Round things

[Manfred M]

A shot taken last weekend at the Heritage Steam Musuem workshop.



The circular device on the right is an old generator and the smaller wooden laminate objects are patterns for use in sand casting. Pulleys and shapes to create gears, I suspect. In the late 19th and early 20th century, gears would be manufactured by casting round shapes and then cutting the gear teeth on a hobbing machine.

Choice of B&W was because of the cool while fluorescent lighting in the building.

[mugge]

Manfred, Manfred. You have gone mono! Great shot, cool white fluros are terrible, warm white almost so.
Cheers Ole

[Shadowman]

Nice capture.

[Wavelength]

Very nice...sharp details.....a nice subject for monochrome; i am not sure about the angular distortion though

[tbob]

Fascinating stuff. The opportunity for detail shots seems endless, especially the generator.

Monochrome suits the subject

[Mike Buckley]

Great composition!

[Manfred M]

Very nice...sharp details.....a nice subject for monochrome; i am not sure about the angular distortion though

Unfortunately, the aisles were so narrow (< 1m) and there were so many things stacked up right to the edge of the ailse, avoiding distortion was impossible in many of the shots I took.

[Manfred M]

Manfred, Manfred. You have gone mono! Great shot, cool white fluros are terrible, warm white almost so.
Cheers Ole

I started out photography as a mono shooter and shot little else for the first couple of years when I first got into photography. This was very much a cost thing - I could afford to process and print B&W, but colour was too expensive for me when I was in high school.

I got into colour "wet" darkroom work when I had a bit more money and loved it because developed some excellent skills that are still with me today; but B&W is really going back to my "roots".

[Manfred M]

Fascinating stuff. The opportunity for detail shots seems endless, especially the generator.

Monochrome suits the subject

I could have spent hours there, but unfortunately, they were holding their annual "open house", so the place was crawling with people. I'd love to go back with some portable lighting gear and have some fun with no one around.

[mknittle]

Great image Manfred. mono works well for it.


P.S. those laminate objects are pulleys for wide flat leather belts. If you look at the center of the one on top there are bolts to clamp it to the shaft it drives. On drives with heavy loads wood was often preferred as it affords a better grip than iron.
Sorry about the rant I am a bit of a machine freak. or maybe just a Freak

[tbob]

I could have spent hours there, but unfortunately, they were holding their annual "open house", so the place was crawling with people. I'd love to go back with some portable lighting gear and have some fun with no one around.

Try this approach. Offer to do up some shots for a calendar, postcards, etc. they could sell. Through Vistaprint it can be amazingly cheap for them to have a batch made up. And the types of people who go to steam museums would strike me as the types to cherish a picture of a rusty old gear or a dial.

Would at least give you access.

[bnnrcn]

Nice composition Manfred, just your style

[Manfred M]

Great image Manfred. mono works well for it.


P.S. those laminate objects are pulleys for wide flat leather belts. If you look at the center of the one on top there are bolts to clamp it to the shaft it drives. On drives with heavy loads wood was often preferred as it affords a better grip than iron.
Sorry about the rant I am a bit of a machine freak. or maybe just a Freak

You could be right, but the same technique was also used for patterns used in sand castings. Pieces would be fashioned and bolted together to assemble the final pattern. The reason I suspect that they were patterns is that there were no signs of wear / polishing that one would expect from a pulley. That being said, it these were spare parts, then they wouldn't have seen any wear either.

The other reason I suspect that these are more likely patterns is that the museum is not far from Galt, where the B&W (Babcock & Wilcox) South Works were located. There were a number of pieces that came from that company in the museum and there were a few drawings and other patterns around too.

http://www.southworks.ca/about.htm

[mknittle]

You could be right, but the same technique was also used for patterns used in sand castings. Pieces would be fashioned and bolted together to assemble the final pattern. The reason I suspect that they were patterns is that there were no signs of wear / polishing that one would expect from a pulley. That being said, it these were spare parts, then they wouldn't have seen any wear either.

The other reason I suspect that these are more likely patterns is that the museum is not far from Galt, where the B&W (Babcock & Wilcox) South Works were located. There were a number of pieces that came from that company in the museum and there were a few drawings and other patterns around too.

http://www.southworks.ca/about.htm

Whatever they are for they make a great subject. Thanks for the link. I live in a place with a heavy gold mining history and have seen the name Babcock and Wilcox. it is cool to read some history on them.

[Manfred M]

Whatever they are for they make a great subject. Thanks for the link. I live in a place with a heavy gold mining history and have seen the name Babcock and Wilcox. it is cool to read some history on them.

I worked at B&W for a few years right after I graduated from university and spent a bit of time at the South Works facility. It was no longer used as a foundry, but all the patterns were warehoused there. Smaller package boilers were assembled there too. The one thing that I remember striking me was the large amount of soot on the walls and ceilings from the old foundry days.