Ellenroad Steam Museum

Mr Vincent Riley

Sadly, early in November 2003, Vincent Riley, a much valued trustee of Ellenroad, passed away. Vincent rarely missed meetings of the Trust and of the Ellenroad Friends. He came around on most steam days and was a greatly respected friend and colleague. Several times, when we had not been able to obtain a sponsor for our schools steamings (we usually manage two a year), Vincent met the coal bill from his own pocket. One of the last things he did for Ellenroad was to write an article which we are pleased to publish. Although retired from business for some years, Vincent had his own engineering company and so his practical experience and advice was invaluable, as you can judge by reading below. It is a unique record of bygone mill engineering practice. Vincent will be greatly missed.

A Day When One Thing Led To Another

One Saturday morning during the latter 1960s, our office received a telephone call from the engineer at the Croal Spinning Company, Bolton who requested the services of a fitter to install a spare set of steps (half bearing shells) to the high-pressure crank pin on their steam engine.

Usually, our jobs that were to be done during a weekend were pre-arranged and the fitters detailed accordingly and as I was the only person working in the works that weekend, with the knowledge of the work involved, I said that I would attend.

I proceeded to load my overalls, toolbox, hand scrapers and “Rad’l” (a mixture of red lead powder and oil) into the boot of my car. In those days we always returned our tools to our toolbox, instead of leaving them where we had last used them! So we knew that we had them all. The scrapers were to enable me to finally fit the steps to the crankpin journal. After many years of use the journals become slightly worn, ridged and tapered, therefore it is necessary to make the bore of the steps suit them.

The “Rad’l” would be used to coat the journal with a very thin red film, similar to marking blue, except that being slightly more dense it gave an indication of where the two surfaces were in close proximity, in addition to where they were touching. This feature also enabled us to determine the lubricating oil film. It was never the intention to achieve 100% area contact.

On leaving our works I decided to call at home for sandwiches for my lunch as it was now about 11-00am and then proceeded to the mill.

When I arrived the engineer and his team had made preparations for me. The crankpin had been placed on top dead centre and the original steps and replacements were laid out on the floor.

It transpired that the Inspector from the Insurance Company had visited the mill that morning for a pre-arranged inspection of the crankpin and steps and having noted that the white metal linings were cracked he condemned them. There was therefore no alternative, in the time available, other than fit the replacements.

In addition to having insurance to comply with their Legal Requirements many mills had Loss Of Profit Insurance for their engines, so that in the event of the engine being stopped for more than a specified number of consecutive hours due to a breakdown, they would be covered. It was usual for the insurers to make these inspections in their own interest.

I donned my overalls and gave the crankpin and steps a wipe over with a hand-rag before giving them a measure up. All seemed in order so I decided to have a drink of tea (brew) and my sandwiches. Doesn’t time fly!

The Croal engine was of the inverted vertical type and had marine type crankpin steps i.e. instead of them being enclosed within the end of the connecting rod, they had flat back faces, the top step in contact with the flat face of the connecting rod, whilst the face of the bottom step was in contact with a steel keep-plate. The whole assembly was bolted together by long turned fitted bolts.

When I finished my lunch I had a walk around the engine house, as there was not much that I could do until the men employed by the mill returned from their lunch break. On passing by the H.P.crank I noticed a small amount of oil on the face of the crank web below the pin. Odd, I reckoned to clean that before lunch, so I gave it another wipe over and continued my tour.

As the men returned we started to get organised for the work ahead. One of my first jobs was to apply the marking compound to the crankpin journal. As I approached the pin I noticed more oil on the face of crank web. Alarm bells were now ringing. I took a copper dolly and hand hammer from my toolbox and gave the outer flange of the pin a sharp clout.

A few air bubbles formed around the circumference where it was fitted to the crank web, thus indicating that the pin was becoming loose or it was fractured. There was no indication that it was loose at the other side of the web.

“Sorry mates, I am not fitting any steps to that pin”, I said.

The bad news travelled quickly and the management came on the scene. No chance of the mill starting up on Monday morning and as the Inspector from their Insurance was at the mill that morning, he was notified of the position and stated that he would return to the mill, and subsequently confirmed my opinion.

Our next job was to prepare for the removal of the crankpin from the crank web. Originally shrunk in, it could not be driven out and would require the application of heat to remove it. The hole in the crank web would then require re-boring.

I proceeded to make a freehand sketch of the crankpin to enable a new one to be made at our works from a forging, to be ordered on the Sunday morning from our usual suppliers at Bury. I also drew an outline onto a sheet of hardboard of the upper end of the crank web and also indicated the position of the crankpin. This was to enable our works to make two mild steel plates; one of each would subsequently placed each side of the crank web and clamped to this by four long bolts. A clearance hole would be provided in each plate to correspond to the position of the hole for the pin, also drilled and tapped holes would be positioned to receive the brackets normally used to support our boring equipment.

I returned to our works with my sketches to enable our men to proceed with the work on Sunday morning and contacted our welding shop foreman to say that we required his assistance at the mill also, together with the oxy-propane heating torches, to be transported on our work’s lorry.

After taking the necessary precautions and shielding nearby items of the engine, we proceeded to heat the upper portion of the crank web on the outside radius portion, which enclosed the pin with a heating torch applied to each side. The intensity of the heat was sufficient to raise the temperature of the web more quickly than that of the pin, therefore the hole in the former expanded more in diameter than the pin.

After withdrawing the pin there was little to be done on site until the web had cooled down, other than clear away our tackle.

We later returned to our works to prepare our smallest portable boring bar, which together with it’s associated equipment, required the protective coating to be removed and to be dry; the reason being that if any grease was present the borings which came into contact with it, or the traverse screw, whilst in motion would adhere resulting in seizure. Both the boring bar and sliding cuff which houses the tool are manufactured from cast iron which has self-lubricating properties. The mounting and drive brackets for the boring bar are also made from cast iron; the whole assembly is therefore conducive to keeping vibration to a minimum.

On arrival back at the mill we unloaded all the equipment from our lorry up into the engine house. We then placed the clamping plates at either side of the crank web securing them in position with the long bolts. Next, we positioned the boring bar into position centralised by our special conical shape setting wedges; two mounting brackets were secured onto each of the clamp plates. The drive end and tail end support brackets for the boring bar were positioned and secured to the mounting plates.

The items to receive our final attention were the electric drive motor, leather drive belt and temporary electric wiring from the nearest point of supply.

The sliding cuff is pulled along the boring bar by a screwed bar secured to the cuff and located within a circular trunnion nut at the tail end. Onto the outside of this nut is mounted a “Spider” with six legs. The nut and screw assembly is arranged off-centre on the bar; so as the bar rotates one leg will come into contact with a fixed rigid location, which is supported, from the tail end bracket. The contact is only brief turning the nut through sixty degrees to draw the cuff along the bar. During the next revolution the adjacent leg of the spider will contact the location; and so on.

Another variation for the traverse motion is the weighted gear drive.

We set the tool in the cuff and proceeded to bore out the hole in the crank web. Two passes were made to clean it up true and parallel.

On completion of the work we dismantled our tackle and loaded it back onto our lorry to return to our works. I made a ’phone call to the works to confirm the size of the rebored hole to enable them to complete final machining of the new crank pin. The fitting of the pin was a reversal of the process for removing the old one.

If we were performing this work today we would cool the pin, probably with liquid nitrogen, to reduce the diameter instead of heating the crank web.

Anyway, we were back where we started on Saturday morning and I was pleased to learn that we now had a fitter available to carry on with this job for me!

Vincent Riley 15th October 1935 - 5th November 2002