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 (structure), 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 b ...

of 1845, now preserved on the campus of the

University of Glamorgan The University of Glamorgan () was a public university based in South Wales, that merged with University of Wales, Newport to form the University of South Wales in April 2013. The university was based in Pontypridd, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, with ...

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, 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 Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

History

Newbridge Colliery in Gelliwion,

Pontypridd Pontypridd ( , ), Colloquialism, colloquially referred to as ''Ponty'', is a town and a Community (Wales), community in Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales, approximately 10 miles north west of Cardiff city centre. Geography Pontypridd comprises the ...

was sunk in 1844. Its owner was John Calvert (1812–1890), a

Yorkshireman Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the city of York. The so ...

, 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 stage ...

, but after his initial distrust of Wales he remained in the area once the line opened and switched to mining. The

winding engine A winding engine is a stationary engine used to control a wire rope, cable, for example to power a hoist (mining), mining hoist at a pit head. Electric hoist controllers have replaced proper winding engines in modern mining, but use electric motor ...

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

brattice A brattice is a partition used in mining. It is built between columns of a sub-surface mine to direct air for ventilation. Where the mine is sunk at the base of a single shaft, the shaft is divided into two parts by a wooden or metal brattice. Air ...

d 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 Varteg () is a village in the county borough of Torfaen in Wales. Location It lies near Abersychan on the hills above the valley of the Afon Llwyd, between Pontypool and Blaenavon. History and amenities Varteg owes its origin to the fact ...

of Cwmavon, near

Blaenavon Blaenavon () is a town and community (Wales), community in Torfaen county borough, Wales, high on a hillside on the source of the Afon Lwyd. It is within the boundaries of the historic county of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire and the Pr ...

. This was the first steam winding engine to be installed in the

Rhondda valley Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley ( ), is a former coal mining, 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 (, 'la ...

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. 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. Later the Crawshay family owned it. At the end of the colliery's working, the Inspector of Mines' 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 *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

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 A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of ...

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 (USW) () 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 Wales, Newport. The ...

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

Trefforest Treforest () 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 Pontypridd Town ...

. It served the large

coal mining industry Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is a type of fossi ...

in the

South Wales Valleys The South Wales Valleys () are a group of industrialised peri-urban valleys in South Wales. Most of the valleys run northsouth, roughly parallel to each other. Commonly referred to as "The Valleys" (), they stretch from Carmarthenshire in the ...

. 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 engine A Cornish engine is a type of steam engine developed in Cornwall, England, mainly for pumping water from a mine. It is a form of beam engine that uses steam at a higher pressure than the earlier engines designed by James Watt. The engines were ...

s 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

, now part of the

University of South Wales The University of South Wales (USW) () 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 Wales, Newport. The ...

. 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 The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW; ; ), established in 1908, is a Welsh Government sponsored body concerned with some aspects of the archaeological, architectural and historic environment 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