North winder governor and expansion gear general arrangement (FoPP/JST)

This is a typical late 19th century design. It was fitted to the original winder built by the Worsley Mesnes company in the 1870s and was then transferred to the new Lilleshall winder when that was installed in 1905.It is still in good order after working day and night for almost 110 years.

It is a Hartnell type spring-controlled centrifugal governor driven by means of a band from a large pulley located on the crankshaft at the RH side of the drum and was connected by a rod to the cut-off mechanism on the cylinder valves.

In later years the head was partially enclosed by an inverted sheet-steel conical guard which also served to prevent lubricant being scattered about during operation.

On the pre-1905 winder it was  mounted on the outside member of the RH bedplate and was driven from a pulley on the outside of the RH trailing crank bearing.  On the post-1905 one, however, it is mounted on the bedframe cross-member behind the drum and the drive pulley is located between the drum and the main bearing.

With the cessation of coal winding at the North pit in the early 1970s fast winding no longer took place and as they were no longer needed, both rocker eccentrics and their rods, both cut-off mechanisms together with the governor link rods were all removed, although from later photographs it looks as though the drive belt to the governor itself was kept on.

North winder governor drive pulley with the trip-gear rocker-shaft eccentric strap no longer in place alongside.

Sources:

• FoPP photo archive
• Lilleshall Co. Ltd. engineering drawings     (1930)