MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Stanley]

No takers?

[Steeplejerk]

I know nothing about trees but I'll guess at Elm

[Stanley]

Sorry Tom no. It's rarer than that and has an engineering connection....... Think watermills....

[plaques]

My turn for a guess. Lignum Vitae, Vey hard wood used for bearings where water is concerned. Ships propellers etc:

[Stanley]

Sorry Ken, no. But you're on the right track. very hard durable wood. Now what is it and what was it used for?

[Steeplejerk]

I cheated so I won't spill the beans

[Stanley]

Good lad Tom!

[Stanley]

You'd better tell them Tom, they have forgotten what it is. (It's an oldie that has puzzled you before.)

[plaques]

I'll try to sneak in before Tom. Hornbeam. Another very hard wood.

[Steeplejerk]

Or it could be Cypress

[Stanley]

Ken has it, it's a Hornbeam in the grounds of the University at Keele. Hornbeam was used for making the wooden teeth that were inserted in cast Iron or wooden wheels with sockets built into them.



Wooden teeth in a CI wheel for New Hall water wheel.
These teeth were surprisingly long lived as the gear speed was low. They were quiet and if meshed with a cast iron gear did not wear the iron teeth much, certainly nowhere near the wear of cast iron teeth.
Next one?

[Tizer]

White oak, Quercus alba?
[Whoops, I wrote that at the same time as Stanley posted!]

[Gloria]

Where is this.

6F5F13B0-A094-4161-950B-E675EE0E4D11.png

[Big Kev]

Budapest?

[Gloria]

Budapest?

Well that didn’t last long, yes it the Parliament Building in Budapest.

[Stanley]

What is it, where is it and what is the connection to Lancashire?

[Steeplejerk]

Scott architecture

[Tripps]

Russia is coming to mind. ??

[Stanley]

I think it could be Scot Tom and yes David, Russia.

[Steeplejerk]

Ivanovo

[Stanley]

Sorry Tom I don't know what that is.....

[Big Kev]

Ivanov is a textile mill near St Petersburg. If it's not that one, it it the one in Estonia on the border with Russia? Kreenholme?

[Stanley]

In that case this is a mill in St Petersburg but that's not the name I know it by. That's the name I am looking for, what it was originally called and what the connection is with Lancashire. Tom has got part of that already when he mentioned Scott as the architect but there is a much more important link....

[Steeplejerk]

Workers from Bolton went there

[Stanley]

And Platts supplied the machinery but we still haven't got a name and the strong Lancashire connection!