Electricians-Winders In Steelworks?

[Guest bow]

Hello

does anyone know what an electricain(winder) would have done if working within a steelworks?

Thanks alot

Ron

[Guest binsted71]

Hello

does anyone know what an electricain(winder) would have done if working within a steelworks?

Thanks alot

Ron

hi Ron,

He may have been an 'armature' winder, working on the repair/rewinding of electric motors.

[Guest bow]

Hello,

Thanks for the reply.Do you happen to know when electricity was first widely used in steel making in Sheffield and how it would have been applied.For example when were overhead cranes first electrified?When was electric lighting introduced etc.Im trying to get an idea of when electric motors would have first been used in steelworks and what there roles would have been?

Thanks alot

Ron

[Guest Falls2]

Hello,

Thanks for the reply.Do you happen to know when electricity was first widely used in steel making in Sheffield and how it would have been applied.For example when were overhead cranes first electrified?When was electric lighting introduced etc.Im trying to get an idea of when electric motors would have first been used in steelworks and what there roles would have been?

Thanks alot

Ron

Hello,

At a guess, I would say electric lighting came into steelworks in about 1885/90 but electric motors on EOT steelworks cranes would have begun to appear about 1895.

As you probably know, the first crane motors were stationary, at the end of the shop or bay and power trasmitted to the crane by an endless hemp rope. The motors ran all the time and the crane driver selected the hoist or trolley motion by pulling various leavers in the cab. Lowering would be by a brake. These could have been ac or dc motors.

By 1900 or soon after, this primative; not to mention dangerous arrangement, was susperseded by cranes with seperate motors for each motion. The better cranes from this period were dc. Alternating current cranes were also around but didn't provide the accuracy that dc. provide particularly in places like melting shops or machinery assembly shops.

Crane builders came up with all kinds of solutions such as ac wound rotor motors - with or without eddy curent brakes- dc injection, etc. But it was only when inverter controls arrived that the dc motor on the hoists were largely displaced . I recall the melt shop cranes at BSC Tinsley Park (c1963) were the four girder type, rated at 165 tons(?). They had ac wound rotor motors on the long and cross travel but the main hoists were dc. The direct current was provided by MG sets on the cranes themselves.

As for the blooming and slabbing mills themselves they would be be steam-driven at the beginning. The Roughing Mill at Fox's StocksbridgeWorks was steam driven until the mid 1960's and the BSC/ESC armour plate mill at River Don Works was steam-driven to the end of its days.

I don't know exactly when the rolling mill equipment began to be electrified but it most likely had to wait for two things: The invention of reliable control systems such as Ward-Leonard and somebody coming up with a good design of dc electric motor. The latter was the MD (mill duty) dc motors developed in the US by the American Iron and Steel Engineers (AISE) organization. They were virtually indistructable but very very expensive. GEC and AEI used to build them in England.

Regards

[Guest bow]

Hello

Thanks for the reply.What kind of roles would electricians and particularly winders have played in the early days of electricity in steel works.Would they have mainly repaired motors used on cranes?

Thanks

Ron

[Guest Falls2]

Hello

Thanks for the reply.What kind of roles would electricians and particularly winders have played in the early days of electricity in steel works.Would they have mainly repaired motors used on cranes?

Thanks

Ron

Hi,

Electricians in steelworks a 100-120 years ago were really pioneers. When there was a breakdown, the owner would want to be back in production ASAP but the electrical boys had very few resources at their disposal when a piece of equipment failed. The OEM (original equipment manufacturer) could be dozens of miles away and there were unlikely to be any spares, particularly transformer and motors. Remember, in the early days of electrical equipment, the insulation was very poor and therefore coil failure and burn-outs would be regular occurence. They had to be capable of repairing just about everything and anything electrical.

Winders were usually part of the electrical maintenance department. Their function was to rewind electrical equipment, This would mostly be motor windings but might also include transformers: anything with a coil.

Regards

[Guest bow]

hello

thanks for the reply.Do you know whether electrician winders would have tested the equipment once it was rewound or did they simply do the rewinding?

Thanks

Ron