I normally post rams in bulk, but this one is sufficiently unusual to deserve its own thread.
Knowing I was sometimes in the Dolgellau area pottering around gold mines @tigger kindly send me a newsletter extract by J. Harold Morris about a ram up one of the valleys there.
It’s not marked on maps and by a maker I hadn’t heard of (W. W. Fyfe, originally from Scotland) so I checked it out on the way down from a neighbouring valley.
It should be said that my only original contribution here is the pictures - Morris’s article, reproduced in full at the end, is a nice piece of detective work and well worth reading.
When I eventually got there the ram was somewhat overgrown so the first job was weeding.
Here’s the beast from a few angles - photos are phone, taken fast as I was being eaten alive by midges.
The air tank is quite tall and the thing that looks like a giant bicycle bell is a splashguard above the waste valve to stop anyone nearby getting soaked.
Below is the advert from the 1888 Mining Journal mentioned in the article.
Rams are normally used to pump some fraction of the water flowing through to a higher level, but could act like a fire hose near or below the output level due to the compressed air in the tank.
Air compressors based on water ram-type action are known but a much more elaborate setup is needed if the air is to be used for e.g. pneumatic hammers or drills.
The broken outlet valve was made by Glenfield.
This firm once made all sorts of things in addition to valves, including hydraulic rams, and are still going under a slightly different name in Kilmarnock.
The waste valve.
Fyfe’s rams were reported in 1876 as being 54 - 93% efficient, which is in the usual range, and he and his son J. W. Fyfe had a 1909 patent for an elaborate conical waste valve with multiple spring-loaded flaps.
However it looks like this one has a more conventional mushroom-shaped valve with a central spindle protruding from the top to adjust it.
I don’t know what the dome just downstream of the waste valve was for - it might be a recoil device with a diaphragm to absorb some of the shock.
The water to power it came down a pipe from a small reservoir up the hill - the rusty air tank can just be seen poking up in the second photo below.
The reservoir in turn was filled by an offshoot from a stream running down to the Afon Gamlan, with the water channel following the wall on the right.
So why was is this ram here?
The most likely explanation is that it was in anticipation of finding gold nearby although I didn’t see any obvious signs of waste heaps or digging.
It wouldn’t be the first time in this region that gold processing plant was installed and then not much was found.
——————————
Welsh Mines Society 2005, No 53, p 27. The Tale of an Enigmatic Ram
A great many years ago (certainly not in terms of geological time), I was exploring the country to the west of Ganllwyd, Meirionnydd, following the upper course of the Afon Gamlan. This almost level upper section of the river, was at the time more accessible by a path on the northern side of the valley, which presented a more comfortable route, keeping mainly about two hundred metres from the river and on slightly elevated ground. Trees had been planted by the Forestry Commission covering the bottom and sides of the valley, these trees were however in their infancy, and the river could be seen at times from the path. Reaching a point about eight-hundred metres from a ruined farmhouse called Glan-llyn-y-forwyn, I was surprised to see what appeared to be a rusty iron device close to the river. On closer inspection I found that I would need to cross the river as the device was situated on the far bank, almost at the base of a sloping rock outcrop. Getting across was not difficult due to low water levels, and the fact that the river was wide at this point, being well littered with large boulders. At first I thought that I had discovered a water turbine, which had been used to generate electricity, my thoughts being influenced by finding a short length of lead covered power cable close to the device. Having never before seen and inspected a hydraulic ram, there was much doubt in my mind as to the device’s true purpose.
Later enquiring of the Dept of Industry at the National Museum of Wales, in March of 1972, and having sent photographs, I received a reply from a Mr R.G Keen, a research assistant at the museum, who after consulting various publications, was of the opinion that it was probably a hydraulic ram. [For those not familiar with such devices, we are not talking about the devices found upon the ‘limbs’ of a mechanical excavator such as a ‘JCB’, but a device invented much earlier. ‘Hydrams’, as they are also known, convert the low pressure energy from a large mass of water falling from a relatively low head to a much higher pressure, which is used to push a much smaller volume of water to a much higher head. It uses, in effect, the phenomena we all observe as ‘water hammer’ when we close a water tap suddenly. – Ed.]
