Volume Eleven - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - some more aspects - Handbook to Penarth Dock & Ely Tidal Harbour - 1904 . . .

Description of New Movable Tips at Penarth Basin.

The four new movable tips on the North side of Penarth Dock Basin, numbered respectively 15, 16, 17 and 18, are built of steel, the main framings being 96 feet in total height. The tips are capable of being rapidly moved by means of hydraulic hauling engines. Every portion of the machinery in the tip, as well as the cradle, the tipping, the actuation of the shoots, and the movement and working of the anti-breakage cranes and boxes, is controlled by one man from the high cabin on the east side of the tip. All the machinery which has to work under pressure has been tested to carry a pressure of not less than 2,000 pounds per square inch, and the working pressure is 750 pounds per square inch. They were each constructed to fulfil the following requirements : -

A loaded wagon having been placed upon a cradle, to lift it 45 feet above the quay, to tip the contents of the wagon into the shoot, return the wagon to the quay level, and run it off the cradle within 30 seconds -  and this can be accomplished.

The cradle is lifted from the ground level to any height up to 45 feet by means of four direct-acting hydraulic rams, two on either side of the cradle. These are as follow : - Two small rams, one on each side, are in constant communication with the high pressure water from the hydraulic mains, and act as counterbalances for the weight of the cradle itself. The large ram and cylinder on each side of the cradle are intended to deal with the wagon and load and the weight of the cradle, in excess of that counterbalanced by the small rams. They are capable of lifting the cradle with a fully loaded 10-ton wagon upon it at the rate of 180 feet a minute.

New Movable Coal Tips at Penarth Basin.