Penarth Dock, South Wales - 150 years - the heritage and legacy  
Penarth Dock, South Wales - the heritage & legacy . . .
Volume Four - An Era of Change, Uncertainty, Depression & War - The Penarth Dock Engineering Company Limited . . .
A horizontal boring job at the Penarth Dock Engineering Company.
A c.1961 photo of a Richards horizontal boring machine. The casting is probably from one of the local steel works, possible from a Bessemer converter. The local industry included mining, maritime, electricity generation, general and precision engineering as well as the major steelworks at Llanwern, East Moors at Cardiff and the Steel Company of Wales at Port Talbot. [114]

At Hodges Barry, one of the common jobs was re-tyring railway wheels. A vertical borer was used to machine the steel tyre to the standard railway profile. The bore diameter was an interference fit i.e. smaller than the centre of the wheel (for a 4 ft diameter wheel 90 thou (0.090") and for a 5 ft. diameter wheel 110 thou.) For reassembly, the wheels and axle were suspended from an overhead crane while the tyre was heated to cherry red with a large gas ring. When the tyre was judged to be up to the correct temperature, and had expanded sufficiently, the wheel boss was lowered using the crane. If it wasn't precisely aligned, or worse, not exactly plumb, well, it's time to call the welder to bring the oxy-acetylene torch to cut the tyre off again while I got on with machining another tyre!

I recall that the 'gentleman' welder had a claim to fame which he used tell all the apprentices about. Whilst on National Service in Egypt he was caught short one day and had the opportunity to defecate at the very pinnacle of a pyramid! Oh, the useless information that comes to mind when you undertake a project like this. Part of the reward for me is that it always brings a warm feeling inside and a smirk to my face as I recall the events and these wonderful lunatics which I experienced and am able to record for posterity!

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