Fuelling Antarctic exploration: The Crown Patent Fuel Company in Cardiff Jennifer Protheroe-Jones, 23 July 2010 A block of Crown Patent Fuel. Age of Polar ExpeditionsThe early 20th century was a time of great heroic explorations to the Antarctic continent. Crown Patent Fuel from south Wales was the fuel of choice for these Antarctic expeditions.Crown Patent FuelIn addition to 100 tons of steam coal from south Wales coal companies, Captain Scott's 1910 British Antarctic Expedition was also given 300 tons of fuel blocks by Cardiff's Crown Patent Fuel Company. This, along with other sponsorship from Cardiff and south Wales, persuaded Scott to designate Cardiff the home port of his ship, the Terra Nova. He sent the Terra Nova to load fuel in Cardiff rather than have it sent by rail to London.The Crown Patent Fuel works were situated alongside the Glamorganshire Canal at Maendy. The works was one of a number along the canal and, together with a number of works at other south Wales ports, made the region the largest producer of patent fuel in the world. Most of the patent fuel was exported, with France being a major customer.Scott commends Welsh coalThe fuel was made by mixing and heating waste small coal with pitch, the residue from distilled coal tar, and ramming the mixture into moulds. Various size blocks were produced, ranging from 7lbs to 56 lbs, with 28lbs being the most common — and the size taken on Scott's expedition. The blocks stacked well and took up less space than coal.When the expedition reached their base at Cape Evans on Ross Island in Antarctica, the fuel blocks were used to build a back wall to the stables for the expedition ponies.Earlier expeditionsIn 1901 the Discovery, Captain Scott's first Antarctic expedition ship, took on 200 tons of Patent Fuel in Cardiff. The Aurora, the ship of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911-14), was also in Cardiff taking on Crown Patent Fuel on 4 August 1911 before sailing for Australia and Antarctica.
'Biodiversity - Who cares?' exhibition now at Cardiff Mari Gordon, 22 July 2010 We’ve just finished setting up the exhibition ‘Biodiversity - Who Cares?’ in the Main Hall at National Museum Cardiff. It’s been a great opportunity for us to show off some more of the beautiful botanical models from our stored collections. The models have been skilfully crafted from beeswax, but you might mistake them for real plants when you first look at them. With around 1000 models in the collection to choose from, our only problem has been deciding which ones to display!The exhibition has been created by the BioSyB Dept as a contribution to the International Year of Biodiversity. The exhibition looks at some of the ways in which we can help reduce the loss of biodiversity. Look out for this touring exhibition at other Amgueddfa Cymru venues during the rest of the year.Annette Townsend
The Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron & Coal Company 20 July 2010 The Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron & Coal Company was based in south Wales. Founded in 1790, it was the largest tinplate producer in the country, until its closure in 2002. Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron & Coal Co. The Double Reduction Mill installed in 1978 produced very thin strip steel for making drinks cans Demolition of the blast furnaces, August 1978. The no 2 electrolytic tinplating line was the fastest in the world when installed in 1961. An air view of the works in August 1957 Fettling an open hearth steel furnace at Ebbw Vale in about 1962. Abercarn Colliery site in the 1970's Underground timbering competition at Cwm Betterment Society Carnival 1956 Coal mining and its landscape, Waunlwyd, 1950s The new works started production in 1938 and prosperity returned to the town of Ebbw Vale. The new stripmill produced high quality strip steel at 20 miles per hour & far faster than the hand rolling mills it replaced. On 30 October 1929 the works were closed. In 1936 they were demolished. In 1929 a new 1,500 ton hot metal receiver, then the largest in the world, was installed. The works were due to close before it could be used. Ebbw Vale's inland location necessitated a huge fleet of railway trucks to haul iron ore from the Newport wharves to the furnaces The Roughing Mill at the Steel Works. The depressed state of the steel trade between the wars has been described as "like entering a tunnel and not emerging until 1938". The new Nos. 4 and 5 blast furnaces at Victoria produced 2,750 tons a week each. On St David's day 1927, 52 miners at Marine Colliery were killed in an explosion. The cause of the disaster was never ascertained. On St David's day 1927, 52 miners at Marine Colliery were killed in an explosion. The cause of the disaster was never ascertained. During the industrial disputes of the 1920s and the depression of the 1930s jazz bands provided fun and just as important, kept up spirits. Digging for coal at Llangynidr Road during the 1926 miner's lockout. As Marine Colliery expanded so did the village of Cwm where the bulk of the miners and families lived. Station Terrace, Cwm's first major shopping centre, in 1913. The Prince of Wales during his visit to Victoria No 5 pit in 1918. The colliery had recently been deepened and modernised. After he had been underground he agreed to the colliery being renamed 'Prince of Wales'. Marine Colliery, 1907: Coke for the furnaces, but the bulk of its coal was exported overseas. Pride and achievement: Pit Bottom. Marine Colliery, Cwm, c.1907. In 1907 the company built a third brickworks and production reached 14 million a year. The company owned four wharves at Newport to import iron ore and pit props and to export iron and steel By 1907 the company employed 350 maintenance and engineering staff: The Smith Shop in the Engineering Department. Victoria Foundry, rebuilt in 1902, produced 18,000 tons of castings a year, used