined for Killiney and Ballbrack council - and taken outside Merryweather's Greenwich 'Fire Station'.
- the same pump preserved in the Dublin Transport Museum today
- a complete set of cesspool emptying plant being demonstrated - again at the Greenwich works
- Rochester Corporation equipment at work (assume this is in Rochester)
- a Merryweather light vertical water tube boiler with air injectors - this looks as thought it could be taken in Greenwich High Road
- four pictures of the Romford vehicle - one of which shows it in use
- the Eton vehicle
- cesspool exhauster owned by CL Gare & Co. - possibly taken in the Greenwich works.
Thanks Brian for this - more to follow - and - Ron Henderson the author. Ron - if you ever see this, please get in touch, GIHS are always looking for more info and for speakers.
The article starts by explaining the need to empty cesspools before the days of main drainage - and how Greenwich based Merryweathers were on of the first to recognise that this process 'could be mechanised and improved'.
Early on a tank was mounted on a horse drawn cart - air would be withdrawn from it with a pump and the contents of the cesspool would then be removed into the tank. Initially the pump was hand powered but Merryweathers a 'power pump driven by steam or in later years by a light single cylinder petrol or paraffin motor'. However 'a more advanced method of making an air vacuum was by means of high pressure steam supplied by one of Merryweather's light water tube boilers' .
An early local authority to adopt this apparatus was Rochester who took three 500 gallon cylinder vans and three hand pumps in 1897 - and they later became one of the first to take on steam pumps because of the difficulties with Rochester cesspools.
Merryweather also supplied deodourising equipment - air pumped from the tank passed through portable stove or disinfecting chamber to limit the smell. Steam pumps did not need this as such air was passed through the firebox of the boiler to cut down the smell. This process meant that cesspools could be emptied in the day time - in London, by law, they could only be emptied after midnight when the process was carried out by gangs of men with buckets.
The first steam vacuum exhauster was supplied to Romford District Council in 1905 - the article gives a detailed description of the vehicle - and was a 'huge financial saving for the council'. A similar machine went to Eton District Council.
Merryweathers also developed a petrol propelled chassis and also supplied vehicles which could also be used for street watering and gully emptying.
The article is lavishly illustrated with photographs of Merryweather equipment - some of it clearly taken at their Greenwich High Road works.
- a pump designed to be horse drawn with a separate manually operated pump destined for Killiney and Ballbrack council - and taken outside Merryweather's Greenwich 'Fire Station'.
- the same pump preserved in the Dublin Transport Museum today
- a complete set of cesspool emptying plant being demonstrated - again at the Greenwich works
- Rochester Corporation equipment at work (assume this is in Rochester)
- a Merryweather light vertical water tube boiler with air injectors - this looks as thought it could be taken in Greenwich High Road
- four pictures of the Romford vehicle - one of which shows it in use
- the Eton vehicle
- cesspool exhauster owned by CL Gare & Co. - possibly taken in the Greenwich works.
Thanks Brian for this - more to follow - and - Ron Henderson the author. Ron - if you ever see this, please get in touch, GIHS are always looking for more info and for speakers.
Kamis, 03 Januari 2013
News items part 1.
TALK OF THE THAMES – Winter 2012
Talk of the Thames is produced by the Thames Estuary Partnership – but although most of what it has in it is about the Thames below Gravesend, there are still some items of interest to Greenwich and Greenwich historians- Germaine Greer (yes, really) on about Bug Life and Thames Mud. Lots and lots of detail about little things that live in the water – and – she says that the famous Greenwich whitebait thrived on all the sewage in the river, and that now that the river is cleaner there is too little food for the fish!!!
- An article about the 1953 North Sea Storm – the terrible floods. This is all about Canvey Island – but it is such an important subject and, as the article reminds us, the Thames Barrier is saving us and ‘it is entirely due to this system that London is viable as a capital city’. There are a number of commemorative events - a service in Chelmsford Cathedral on 31stJanuary; lighting of beacons along the coast on 31st January and 1stFebruary, and Canvey Island Memorial Day on the 1st February. Please remember that 58 people died on Canvey 60 years ago.
