Internal Fire Museum, Wales

[tangler]

Sally and I have just come back from a (surprisingly dry) week in west Wales (the land of my fathers).  We went to the Internal Fire Museum http://www.internalfire.com/.  Very impressive collection of stationary i.c. engines.  Most of the exhibits are set up in a representative situation and most of them run, usually driving generators or pumps.  About a third of them were chugging away while we were there, just an ordinary midweek day towards the end of the season.  I enjoyed it very much 







this "Double Tangye" might interest some!

















Several engines were connected up to Tangye pumps, which would make interesting models in themselves.









The mercury vapour rectifier was impressive - press the button to make it go



I liked the "bean tin" cooling tank on this one



We also had a trip on the Vale of Rheidol steam railway from Aberystwth to Devil's Bridge







Cheers,

Rod

[b.lindsey]

Great pictures Rod, looks like a very nice museum!!  Thanks for sharing.

Bill

[steamer]

Wot Bill Said!.....would love an explanation of how that mercury vapor rectifier worked......

Dave

[Ramon Wilson]

Thanks for the pics too Rod 

We missed this on our many travels to Wales - too much time spent up Llanberis Pass I guess . There's some nice exhibits on display, bet they make the floor vibrate a bit once fired up .

Ramon

[steamer]

Here we go....very interesting!

http://www.electricstuff.co.uk/mercarc.html

Dave

[b.lindsey]

Kind of amazing what they did back in the day huh? Had never heard of these but interesting!! Of course mercury is a no-no these days, especially in a vapor state.

Bill

[stevehuckss396]

looks like a great way to spend a day.

[AussieJimG]

Dribble, dribble, dribble. You blokes are so lucky to have all this good stuff within a few hours drive.

And the mercury arc rectifiers are a rarity these days. There was one at the local technical college (a relic from long ago).
When the Electrical School was moved a few months ago, the monster came to light but (of course) the moving people
didn't know what it was. When it was explained to them (by someone old enough to know), they freaked out, called
the elfin safety people, wanted to shut the place down and generally panicked.

But when I think of the time we spent at school using our pocket knives to dig mercury out of the cracks in the benches in the
chemistry laboratory to coat copper pennies to look like two shilling pieces, I dunno what they were worried about.

Jim

[tangler]

Here are some random video clips, with apologies to the unknown lady with the nice smile 

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIoTxFmjxzc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIoTxFmjxzc</a>

Rod

[smfr]

Thanks for the photos and the video, Rod. Looks like a very neat place to visit!

Simon

[arnoldb]

Really nice Rod !

Thanks for the photos and video 

Kind regards, Arnold

[fumopuc]

Hi Rod, thanks for sharing the pictures and the video.

[ths]

It's funny how someone with a camera can make you feel as though you're intruding, but judging from the reaction you were very charming. Nice clip, I enjoyed it. That geared pump wS great. Hugh.

[Dave Otto]

Thanks for the pictures and Video Rod.

Those big triplex back geared pumps are just awesome; I would love to model one someday.

Dave