Volume Eleven - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - some more aspects - Large Testing Machines in South Wales, 1829-1906 . . .

The background for the need of an efficient testing facility is outlined within a report which appeared with the Cardiff Times in 1866 : -

BUTE ANCHOR-TESTING WORKS. We have had occasion in former years to adduce instances of the imperfection of the old fashioned modes of testing ships' anchors and chains. Many ships were lost from this cause, and the attention of parliament being called to it, an Act was passed in 1804, known as the "Chain Cables and Anchors Act."

Under this Act the Board of Trade were authorised to grant licenses to testing works, and thus the testing of chains and cables was placed under the supervision of the engineers of the Board. The engineers, on going round to the various existing works, found that scarcely any were thoroughly efficient for the purpose. Some had never been known to exert force enough to break a chain. Some had such defective machinery that the strain was exerted rather in forcing the piston to move in the cylinder, than in straining the chain. Even the Lloyd's own testing machine at London, was very defective.

Machines had been in use for years which were totally incapable of giving anything resembling a correct test of the power of a chain. The only guarantee shipowners had. therefore, was to buy of the best makers. Some firms there were, prominent among whom were Messrs. Brown Lenox and Co of Newbridge Works, near this town, whose name became a guarantee for the strength of their chains and anchors. But less honourable firms were able to undersell makers of this class in the market, by using inferior materials.

Therefore, when the Act of 1854 passed, requiring every ship which carried emigrants, troops, &c., to provide herself with properly tested chains and anchors, the more eminent makers welcomed the enactment. Messrs. Brown, Lenox and Co. proceeded, at a cost of about £ 4,000, [eqivalent to c. £ 507k in 2021] to erect extensive testing works on the west side of the Glamorgan Canal, opposite Loudoun-square. The premises consist of a brick building 12ft. by 70ft. feet, used as a testing room, with a smithy in the rear, and the requisite engine-room and offices . . . .  -  The Cardiff Times [019] [361] 21st December 1866.