The Bancroft Mill Engine

Yesterday my parents and I went to Barnoldswick, Lancashire to visit one of the very last steam driven cotton mills.

When we drove into the town one of the very first things we saw was a road sign leading to the mill, so we drove on in the direction it showed. When I first saw the building it was larger than I was expecting. There was a kind man who greeted us at the entrance and because we arrived before most of the other people, he gave us a tour of the mill. I should mention that all the people who work there are friendly, enthusiastic volunteers.

Firstly he told us about the history and the founders of the mill and that in 1920 it was opened and later refurbished. Then he showed us the flywheel and the belts running on the tracks. From where we stood only half of the flywheel was visible but still it was very large.

We had come on one of the steaming days so that we can see how it all works. For me that was one of the best and most interesting things I have ever seen. So you're probably wondering how does it get started up? Well, I'll tell you..... First the boilers have to be fired up to build up steam. Then they start up this small steam engine which moves the big flywheel into starting position, then one of the people who help there opened a valve. The flywheel started to turn and within about two minutes the wheel reaches top speed of 68 RPM. 

These are some of the big engine's mechanisms: 

This is one of the original cotton weaving machines and it still works. 

Those small cards you see below control the words woven into the material.

The mill now uses sawed up wood pallets instead of coal. They can get the pallets free but coal is very expensive. The boilers they use are very big and has to keep the steam pressure up. It keeps about 3-4 men busy for the duration of running time.

If you ever get the chance to go there, Take it!!!!

THANK YOU FOR READING

I hope you enjoyed it !!!

Battle of the X-Planes

The battle for the JSF or Joint Strike Fighter began when the USAAF needed a new fighter plane capable of out standing the other planes by being able to land and take off vertically (like the harrier), go to Mach 1 or more and land like a normal aircraft. Boeing and Lockheed Martin were selected for the the competition.

First they had to design the aircraft, then build them and make them fly. The vertical take off was to be one of the hardest problems for the teams to overcome.

Lockheed was going to try some thing that has never been tested but Boeing was going to stick to what they knew worked and that had been used in other aircraft.
This was Lockheed's untested Idea.

But Boeing was going to go the more conventional way.

They were building day and night to get there aircraft done which was a too much for some of the workers. They had some problems on the way but when they were finally done there was a big celebration but when the winner was going to pronounced there was a short but tense wait but then it was said........."The winner of the Joint Strike Fighter Program was.... Lockheed Martin with the X-35 design.

Boeings manager and leader of the project was upset but said that they will carry on with their other projects, later on in the coming years they to won a competition to make a fighter plane.

This was Boeing's Aircraft..

This was Lockheed's aircraft..

This is the two of them side by side..

The History.. of the X-planes.
The X-planes started with it being the experimental planes like the Lockheed SR-71. and from there it went on to many other aircraft, there are many other planes with I will not mention because Most of them were unsuccessful and many of them crashed.

Here are some successful X-planes .

In my own opinion I prefer Lockheed's plane, Boeing's one looks a bit to bulky more me.

Thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed it!!

24 March 2014 Lake District

This weekend we went to the Lake District. On the way there we turned off the main road to see if we could reach the snow we saw from a distance. I ended up, after about a half hour, with my hands screaming for warmth after a fun snow ball fight with my dad. I forgot my gloves at home.

  

I would have liked to stay a bit longer but the Lake District was waiting for us. On the way we stopped for lunch and decided to eat on top of a hill. It was very cold but we ended up staying longer than expected because there were so many lovely views and even a rainbow.

We also went to a castle. It was only 200 years old although it was still nice to be able to take a walk on one of the many paths that led down to Lake Windermere shore.

The next day, to my delight, we went to the Lakeland Motor Museum. I liked it there very much and my dad and I spent about an hour looking at all the different cars, motorcycles, bicycles and other interesting things. What made it extra nice was that it was filled with more ordinary (less fancy) cars but still interesting.

This small car is a Peel P 50 it is the smallest road legal car and is still road legal to day.

We also went to Lake Coniston where Donald Campbell was killed in an attempt to break a water speed record. He died in his boat the Blue Bird on the 4 January 1967. He also set a land speed record In his Blue Bird car.

His car.

We had a wonderful time there and I hope that we are going to go again to maybe explore some of the other parts of the Lake District soon.

Leeds and Liverpool Canal (school project)

Leeds and Liverpool Canal

A school project

1. Why was the canal needed?

The canal was needed for linking the two cities, Leeds and Liverpool.
It was built mainly for coal transportation. More than a million tons per year of coal was transported to Liverpool in the 1860's. Nowadays people use the canal for leisure and holiday or maybe just for a weekend of rest.