There was a vertical iron cylinder half a metre in diameter and about one and a half metres in height, this being the air cylinder which would have served to ease the effect of water hammer in the delivery pipe; at the base of the cylinder a pipe flange had a gate valve bolted to it, this would have been the high pressure outlet. On the upstream side of the cylinder a cast-iron valve chamber was hidden under a large iron dome somewhat like a large bicycle bell, having a diameter of about a metre. The dome, known as a watershed, directed the exhausted water from the waste-valve chamber downwards rather than up into the air. The whole was connected to an inclined penstock, [an ‘inlet pipe’, to those not familiar with hydro power/turbine terminology – Ed.], constructed of flanged sheet iron riveted pipe sections, laid partly in a slot cut in the rock, but mostly on a stone embankment which led in about forty metres to a well built stone reservoir of dimensions approximately four metres by three, built on a sloping rock surface, and having a depth of about a metre at the deep end. The head between the ram and reservoir would be about four to five metres, and the diameter of the penstock about two hundred and fifty to three hundred millimetres. A leat cut in the peat bed upstream of the reservoir led, in about forty metres, to the river. Lying on the rock close to the penstock was the damaged cast-iron shroud of another gate valve, of similar pattern and size having cast into it the following inscription:- GLENFIELD IRON COY. LIMITED. KILLMARNOCK. Nearby were three spare sections of riveted pipe.
Some time later, during a visit to the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth to peruse the pages of the Mining Journal on the subject of gold mining, I happened upon an advertisement by a company bearing the name of W.W. Fyfe & Co., of 59, Hatton Garden. London, E.C. who were the manufacturers of hydraulic rams, the ad bearing a picture of an identical ram to the one discovered on the Gamlan. In an article covering ‘Modern Mining Plant Etc’ and under a sub-heading of ‘Improved System of Hydraulic Mining’, was what possibly was originally a photograph, depicting an almost identical picture of the ram shown in the advertisement. The accompanying article first described how these rams could be used to great advantage in various gold mining districts of the world, then went on to say ‘That the first of these huge machines has been successfully erected at Gwndwn Gold Mine in North Wales, where it will be used for supplying the stamps or other quartz crushing machinery and also for hydraulicing should the conformation of the deposits present features suitable for treatment of this nature.’ The Mining Journal was dated March 31, 1888. In this same volume was details of the flotation of The Gwndwn Hill Gold Mining Co Ltd. and a reference entitled ‘Gold in Wales’ and referring to gold at Gwndwn.
Are these rams one and the same? The Gamlan ram for a start, is in a very remote situation, about three-hundred metres from a ruined farm known as Trawsnant, and about seven-hundred metres from Glan-llyn-y-forwyn. These farms would appear to have adequate water supplies from streams closer to hand, hill farmers would be unlikely to embark on civil engineering projects of such magnitude, involving much manual work and cost. Who then would require to pump quantities of water from the river with such a high capital outlay?
Together with friends I recently re-visited the site, large areas of the forest have now been clear-felled, having reached maturity, but the site is difficult to locate as there is much vegetation. The ram looks to be in very much the same condition but for the delivery valve having been removed, the penstock has degenerated, but the reservoir is still in good condition.
We noticed a ‘level (disused)’ marked on the map, on the northern slope of Y Garn, lying about five-hundred and fifty metres ESE of Trawsnant, within the area shown on the 1:25,000 map as Ffridd Gwndwn – we decided to investigate. The ascent was tough, as one finds when forests have been felled; we struggled upwards on a compass bearing and eventually found the mine, in all rather disappointing, just a small pit with quartz on the tip, together with a couple of other small trials on the course of the lode. As the main working is on the bank of a stream it is hardly likely that the ram would have been required to pump water to this remote location. Was a mill planned at a much lower elevation to serve this site, or was an attempt envisaged to hydraulically work the alluvial gravels of the lower slopes of the valley ?
I feel confident that this ram is the one referred to in the Mining Journal article, and that it remains on the site of its original placement. It is a very worthy subject for conservation, and should for historical reasons remain on site, as it forms part of a complete unit. The reservoir, penstock and supporting embankment cannot be removed, and therefore the ram should remain where it is. The Forestry Commission must be approached, and their attention drawn to these points lest this equipment go the same way as the Graig Wen Mine engine.
Since the above was written, further visits have been made to the site, driving over forest roads for most of the way, having obtained the permission of the Forestry Commission. Vegetation clearance and excavation work have resulted in the site looking much tidier, but further work is required. It really is a pleasant location on a fine day. A person can experience the feeling of grand isolation, way out in the sticks.
