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!!