2. How was it built?

The builders measured the width with chains and drove in stakes and markers into the ground.
Locks and aqua-ducts are needed for going up or down hills.
Along a section of the canal course holes were dug to show the width and depth.
Gangs of construction workers would then dig trenches to link up the holes to form the main channel.
To make the canal water proof, it was lined with puddle clay. This was packed down up to 3 ft or 90 cm thick along the bottom of the canal.

Once this was done, a layer of big stone blocks would be put on top of the canal side and a tow-path was created.
Without water there is no canal! Every time a boat goes through a lock, over 330 000 litres of water empties out from the top downstream. A string of 8 dames were built in the Pennine Plato to capture rain water as it ran off the hills. This is then stored in reservoirs and pumped into the canal when needed.

It is more than 204 km long an includes 91 locks on the main lane. It took almost 40 years to build.
The first part to be opened was from Bingley to Skipton.



3. How was it used commercially.

It was built mainly for coal transportation, there was more than a million tons of coal being transported to
Liverpool in the 1860's per year.

4. Who uses it now and for what purpose? 

People who are in need of a nice long slow holiday of just cruising along and having fun. The canal is well equipped for holiday and is fully packed with wonderful views of hills of sheep and many other things.


5. Who pays for its maintenance now?

The canal and river trust pays and fixes the canal. They also make sure the locks are in peek condition.
Last, last year they spent £66.5 million on routine water way maintenance. Around 20% of water ways budget goes towards fixing defects. However, with the limited funds they only repair the areas most in need of maintenance first.

6. Facts on a narrow boat/canal boat?

Narrow boats were built in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.
The narrow boat played a big part in the British industrial revolution.
In the 19th century people painted roses and other things on the narrow boats to make them look nicer.
A canal boat/narrow boat can be up to 21 meters or 70 ft long (about 2 average London buses) with 6 ft or 1.8 meters of head room (about as high as an average door).

The canals were mainly built during the industrial revolution to carry cargo. The boats were puled along by horses but when they went through a tunnel the men had to lie on their backs on the roof of the boat and 'walk' along the ceiling of the tunnel to push the boat through the tunnel.

5 March 2014

Every Sunday we go out for a drive around the Dales; a national park in Yorkshire.

One of the many fun things we did was to go to Gayle Mill near Hawes, and WOW what an experience. I found that it was a water driven wood saw from 1784 and it still works 100%. There are many old machines that are still kept going all these years.They all work off belts from the turbine with pulleys and gears.

After that we got fish and chips and drove up the mountain to go and see some of the left over snow from the previous weeks.We have also been driving about a lot and I find it is a lot of fun.The view in some places are very beautiful.


Back home, I have been helping the 2 farmers/shepherds, Neil and Tom, with the lambing, which is quite a gory experience, but still very interesting. Me and Tom have been building many pens for the sheep and their lambs (hard work).
 The sheep here are a lot different to the sheep back in South Africa. They have very thick wool to keep them warm. Because the winter is cold.


The gestation period of a sheep is 151 days. Before the lambs are born.

Some of the lambs I have to feed milk to.



I also now play a lot on Gefs Flight simulator and enjoy it a lot.
I installed Google sketch up on my laptop and have designed many weird and wonderful houses.



I also cycle a lot around the farm and come back half full mud, because it is so wet and muddy the bike I ride on has double suspension and it is a lot fun for riding down hills.

25 February 2014

I helped my mom take out the washing this morning, all my long pants were in there so I wore short pants (do not try). And ended up running back with half frosted legs (literally).


Yesterday we went to Leeds, 50 minutes from Gargrave by train. my dad and I went to the Armouries Museum. The museum was 5 stories high and full of weapons, past to present.

     
                                                                              TO

                                                         None of this is fake!




For me this was all about how the guns, suits of armour and other things work and how they were built.

            This surprised me because the Romans lived many centuries ago.






I also got to shoot with 2 simulator guns, which were real they just don’t shoot bullets, at a target on a screen.

(the gun was very heavy,10.35 kg)
                                              Bren light machine gun.(should be heavy)




One of many suits of armour.

11 February 2014

I awoke to the sound of crows just outside my bedroom window in a tree.

I found these lovely flowers just down the road from our house. My camera has some very nice settings that’s why I got the photo so nicely. I bought the camera with my birthday money from last year.

Snow bells

We went to Grassington for a day and found some
 lovely little shops which my mom delighted in.



There are so many beautiful benches and other old things.

















I think someone leaned too much to the left side!













It's been raining all morning and it is very wet (lucky grass, they get all of it).