On Tuesday, Jeni and I had a good day at Quarry Bank Mill near Manchester Airport. It is an eighteenth century cotton mill, starting with the cotton in bales, spinning yarn and then weaving it. It is a National Trust property, and well worth a visit. There are good displays of hand spinning and weaving which lead on to the later machinery. I now have a general idea of the technology of spinning and weaving, and I know what a Spinning Jenny and a flying shuttle are. It is all powered by the largest working waterwheel in Europe, and it is an awe-inspiring piece of machinery for the time. The governor on it impressed me, opening and shutting the screen, regulating the amount of water driving the wheel.
Two stationary steam engines are displayed, a beam engine and later horizontal type. both in steam and impressive in themselves, though they both had some big-end knocking. The insistence that SEM does not cover steam stationary engines has always struck me as arbitrary and bizarre, considering that marine engines are somehow treated as stationary.
I haven't posted any photos, as the NT are not keen on photography indoors.
If any of you are looking for a day out in the North West, with some engineering interest, I would recommend a trip to Quarry Bank Mill.
Regards,
Arthur G