- River crossings in East London – an article analysing the current suggestions including the proposed Silvertown Tunnel, a vehicle ferry at Gallions and junking the Woolwich Ferry. Or there again a bridge at Gallions.
- The Super Sewer – Sustainable drainage – an article about the need for the Thames Tideway tunnel,
There is much much more in this edition of Talk of the Thames but I wanted to highlight one particular article which is about the project on ‘The Lenox – the first ship to be built in Deptford Dockyard for 150 years. The article – which gives a lot of interesting detail on Deptford dockyard, is about the project running in Deptford to build a full side reproduction warship. We would love the Lennox team to come and talk to Greenwich Industrial History Society about what they’re doing- so if one of them is reading this, please get in touch. www.buildthelenox.orgLAMAS NEWSLETTER - January 2013
This little news booklet describes London wide history meetings and carries some archaeological articles. So – of Greenwich interest in this edition –Enfield Archaeology Society meeting 18th January. The New Look Cutty Sark by Jessica Lewis. Jubilee Hall, Chase Side/Parsonage lane. 8 pm £1 each for visitors.
and – LAMAS Annual Conference of London Archaeologists. 16thMarch at the Museum of London. This includes an item on Recent Excavations at Convoys Wharf by Anthony Francis of MOLA. Tickets £15 Jon Cotton, c/o Depot Archaeological Collections, Museum of London, 150 London Wall, EC2 5HN
and advert for ‘London Heritage Conference’ which will include an item on Convoys Wharf by Jon Wright of the Council for British Archaeology. This will be on 28th September, will cost £30 and booking forms will be available in MayHISTORY AND SOCIAL ACTION DIARY
This is a Croydon based E newsletter which manages to merge local history and local politics in a very satisfactory manner.
it refers to the blog http://historyandsocialaction.blogspot.com(which includes articles about Croydon Tories and Croydon Libraries with talks on Samuel Coleridge Taylor ‘No wonder the Tories in Croydon kept the local studies and archives out of the tender process’ . it also includes items from all over – Lambeth (of course) but about ‘Save Newcastle Libraries’ and so on. There are links to all sorts of campaigns and newssheets and blogs and meetings (i.e. School for Revolutionaries in Chesterfield). There is so much there I hardly know where to start – best thing is to get it and read it!(Thanks for the copy, Sean)
DOCKLANDS HISTORY GROUP
The group have produced their programme. They meet at the Museum of London Docklands, West India Quay, Hertsmere Road, E14 t 5.30 for 6. If you haven’t been – they are a great and really friendly and knowledgeable group – and the room, in the depth of a Docks Warehouse is amazing.
Their programme includes
6th February – talk by Gus Milne and Eliott Wragg on the Thames Discovery Programme – don’t know what they will say, but this programme has included work in Greenwich.3 April = talk on ‘behind the jubilee flotilla’ by Martin Garside
7th August – Greenwich walk led by – er – Mary Mills
6th November – Society of East India Commanders by Tony Fuller
MYCENAE HOUSE LOCAL HISTORY GROUP
This is a group which grew out of an evening class and they operate as a class with a set programme of morning meetings and payment for meetings and so on. http://mhlhg.blogspot.com/They do have some very distinguished speakers – but also apparently a waiting list!!
- article on the Fitting Shop tank and the duct under the garden
- Nature watch - butterflies and moths
- News on progress - work on engine Victoria – work on the garden - Visitor numbers !!
- News on loco Woolwich. she is now in bits and those bits are being cleaned and she will be put together soon
Most interestingly they have some plans for a new rail pedestrian link – this would go from Plumstead Station down the Southern Outfall (which has probably been renamed by now). Hope they have a look at the amazing Victorian Plumstead waste destructor on the way.
www.crossness.org.ukJumat, 21 Desember 2012
Publications received - what do they say about Greenwich??
So - what has turned up in the post??
Subterranea
This excellent journal is now turning up more regularly with articles and features about undergroundia worldwide. Greenwich??
