Tannett, Walker & Company

Supplied and installed coal tips at Penarth Docks in 1905.

The following is an account published by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers - Visit to Works - 1882 [178]

"MESSRS. TANNETT WALKER & CO., GOODMAN STREET WORKS, HUNSLET, LEEDS. These works have been in existence twenty years, and stand upon ten acres. All the heavy machinery used in the manufacture of iron and steel is made here, such as Bessemer and Siemens plant; rolling-mill machinery; large and small steam-hammers; machines for shearing, punching, &c.; hydraulic machinery, such as pumping engines, accumulators, tanks, cranes, hoists, capstans, and swing-bridges; and all dock and warehouse machinery.

Over one of the large erecting shops is a rope traveling-crane fitted with worm gear and pitch pulleys, and driven by a separate engine. In the works is hydraulic machinery for hauling heavy weights. Very large castings can be made; and there is a deep pit in which hydraulic cylinders and rams up to 30 tons weight and 50 feet in length can be cast. A 30-ton steam jib-crane commands this pit, which is kept in constant operation for large hydraulic cylinders and rams, required in the Bessemer and Siemens processes; all of these are made from the best selected cold-blast and hematite iron, and are cast with a large rising head. A large pair of compound rail-mill reversing engines was just completed, with two high-pressure cylinders of 34 inches diameter, and two low-pressure of 60 inches diameter, all 5 feet stroke.

A large pair of compound Bessemer blowing engines with surface-condensers was also just completed; both high and low-pressure cylinders were fitted with expansion-valves. Twelve hydraulic four-cylinder capstan engines were making here for H.M. Dockyard at Chatham, each capable of exerting a pull of 16 tons at the rate of 30 feet per minute, and 8 and 4 tons at higher speeds, working at a pressure of 700 lbs. per sq. in.

There were also several machines for a Bessemer steel works, a complete arrangement for tipping large converters by hydraulic power, and hydraulic machinery for the Cheshire Lines goods warehouses, and for the Great Northern Railway premises in London, &c. A number of ingot cranes on Mr. Walker's balance principle (Proceedings 1881, P. 633) were making for the Bessemer and Siemens processes, or fur foundries."

The following is an account published by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers - Visit to Works - 1903 [178]

"MESSRS. TANNETT WALKER AND CO., GOODMAN STREET WORKS, HUNSLET, LEEDS. These Works, founded more than 40 years ago, stand on an area of about 8 acres of freehold ground. There is an ample water supply, and all the engines are highly expansive and condensing. The Works are laid out for the manufacture of very heavy machinery used in iron and steel making, also dock and railway and works equipment, such as tilting furnaces, blast-furnace and iron and steel works plant, hydraulic forging and bending presses, rail, bar, plate, togging, corrugating, and tyre machinery and engines; shearing, punching, straightening, bending, and blocking machines, for rails, plates, tyres, etc.; steam and hydraulic hammers, as supplied to His Majesty's Government, etc.; armour plate rolling machinery; hydraulic machinery for docks, railways, and works generally; hydraulic overhead traveling-cranes (a specialty); flanging machinery, hydraulic riveting plant, etc.; patent 3-cylinder blowing engines, for cupolas, foundries, forges, converters, and smiths' fires; hydraulic coal tips and cranes for coaling; and capstans.

This Company has recently supplied a 160-ton tilting furnace for Messrs. Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds, at their Dowlais-Cardiff Works, Cardiff. This is the largest furnace ever made in this country, and it is tilted by hydraulic power, all other movements being hydraulic. The 100-ton tilting furnace Talbot continuous process at Frodingham was supplied by this Company. A 3,000-ton hydraulic press has just been handed over to the authorities at Woolwich Arsenal. In process of manufacture can be seen all kinds of hydraulic machinery, and in use in the foundries and other departments are hydraulic traveling cranes, hydraulic hammers, and other appliances."

A variety of pumps and engines built at the works are exhibits at the Leeds Industrial Museum, Armely Mills, Leeds but during a visit to the museum and following subsequent communication in June 2014, there appears to be no surviving drawings or information relating to coal tips and/or Penarth Docks. The Institution of Mechanical Engineers in Volume 71 of 1906 do have a paper by T. H. Riches and Thomas E. Heywood on "Mechanical appliances used in the shipping at Penarth Dock" a description with illustrations which is shown on this website at Volume 06 Chapter 08.

The West Yorkshire Archeology Advisory Service do hold some records of the works, or the remains of, in reference WHER/9819 and WHER/9823.| >> next page >> |