Sweeet deal Mike!

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This ain't longwall... this is long hole!

This morning another piece of machinery was moved out of the slate quarry. The item is a very old lathe that turned wood for mallets. It was recovered from the rafters of the Structural Slate and Blackboard Mill of the Stephens-Jackson Slate Company in Pen Argyl, PA. The lathe rested on a wood platform supported by wood beams that ran from the suspended crane way to the wall of the building. The metal crane way will be scrapped very soon, so the lathe had to be removed, lest it fall with the crane way.
This unique lathe is made of wood and was line shaft driven. In addition to the lathe, we saved the pulley and jackshaft which transmitted the power. The four different sizes of pulleys on the jackshaft allowed the operator to choose between four different speeds, depending on which pulley the belt ran on.
The lathe was moved today thanks to the help of Mike Chopek, Ross Miller, and Gary Piersa (my father). Mike and Ross graciously allowed the lathe to be stored at the Blue Mountain Antique Gas and Steam Engine Association in Jacktown (Bangor, PA) until my pickup truck is fixed. At that time, we will move the lathe to the National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem, PA.

Photographs of the move are online at:
http://news.webshots.com/album/557559643FJYiYK

This past summer and fall the slate quarry was photographically documented to archival standards. The work was done by Joe Elliot, who also photographed the Huber Breaker for the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER). He just finished processing a series of black and white images made with 4 inch by 5 inch film negatives. I placed the photographs online at:
http://news.webshots.com/album/558052646MJIVAv

Anyone wishing to purchase prints of the photographs can contact the photographer at: elliott@muhlenberg.edu

Cool Mike! i really like the old wooden truss building there. they really give respect to how old that place really is.

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This ain't longwall... this is long hole!

thanks for posting the pictures, Mike.

was this part of a HAER recording project?


john

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-Thou shalt not little vein-

Thank you for the comments. Because of the limited time frame, the photographer did the work independently. However, he used HAER standards so it might be possible to include the photographs in the HAER in the future.

Very good Mike. Thanks for posting those up. A lot of nice photos which will become priceless in the future.

Greg

Thank you for the reply. The photos became priceless yesterday as we took two steam hoists off of their foundations in preparation for their move to the National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem. We delivered one hoisting engine to Bethlehem today and will move the other next week. The small one weighed in at 15 tons and the big one at 20 tons. Photos of the work on engine #5 can be seen starting with the image at: http://news.webshots.com/photo/2182151640095054516JCHSEZ
New photos of engine #1, including its move, start at:
http://news.webshots.com/photo/2027638860095054516VZxQnj
A video is online at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86YtmV9ob_o
The move becomes visible about 41 seconds into the film.

Very good.. It's great to see this stuff preserved. At the National Museum of Industrial History, are they planning on making these operational? Do they have a supply of steam there to operate these again?

Also, how did you end up getting the old cable off of the hoists?

Since the museum is not open yet, it is too early to determine the operational practices for the steam hoists. However, we selected engines that shouldn’t be too hard to return to service under steam. #1 should have less weather damage as it was kept in service an extra decade, being run under compressed air to service a pump in the quarry. #5 has an advantage because its exhaust pipes make two right angles, thus reducing the amount of rainwater that might have reached the cylinders. So far, the engines are in surprisingly good shape. Although #5 has not operated since the late 1960s, its bearings are still shiny and coated in oil. Even the nuts and bolts, covered in rust on the outside, are oily on the threads and easy to turn.

We kept whatever cable remained on the drums. There are a couple tons worth of cable on #1. The cable was long gone from #5.

The second steam hoist arrived in Bethlehem today. New photos begin with the image at:
http://news.webshots.com/photo/2861470610095054516TkSbYV
At 12 feet, 2 inches wide, the engine would have required an escort if moved level on the bed of the truck, so it was instead moved at an angle to reduce the horizontal width. In addition to its large size (20 tons), this engine is unique because it features an unusually large pinion gear, so the drums spin faster than they do on other hoisting engines. When the boss was not looking, the engineers sometimes ran it so fast that the grease would fly off of the cables.

The weekend before last saw RPM Rigging http://www.rpmrigging.com/ return to the slate quarry in Pen Argyl, PA to move two more steam hoists. One went to Ohio Vintage Coal in Ohio. This was a Flory built double drum steam hoisting engine. It operated a cableway at the Courtney hole (later known as the Albion quarry) of Stephens, Jackson & Company. RPM donated the move of another steam hoist from the same quarry. Its destination: my front yard. The unloading can be watched at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2RJzEnjSTE
Photos of the entire process of moving it are online at:
http://news.webshots.com/album/554465898nbYpyC
This particular hoist was used to pull narrow gauge rail cars loaded with bituminous coal up an incline to the coal bins at the boiler house. The hoist operated until the mid 1960s when the boiler house burned down and was replaced with an oil fired package boiler. Based on its design, the hoist must have been the oldest at the quarry, probably dating to the quarry’s opening in 1878, maybe even a decade earlier if it had a previous owner. The date and place of manufacture is unknown. The hoist is missing a number of pieces; however, I found a lot of spare Flory steam hoist parts that I am hoping I can fit to it. I have or will soon bring home a driving rod, crank disc and shaft, reversing links, and bearing stands. This will enable me to run it on one cylinder. The only major piece I will need to cast or fabricate to make it function will be a gear. The missing gear was shattered long ago, but the fragments show it was identical to one of the gears on the shaft that was lying beside the engine.
The missing engine parts may still exist. They were purchased in the late 60s or early 70s by an airplane pilot from Mt. Bethel or Portland, PA. He wanted to use them to power a steamboat. I was told that person might be Bill Payne, but he moved away at least a decade ago. I am still trying to track him down.

Mike, I think we set a record for one of the fastest unloads. We were rushing before someone changed their mind that it was going in your front yard (Amazing). We wish you the best of luck and any help you need on that just let us know. We are glad that you saved it

NOW THERE IS JUST ONE MORE HOIST LEFT TO GO, the question is where is it going??? Come you miner guys step up to the plate (save one of the last steam hoists. We did inspect it, it does look in good shape for the most part.

R.P.M. Rigging team

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Pioneering the next INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (Preservation ! ). . . Saving equipment (1) mine site at a time.

How did you guys get it on the trailer? Just winch it up? What kind of shape is the last one in? Does it have all the parts needed to make it operational?

Miner Greg

Yeah what would it take to get it operating? We need a slope for it..................................

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This ain't longwall... this is long hole!