J. Harold Morris, Porthmadog.
Knowing I was sometimes in the Dolgellau area pottering around gold mines @tigger kindly send me a newsletter extract by J. Harold Morris about a ram up one of the valleys there.
It’s not marked on maps and by a maker I hadn’t heard of (W. W. Fyfe, originally from Scotland) so I checked it out on the way down from a neighbouring valley.
It should be said that my only original contribution here is the pictures - Morris’s article, reproduced in full at the end, is a nice piece of detective work and well worth reading.
When I eventually got there the ram was somewhat overgrown so the first job was weeding.
Here’s the beast from a few angles - photos are phone, taken fast as I was being eaten alive by midges.
The air tank is quite tall and the thing that looks like a giant bicycle bell is a splashguard above the waste valve to stop anyone nearby getting soaked.
Below is the advert from the 1888 Mining Journal mentioned in the article.
Rams are normally used to pump some fraction of the water flowing through to a higher level, but could act like a fire hose near or below the output level due to the compressed air in the tank.
Air compressors based on water ram-type action are known but a much more elaborate setup is needed if the air is to be used for e.g. pneumatic hammers or drills.
The broken outlet valve was made by Glenfield.
This firm once made all sorts of things in addition to valves, including hydraulic rams, and are still going under a slightly different name in Kilmarnock.
The waste valve.
Fyfe’s rams were reported in 1876 as being 54 - 93% efficient, which is in the usual range, and he and his son J. W. Fyfe had a 1909 patent for an elaborate conical waste valve with multiple spring-loaded flaps.
However it looks like this one has a more conventional mushroom-shaped valve with a central spindle protruding from the top to adjust it.
I don’t know what the dome just downstream of the waste valve was for - it might be a recoil device with a diaphragm to absorb some of the shock.
The water to power it came down a pipe from a small reservoir up the hill - the rusty air tank can just be seen poking up in the second photo below.
The reservoir in turn was filled by an offshoot from a stream running down to the Afon Gamlan, with the water channel following the wall on the right.
So why was is this ram here?
The most likely explanation is that it was in anticipation of finding gold nearby although I didn’t see any obvious signs of waste heaps or digging.
It wouldn’t be the first time in this region that gold processing plant was installed and then not much was found.
——————————
Welsh Mines Society 2005, No 53, p 27. The Tale of an Enigmatic Ram
A great many years ago (certainly not in terms of geological time), I was exploring the country to the west of Ganllwyd, Meirionnydd, following the upper course of the Afon Gamlan. This almost level upper section of the river, was at the time more accessible by a path on the northern side of the valley, which presented a more comfortable route, keeping mainly about two hundred metres from the river and on slightly elevated ground. Trees had been planted by the Forestry Commission covering the bottom and sides of the valley, these trees were however in their infancy, and the river could be seen at times from the path. Reaching a point about eight-hundred metres from a ruined farmhouse called Glan-llyn-y-forwyn, I was surprised to see what appeared to be a rusty iron device close to the river. On closer inspection I found that I would need to cross the river as the device was situated on the far bank, almost at the base of a sloping rock outcrop. Getting across was not difficult due to low water levels, and the fact that the river was wide at this point, being well littered with large boulders. At first I thought that I had discovered a water turbine, which had been used to generate electricity, my thoughts being influenced by finding a short length of lead covered power cable close to the device. Having never before seen and inspected a hydraulic ram, there was much doubt in my mind as to the device’s true purpose.
Later enquiring of the Dept of Industry at the National Museum of Wales, in March of 1972, and having sent photographs, I received a reply from a Mr R.G Keen, a research assistant at the museum, who after consulting various publications, was of the opinion that it was probably a hydraulic ram. [For those not familiar with such devices, we are not talking about the devices found upon the ‘limbs’ of a mechanical excavator such as a ‘JCB’, but a device invented much earlier. ‘Hydrams’, as they are also known, convert the low pressure energy from a large mass of water falling from a relatively low head to a much higher pressure, which is used to push a much smaller volume of water to a much higher head. It uses, in effect, the phenomena we all observe as ‘water hammer’ when we close a water tap suddenly. – Ed.]