--- Crossrail Overview - some very sparse details of current tunnelling plans including Plumstead-North Woolwich
--- An article on the delays in refurbishing our two foot tunnels. This is taken from News Shopper and so doesn't need requoting here.
---
Redriff Chronicle
We have had three issues of this in the post. So - some of the highlights -
Spring 2012
An obituary to Peter Gurnett - who came to speak to us on several occasions. He was an expert on the history of Stone's (of Deptford and later Charlton). He had a distinguished career in Deptford's local history and it is important to note his passing.
Other articles include one on successive Rotherhithe Libraries (plus statue of Tommy Steele). A report of a talk on Firefighting in Bermondsey. A report of a Great War dug out under London Bridge Station and the planned use of railway networks and communications systems during the war (this is fascinating)
Autumn 2011
A report of a visit to the Limehouse Accumulator Tower (sorry, wrong side of the river - but very interesting).
An article about the Caryatides of Rotherhithe - I can just about remember seeing these ladies holding up a wall in Rotherhithe in the 1960s - always wondered about them - and then in 1980something I cut through the Heygate Estate at the Elephant, and there they were. Anyway, the Heygate is also now gone and the ladies are apparently back in Rotherhithe. Must go and see them!
Autumn 2012
An article about a 17th century Rotherhithe engineer - Thomas Steers. He built some important docks in - er - Liverpool.
Bittersweet - the story of Hartley's Jam. The Jam Factory just off Tower Bridge Road is now posh flats. The article doesn't shirk from the labour conditions prevailing in the vast sweet and pickle business of east and south east London - where women, whose dockworker husbands depended on the daily 'call in' system, would take any seasonal work at low wages.
and much else. Their programme of talks for early 2013 is
30th January The Bermondsey By Election - the 30th Anniversary. with Simon Hughes and Peter Tachell. (special admission arrangments - need to do it through their web site - assume they don't want the ghost of Bob Mellish turning up)
27th February Subterranean Railway. 130 years of the London Underground. Christian Wolmar
24th April Ships and the Sea in Bermondsey and Rotherhithe. Stephen Humphery
These are at Time and Talents Old Mortuary in Rotherhithe Street. 7.30
Dockyards - this is the newsletter of the Naval Dockyards Society. Articles include
Bermuda. .. a Major Royal Naval Dockyard. This long and important article takes up the majority of the space.
Malta Update
But - most excitingly - they are advertising for 20th April a Conference on Five Hundred Years of Deptford and Woolwich Royal Dockyards. This follows their AGM at the National Maritime Museum and booking is absolutely essential. The event is to be opened by Joan Ruddock, MP.
The speaker list is made up of people many of whom will be very very familiar to GIHS members - in fact some of them ARE GIHS members (and they can rest assured they will be asked to do a reprise for one of our meetings). The speakers are:
Peter Cross-Rudkin on John Rennie and the Naval Dockyards 1806-1821
Chris Ellmers on Deptford private shipyards and their relationship to Deptford Dockyard 1790-1869
Duncan Hawkins on The Archaeology of a Dockyard. Investigations at Deptford 2000-2012
Chris Mazeika and William Richards on The role of post-closure documentation in understanding the history of the dockyard officers' terrace at Deptford
Mark Stevenson on Block and Tackle: raising significance. English Heritage, archaeology and development management
This all costs £40 and you get lunch and you have to have booked by 12th April. Information and bookings to Ann Coats. anncoats49@gmail.com. Their website is www.navaldockyards.org and on Facebook Naval-Dockyards-Society and Twitter @navaldocksoc
- a lot more to come - its not just Christmas Cards which have been turning up the last week or so
Subterranea
This excellent journal is now turning up more regularly with articles and features about undergroundia worldwide. Greenwich??
--- Crossrail Overview - some very sparse details of current tunnelling plans including Plumstead-North Woolwich
--- An article on the delays in refurbishing our two foot tunnels. This is taken from News Shopper and so doesn't need requoting here.
