Images from the Soho Foundry

[nigel jones 5Participant @nigeljones5]

Just saw this on ebay and wanted to share it. I think it is awesome.

[nigel jones 5Participant @nigeljones5]

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

We won't ask what you were doing searching for Soho

I presume its Tangye's workshops

Edited By JasonB on 23/04/2017 10:05:09

[Ed DuffnerParticipant @edduffner79357]

Machine beds and columns made of bricks!

Edited By Ed Duffner on 23/04/2017 12:14:22

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I know a Tangye

She says she hated the place!

Neil

[RainbowsParticipant @rainbows]

Makes those big radial drills look positively portable in comparison.

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Fizzy, have a read of L.T.C Rolt's Tools For The Job, quite a lot of info on Boulton and Watts Soho Foundry and the machines they built and used. A fascinating book although I believe criticised by some.

Mike

[nigel jones 5Participant @nigeljones5]

Thanks for that Mike – lots of other similar pictures of the place also, awesome stuff.

[john carruthersParticipant @johncarruthers46255]

What are the two guys in the corner saying?
"… No! I turned the handle yesterday…"

[Nick HulmeParticipant @nickhulme30114]

Posted by john carruthers on 25/04/2017 08:39:28:

What are the two guys in the corner saying?
"… No! I turned the handle yesterday…"

Or

"Are we just for scale?"

"Yes"

 

Edited By Nick Hulme on 25/04/2017 08:47:29

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by john carruthers on 25/04/2017 08:39:28:

What are the two guys in the corner saying?
"… No! I turned the handle yesterday…"

"What's the tapping drill size for 4BA?"

[EugeneParticipant @eugene]

"I presume its Tangye's workshops".

Tangyes were established in Cornwall Works, Soho Foundry which was next door, was indeed the stamping (ooh!) ground of Boulton, Watt and Murdock.

As a native Brummie (you can tell by the shamrock in the turban) these two outfits are part of my personal and family history.

My great-grandmother was a servant in Boulton's house, one of the the first to have interior gas lighting. I went to Matthew Boulton Tech. College. During WWII the adjoining gas holder in Smethwick Gas Works was hit by a bomb; it didn't blow up, just produce an enormous rushing flame out of the top like a giant Roman candle. My late father was one of the NFS crew who put it out. My wife's family all worked at Tangyes,

Eug

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

I think there was a photo 20+ years ago in ME of a lathe with a faceplate at the same place, I think the faceplate was 20ft + in diameter, work out the revs per hour for that with a carbon steel lathe tool.

Ian S C

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

About 1 rpm or less!

[vintagengineerParticipant @vintagengineer]

I have used a lathe with a 72" face plate and we used to put a chalk mark on it and count the revs!

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

This is an excerpt from Rolts book, must have been quite a machine for that day and age.

Mike

A new and much heavier boring mill was constructed and the boring bar for this was supplied by the Lowmoor Ironworks in May 1799. It weighed 3½ tons and may well have been the bar which was still lying in a disused state at Soho in 1895. If so, it was hollow, 17 feet 6 inches long, 16 inches in diameter and 4 inches thick. Presumably it was originally fitted with a form of rack feed to the cutting head because Murdock was not responsible for introducing lead-screw feed as has sometimes been stated.

A 64-inch cylinder was the first to be bored on this massive machine and a record of the operation has been preserved to show what a lengthy and laborious business it was. It reads as follows:

Getting on, ¾ day.

Centring and fixing, 1½ days.

Facing, ½ day.

Setting Cutter, ½ day.

Boring, 11½ days.

Preparing to go through a second time, 1 day.

Boring, 8½ days.

Facing, 1¼ days.

Bell-mouthing, 1½ days.

Getting off, ½ day.

Total, 27½ working days.

[Author]

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