There was a vertical iron cylinder half a metre in diameter and about one and a half metres in height, this being the air cylinder which would have served to ease the effect of water hammer in the delivery pipe; at the base of the cylinder a pipe flange had a gate valve bolted to it, this would have been the high pressure outlet. On the upstream side of the cylinder a cast-iron valve chamber was hidden under a large iron dome somewhat like a large bicycle bell, having a diameter of about a metre. The dome, known as a watershed, directed the exhausted water from the waste-valve chamber downwards rather than up into the air. The whole was connected to an inclined penstock, [an ‘inlet pipe’, to those not familiar with hydro power/turbine terminology – Ed.], constructed of flanged sheet iron riveted pipe sections, laid partly in a slot cut in the rock, but mostly on a stone embankment which led in about forty metres to a well built stone reservoir of dimensions approximately four metres by three, built on a sloping rock surface, and having a depth of about a metre at the deep end. The head between the ram and reservoir would be about four to five metres, and the diameter of the penstock about two hundred and fifty to three hundred millimetres. A leat cut in the peat bed upstream of the reservoir led, in about forty metres, to the river. Lying on the rock close to the penstock was the damaged cast-iron shroud of another gate valve, of similar pattern and size having cast into it the following inscription:- GLENFIELD IRON COY. LIMITED. KILLMARNOCK. Nearby were three spare sections of riveted pipe.
Some time later, during a visit to the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth to peruse the pages of the Mining Journal on the subject of gold mining, I happened upon an advertisement by a company bearing the name of W.W. Fyfe & Co., of 59, Hatton Garden. London, E.C. who were the manufacturers of hydraulic rams, the ad bearing a picture of an identical ram to the one discovered on the Gamlan. In an article covering ‘Modern Mining Plant Etc’ and under a sub-heading of ‘Improved System of Hydraulic Mining’, was what possibly was originally a photograph, depicting an almost identical picture of the ram shown in the advertisement. The accompanying article first described how these rams could be used to great advantage in various gold mining districts of the world, then went on to say ‘That the first of these huge machines has been successfully erected at Gwndwn Gold Mine in North Wales, where it will be used for supplying the stamps or other quartz crushing machinery and also for hydraulicing should the conformation of the deposits present features suitable for treatment of this nature.’ The Mining Journal was dated March 31, 1888. In this same volume was details of the flotation of The Gwndwn Hill Gold Mining Co Ltd. and a reference entitled ‘Gold in Wales’ and referring to gold at Gwndwn.
Are these rams one and the same? The Gamlan ram for a start, is in a very remote situation, about three-hundred metres from a ruined farm known as Trawsnant, and about seven-hundred metres from Glan-llyn-y-forwyn. These farms would appear to have adequate water supplies from streams closer to hand, hill farmers would be unlikely to embark on civil engineering projects of such magnitude, involving much manual work and cost. Who then would require to pump quantities of water from the river with such a high capital outlay?
Together with friends I recently re-visited the site, large areas of the forest have now been clear-felled, having reached maturity, but the site is difficult to locate as there is much vegetation. The ram looks to be in very much the same condition but for the delivery valve having been removed, the penstock has degenerated, but the reservoir is still in good condition.
We noticed a ‘level (disused)’ marked on the map, on the northern slope of Y Garn, lying about five-hundred and fifty metres ESE of Trawsnant, within the area shown on the 1:25,000 map as Ffridd Gwndwn – we decided to investigate. The ascent was tough, as one finds when forests have been felled; we struggled upwards on a compass bearing and eventually found the mine, in all rather disappointing, just a small pit with quartz on the tip, together with a couple of other small trials on the course of the lode. As the main working is on the bank of a stream it is hardly likely that the ram would have been required to pump water to this remote location. Was a mill planned at a much lower elevation to serve this site, or was an attempt envisaged to hydraulically work the alluvial gravels of the lower slopes of the valley ?
I feel confident that this ram is the one referred to in the Mining Journal article, and that it remains on the site of its original placement. It is a very worthy subject for conservation, and should for historical reasons remain on site, as it forms part of a complete unit. The reservoir, penstock and supporting embankment cannot be removed, and therefore the ram should remain where it is. The Forestry Commission must be approached, and their attention drawn to these points lest this equipment go the same way as the Graig Wen Mine engine.
Since the above was written, further visits have been made to the site, driving over forest roads for most of the way, having obtained the permission of the Forestry Commission. Vegetation clearance and excavation work have resulted in the site looking much tidier, but further work is required. It really is a pleasant location on a fine day. A person can experience the feeling of grand isolation, way out in the sticks.
J. Harold Morris, Porthmadog.
