Calvert's Engine or the Newbridge Colliery Engine is a

beam engine A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used by Thomas Newco ...

of 1845, now preserved on the campus of the University of Glamorgan,

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

History

Newbridge Colliery Calvert's Engine or the Newbridge Colliery Engine is a beam engine of 1845, now preserved on the campus of the University of Glamorgan, South Wales. History Newbridge Colliery in Gelliwion, Pontypridd was sunk in 1844. Its owner was John Calv ...

in Gelliwion, Pontypridd was sunk in 1844. Its owner was John Calvert (1812–1890), a Yorkshireman, who would give his name to this engine. Calvert had previously been a railway contractor, the major contractor of the

Taff Vale Railway The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) was a standard gauge railway in South Wales, built by the Taff Vale Railway Company to serve the iron and coal industries around Merthyr Tydfil and to connect them with docks in Cardiff. It was opened in stag ...

, but after his initial distrust of Wales he remained in the area once the line opened and switched to mining. The winding engine was installed in 1845, in which year production began from the 55 yard No.3 Rhondda seam. Winding was carried out with an iron flat chain, with wooden blocks through the links. The winding engine also powered the water pump for draining the mine. The pump was at the bottom of the shaft, worked by a vertical pump rod and linked to the engine by a 'tee bob'. Ventilation was by the bratticed split-shaft furnace method and so there was no fan engine for ventilation. Later the winding chain was replaced by rope. Steam was supplied from an

egg-ended boiler There have been a vast number of designs of steam boiler, particularly towards the end of the 19th century when the technology was evolving rapidly. A great many of these took the names of their originators or primary manufacturers, rather than a m ...

at a pressure of between . The original engine was built in 1845 by the Varteg Ironworks of Cwmavon, near Blaenavon. This was the first steam winding engine to be installed in the

Rhondda valley Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley ( cy, Cwm Rhondda ), is a former coalmining area in South Wales, historically in the county of Glamorgan. It takes its name from the River Rhondda, and embraces two valleys – the larger Rhondda Fawr valley ...

The cylinder was replaced in 1861 by Brown, Lenox and Co. of Newbridge Works, Pontypridd. This new cylinder was of bore, stroke. Although the original bore is unknown, the stroke remained the same, as the crank was unchanged. Reversing is by slip eccentric and

gab valve gear Gab valve gear was an early form of valve gear used on steam engines. Its simplest form allowed an engine to be stopped and started. A double form, mostly used on steam locomotives, allowed easy reversing. Etymology The word ''gab'' or ''gabb ...

. Similar engines were used for winding at both Glyn Pits and at Calvert's second pit, Gyfeillion, which would become the

Great Western Colliery Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

. Other dual-purpose engines were used at Welsh collieries at this time, but later it became more usual to use separate engines for each purpose. By 1869, ownership of the mine had passed to the Fowler Brothers. In 1880 it was owned by the

Newbridge and Rhondda Coal Company Newbridge may refer to: Places Australia *Newbridge, New South Wales *Newbridge, Victoria *Newbridge Heights Public School England *Newbridge, Bath, electoral ward *Newbridge, Cornwall, three places in Cornwall with the same name * Newbridge, E ...

. Later the

Crawshay Crawshay is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Crawshay Bailey (1789–1872), English industrialist who became one of the great iron-masters of Wales *David Crawshay (born 1979), Australian rower *Eliot Crawshay-Williams (1879–1 ...

family owned it. At the end of the colliery's working, the

Inspector of Mines Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia In Australian police forces, the rank of inspector is generally the ne ...

' list of 1896 shows 489 employed there. The colliery closed in 1897 and the shaft was abandoned. The engine and winding house lay derelict. A widely known postcard of 1912 shows the hose overgrown with ivy, but the engine

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

still in place. There is some question as to when the engine finally worked. The 1897 closure is well documented, but many sources also state that the engine was last worked in 1919. It is not clear if this is an error, in either direction, or that the engine was re-started for a time, possibly during World War I and then closed soon after.

Preservation

In 1913 a School of Mines was established for the Welsh coalfield. The school was owned and funded by the Welsh coal owners, through a levy of one tenth of a penny on each ton of coal produced by the companies involved. This

South Wales and Monmouthshire School of Mines The University of South Wales ( cy, Prifysgol De Cymru) is a public university in Wales, with campuses in Cardiff, Newport and Pontypridd. It was formed on 11 April 2013 from the merger of the University of Glamorgan and the University of Wal ...

was based in Forest House, built by the Crawshay family on the site of Fforest Isaf farm at

Trefforest Treforest ( cy, Trefforest) is a village in the south-east of Pontypridd, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It is situated in the Treforest electoral ward, along with the village of Glyntaff (or Glyn-Taf). It is part of the Pon ...

, Pontypridd. It served the large coal mining industry in the South Wales Valleys. Around 1920 the engine was removed from the derelict colliery and re-erected nearby in the grounds of the School of Mines. This was a historical exhibit, more than a practical instruction. Engines of this type were thoroughly obsolete by this time. Although the last Cornish beam engines had been installed only a few years earlier, these were pumping engines, not

rotative beam engine A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used by Thomas Newcomen ...

s like this for winding. The school went through several different names and statuses over the years. Most recently it was the University of Glamorgan, now part of the University of South Wales. Surprisingly, Calvert's Engine is ''not'' listed in Crowley (1982), usually considered as one of the first standard works of modern-era steam preservation for such engines.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{Cite web , title=Newbridge Colliery, Pontypridd , url=http://www.welshcoalmines.co.uk/GlamEast/Newbridge.htm , website=Welsh Coal Mines {{Cite book , title=Collieries of Wales , last1=Hughes , first1=Stephen , last2=Malaws , first2=Brian , last3=Parry , first3=Medwyn , last4=Wakelin , first4=Peter , publisher= Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales , year=1994 , isbn=1-871184-11-8 , ref={{harvid, Collieries of Wales, 1994 , pages=69,170 {{Cite book , title=Brunel in South Wales , volume=I In Trevithick's Tracks , last=Jones , first=Stephen K. , year=2005 , publisher=Tempus , isbn=0-7524-3236-2 , ref={{harvid, Jones (Vol I), 2005 , pages=210–211 {{Cite book , last=Crowley , first=T.E. , title=The Beam Engine , publisher=Senecio Publishing , year=1982 , isbn=0-906831-02-4 {{Cite magazine , title=The Hetty Winding Engine , magazine=Archive , author=Brian Davies , date=September 2017 , issue=95 , issn=1352-7991 , page=5 , ref={{harvid, Archive, 2017 Preserved beam engines Coal mining in Wales