---
Redriff Chronicle
We have had three issues of this in the post. So - some of the highlights -
Spring 2012
An obituary to Peter Gurnett - who came to speak to us on several occasions. He was an expert on the history of Stone's (of Deptford and later Charlton). He had a distinguished career in Deptford's local history and it is important to note his passing.
Other articles include one on successive Rotherhithe Libraries (plus statue of Tommy Steele). A report of a talk on Firefighting in Bermondsey. A report of a Great War dug out under London Bridge Station and the planned use of railway networks and communications systems during the war (this is fascinating)
Autumn 2011
A report of a visit to the Limehouse Accumulator Tower (sorry, wrong side of the river - but very interesting).
An article about the Caryatides of Rotherhithe - I can just about remember seeing these ladies holding up a wall in Rotherhithe in the 1960s - always wondered about them - and then in 1980something I cut through the Heygate Estate at the Elephant, and there they were. Anyway, the Heygate is also now gone and the ladies are apparently back in Rotherhithe. Must go and see them!
Autumn 2012
An article about a 17th century Rotherhithe engineer - Thomas Steers. He built some important docks in - er - Liverpool.
Bittersweet - the story of Hartley's Jam. The Jam Factory just off Tower Bridge Road is now posh flats. The article doesn't shirk from the labour conditions prevailing in the vast sweet and pickle business of east and south east London - where women, whose dockworker husbands depended on the daily 'call in' system, would take any seasonal work at low wages.
and much else. Their programme of talks for early 2013 is
30th January The Bermondsey By Election - the 30th Anniversary. with Simon Hughes and Peter Tachell. (special admission arrangments - need to do it through their web site - assume they don't want the ghost of Bob Mellish turning up)
27th February Subterranean Railway. 130 years of the London Underground. Christian Wolmar
24th April Ships and the Sea in Bermondsey and Rotherhithe. Stephen Humphery
These are at Time and Talents Old Mortuary in Rotherhithe Street. 7.30
Dockyards - this is the newsletter of the Naval Dockyards Society. Articles include
Bermuda. .. a Major Royal Naval Dockyard. This long and important article takes up the majority of the space.
Malta Update
But - most excitingly - they are advertising for 20th April a Conference on Five Hundred Years of Deptford and Woolwich Royal Dockyards. This follows their AGM at the National Maritime Museum and booking is absolutely essential. The event is to be opened by Joan Ruddock, MP.
The speaker list is made up of people many of whom will be very very familiar to GIHS members - in fact some of them ARE GIHS members (and they can rest assured they will be asked to do a reprise for one of our meetings). The speakers are:
Peter Cross-Rudkin on John Rennie and the Naval Dockyards 1806-1821
Chris Ellmers on Deptford private shipyards and their relationship to Deptford Dockyard 1790-1869
Duncan Hawkins on The Archaeology of a Dockyard. Investigations at Deptford 2000-2012
Chris Mazeika and William Richards on The role of post-closure documentation in understanding the history of the dockyard officers' terrace at Deptford
Mark Stevenson on Block and Tackle: raising significance. English Heritage, archaeology and development management
This all costs £40 and you get lunch and you have to have booked by 12th April. Information and bookings to Ann Coats. anncoats49@gmail.com. Their website is www.navaldockyards.org and on Facebook Naval-Dockyards-Society and Twitter @navaldocksoc
- a lot more to come - its not just Christmas Cards which have been turning up the last week or so
Kamis, 20 Desember 2012
Information wanted on a Wheatstone Bridge
We received the following email from one of our followers:
" I am seeking information about a Wheatstone Bridge set that belonged to my father-in-law’s father who was an electrical engineer for the LNER in the early 1900’s and worked in Hartlepool. He used for his work and it must be around 90 years old I would have thought. I see that is made by Siemens Brothers and believe that they were based/had factories in Greenwich and Hartlepool'.
and he attached some pictures - which are shown below.