both within the works and sold to other firms. In 1907 the company owned 524 coke ovens and was producing 200,000 tons of coke a year. The tapping hole of the "Yankee" furnace at Victoria, it could produce 2,300 tons of iron a week. Ten hours output of steel billets from the Bessemer Steel Works. The 750-ton hot metal receiver in the Bessemer Steel Works was the largest in the World when installed in 1905-06. A new American design blast furnace was built at Victoria in 1903. Two open-hearth steel furnaces were built in 1898, followed by a further three in 1905-06. In 1897 a spring making shop was built to make railway carriage springs. The export market was the mainstay of the company. Cardiff Docks, early twentieth century The export market was the mainstay of the company. Cardiff Docks, early twentieth century The new pits sunk from the 1870s onwards were much deeper than the older collieries so that they could reach new reserves and the steam coal seams. The shaft of Victoria No. 5 (Prince of Wales) Colliery. Waunlwyd Colliery. At the turn of the century two trainloads of coal from this colliery went to Crewe everyday to power the locomotives of the L.M.S. The rolling mills about 1900. A Bessemer converter "on the blow" is a dramatic sight. The process had not changed at Ebbw Vale in the 1950s when this photograph was taken. One of the works' main products was rails; steel replaced wrought iron in the 1870s and in 1881 wrought iron puddling ceased at Ebbw Vale. The Bessemer steel converters kept the works going through the 1880s. The last act of expansion was the rebuilding of the two Victoria Furnaces in 1882. The four furnaces of Ebbw Vale were rebuilt in 1871-72, increasing production to 800 tons per week per furnace In 1866 the "Darby" blast furnace blowing engine was installed, the largest in the world. Sir Henry Bessemer paid the Ebbw Vale Company £30,000 for their patents on steel making (George Parry received £10,000) and in 1866-68 the company erected six Bessemer Converters to make steel, one of the first two installations in Britain. One of George Parry, the works chemist, inventions was the "cap and cone" to close the top of the blast furnace to retain heat. It was briefly lowered during charging. Much of the company's pig iron production was converted to wrought iron in 100 puddling furnaces. Abersychan Ironworks shown here in 1866 was bought by the Ebbw Vale Company in 1852. The company's other works probably resembled it, although their buildings were not as ornate. Ebbw Vale experimented with locomotives from 1829 and was one of the first South Wales ironworks to do so. This is the Tredegar Iron Company's locomotive 'St David' in 1854. The Ebbw Vale Company built many rows of homes for its workers, Gantra Row, intended for colliers, accommodated one family in the upper two floors of each house and another in the basement. No. 6 pit, Victoria, sank in 1838 provided coke for the Victoria Ironworks. Women were prohibited from working underground in 1842 but a small number continued to work on the surface until the early twentieth century. The earliest coal and ironstone mines were "patches" or small opencast pits. The early iron industry of South Wales was small scale and rural; blast furnaces at Clydach Ironworks, 1813. Holing in the Gwern Y Cae Seam, Sirhowy No. 7 Pit, 1898. Ebbw Vale Open Hearth Furnaces, 1960s.
Departing Director General of Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales reflects on the future of culture in Wales Mari Gordon, 19 July 2010 MH.flv Michael Houlihan, the departing Director General of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, reflected on his time as head of the organization by delivering a lecture at National Museum Cardiff on Wednesday 14 July 2010.After seven years in this key role, Mr Houlihan will be leaving in the coming weeks to take up his new post as Chief Executive of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales announced earlier this week that David Anderson, Director of Learning and Interpretation at the Victoria and Albert Museum, has been appointed as his replacement.To read the lecture in its entirety, please click here
Fossil Reptile from South Wales Cindy Howells, 12 July 2010 The remains of the ichthyosaur after preparation for display Specimen complete with labels showing bone names In 2009, the Geology Department at Amgueddfa Cymru acquired a new Welsh ichthyosaur skeleton found preserved in the cliffs on the South Wales coast. Two hundred million years ago, in the early Jurassic period, south east Wales was covered by a warm shallow sea, teeming with life. One of the major predators within these waters was the ichthyosaur, an extinct marine reptile that looked similar to dolphins. These animals could reach over 15m in length, and preyed upon small fish and other marine animals such as ammonites and belemnites. The fossil was discovered several years ago preserved in the cliffs at Penarth, near Cardiff and acquired by Amgueddfa Cymru for public display. To prepare the specimen for display, hours of delicate, skilled work had to be undertaken to carefully remove the rock covering the preserved reptile bones. Rare fossils Individual ichthyosaur bones and teeth are relatively common fossils in South Wales, Dorset, and Somerset, as well as parts of the Midlands and Yorkshire, but complete or partially complete skeletons are rarer. The specimen discovered at Penarth includes the underside of the head and one of its paddle-like limbs, as well as part of the shoulder blade and several ribs. After it died the animal would have been buried in the sediment on the sea bed, preventing it from being completely scavenged by other animals. This skeleton will help in our understanding of Jurassic life in Wales. To find out more about ichthyosaurs and life in the Jurassic period visit the Evolution of Wales exhibition at the National Museum Cardiff.