So - we got in touch with the experts - with the Siemens Brothers Engineering Society - and here is their reply:
A Wheatstone Bridge is an electrical circuit used to measure an unknown electrical resistance by balancing two legs of a bridge circuit, one leg of which includes the unknown component. [The bridge is formed of resistors connected in a diamond-shaped pattern] Typical applications were: measuring the resistance of a length of cable. For the LNER this could well be railway signaling cable or for Siemens Brothers, telephone cables. 
The most common use of the Wheatstone Bridge in day to day telephony and telegraphy was thus the location of cable faults. By determining the resistance of a fault and comparing it with a pre-determined map, it was possible to send repairmen out to the exact location of a fault, accurate to within a few feet. Brass plugs (as seen in the picture) were used to throw resistance in and out of the circuit until a balance was achieved as indicated by zero deflection and thus zero current flow through the galvanometer mounted in the centre of the instrument, again as seen in the picture.. 
" I am seeking information about a Wheatstone Bridge set that belonged to my father-in-law’s father who was an electrical engineer for the LNER in the early 1900’s and worked in Hartlepool. He used for his work and it must be around 90 years old I would have thought. I see that is made by Siemens Brothers and believe that they were based/had factories in Greenwich and Hartlepool'.
and he attached some pictures - which are shown below.
So - we got in touch with the experts - with the Siemens Brothers Engineering Society - and here is their reply:
"I have been in touch with some of my colleagues in the Siemens Brothers Engineering Society and have undertaken some research myself. There is plenty of information on internet search engines so I have given below a general summary and have tried not to get too technical.
A Wheatstone Bridge is an electrical circuit used to measure an unknown electrical resistance by balancing two legs of a bridge circuit, one leg of which includes the unknown component. [The bridge is formed of resistors connected in a diamond-shaped pattern] Typical applications were: measuring the resistance of a length of cable. For the LNER this could well be railway signaling cable or for Siemens Brothers, telephone cables. Curiously the Wheatstone Bridge was not invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone (1802 - 1875), but by Samuel Hunter Christie in 1833, but was improved and popularised by Wheatstone in 1843, when he gave full credit to Christie. The Wheatstone Bridge uses the concept of a difference measurement, which can be extremely accurate. Variations of the Wheatstone Bridge can be used to measure capacitance, inductance and impedance. The significance of measuring the 'unknown' resistance can thus be related to the impact of some physical phenomenon such as force, temperature, pressure etc. In practical terms a 'break' in a cable.
The most common use of the Wheatstone Bridge in day to day telephony and telegraphy was thus the location of cable faults. By determining the resistance of a fault and comparing it with a pre-determined map, it was possible to send repairmen out to the exact location of a fault, accurate to within a few feet. Brass plugs (as seen in the picture) were used to throw resistance in and out of the circuit until a balance was achieved as indicated by zero deflection and thus zero current flow through the galvanometer mounted in the centre of the instrument, again as seen in the picture.. The Wheatstone Bridge was further developed by Kelvin to form the Kelvin Bridge , the concept being further extended to alternating current measurement by James Clerk Maxwell in 1865.
Various formats of the Wheatstone Bridge were thus developed and manufactured by specialist companies. We do not have any specifics on the particular model that belonged to Mr Kennnedy's father in law's, father. Clearly it was made by Siemens Brothers & Co. Ltd., London, at the main Woolwich Works. It would have been made and in use in the late 19th century and the earlier part of the 20th century for typically resistance measuring and fault finding on cables as described above. The instrument could therefore be about 100 years old. By a strange coincidence Samuel Hunter Christie worked at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich. Siemens Brothers did have several satellite factories including one in Hartlepool. It is unlikely that the instrument would have been sourced via Hartlepool as we believe this factory came on stream after the 1939/45 war.
A Wheatstone Bridge would of little 'practical' use to todays telephone collector. However in good condition it would form a most attractive part of any collection and could be of interest to a Science Museum [who may also be able to put a value on it] or a Heritage Centre. The Siemens Brothers Engineering Society has donated a great many items to the Greenwich Heritage Centre, which is actually located in Woolwich. If any further information is required please contact me.
Brian Middlemiss
On behalf of the Siemens Brothers Engineering Society.
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