Alfred TylorAlfred TylorAlfred TylorAlfred Tylor

TylorstownTylorstownTylorstownTylorstown

Model of steam engine pump

1854- Invention of the Steam Engine

The steam engine that changed history

Today, under this dull grey sky, I buried my father. He was the base of my success as a coal mine. His stories, teachings, rang through the air in my whole life and now, never to be heard again. A little while later, while I was looking through his things passed down through the ages in the Daffryn house, looking through his favorite notebook in reminiscence. I blew the thick dust off its leather cover, the names Edward Tylor, my Grandfather. Flipping through the brittle pages, I saw detailed drawings and sketches of various contraptions.

I continued reading the faded ink, his life as a mine owner and founder of Tylorstown presented itself, recordings, lists, manifests, and mostly importantly, the inventions. All the development of his coalmine at Blaenavon was clearly listed out, but there were pages and pages of writing on solely the steam engine. “1781 July 5th,

10 years since the beginning of the Rhondda mine, everything was going as good as ever. Just one problem, water was winning the fight. Our pumps were not fast enough to get the ground water out of the mine; hugely decreasing our efficiency and less coal, means less money. Then about a week ago, came the miracle worker, James Watt. We no longer needed the manual pump, no longer would we need animals to walk in circles. And earlier locomotive

Steam locomotive employed at my mine

He brought with him the revolutionary steam engine. It had a huge 10-horse power, it pumped water out of the mine so fast, that we could mine places much deeper and much quicker. It was a simple machine, steam created from boiling water rushed up through a pipe and it simply hit a turbine which created a continuous rotating motion that moved a piston up and down to work the pump. Not only this, but because of this boom of steam engines, my coal suddenly became more valuable. “

Today, the steam engine did much more. It is an extremely important invention even today. Today, the steam engine has improved its ability to be able to draw up the miners and coal from the shafts.

Sketch of a steam pump employed at

the mien

As I walk through Pendyrus, various steam engines were at work, water pumping, sharp releases of steam, and the constant creaking iron, it showed me how far the Tylor family has come. The distant whistle of the steam locomotive and the repetitive chugging of the train’s gears. William Murdoch, was his name. Quite easily done in fact, simply dropping the steam engine onto wheels, and making the pistons move the wheels. It improved all of the work we did; coal and supplies were transported so much faster. Efficiency was increased, and the money flowed in like the Rhondda flowed through. As the train moved along the rail, so did the age’s innovations.

Portrait: William Murdoch

The massive water balancing

tower

1859 September 5th

Sizzling fire, gushing water.

5 years have passed since the death of my father. I have learned a lot during that time looking through his old notebooks and journals. One stood out, a journal that was all about the Blaenavon iron works, which was established in 1805. Owned by our family for decades, it was a huge contributor to the wealth I experience. Without iron, steam engines, locomotives, and rails would never have been. As a child, my father would always be delighted to tell me about all the iron works. About the molten sizzling as it filled giant containers, the great whooshes of smoke as they billowed from the furnaces. He described every detail vividly and it all seemed like gods work to me at that time, being able to melt the hardest material known to me and mold it as we wish. What he didn’t tell me and what I learned only these recent years was the danger of working in or simply being in one of these places.

It was a little while ago when I went to check on progress and to do a total recount of the place. Long before I even was able to see the works, the dark smoke covered the sky and forced me to cover my mouth with my coat. I couldn’t get any worse, but nearing the place, a shriek of pain rang through the air following a sudden sizzling of molten iron. Finally, I reach the great iron works. I enter the main chamber and red-hot sparks flew from the furnaces as iron filled the black burnt mold. As the end came close, the train stopped. I got off the train in time to see the massive water balancing tower, invented in 1836, which lifted massive blocs of iron up and up all the way to the train. It was a spectacular sight any time you see it. Despite the huge gushes of water in the tower, it still could not compete

Blaenavon ironworks

with the 5 massive towering smokestacks soaring into the sky. From London to here, the difference was unbelievable. The beautiful blue skies of London and now the smog covered choking air of Blaenavon.

Nevertheless the iron works were quite majestic in a sense. Iron was made by raising ironstone to extremely high temperatures in one of the five furnaces, which would melt down and flow down metal tubes to finally cool into in of the eight chambers to be cooled. In the crafting room, the soft vermillion iron would be carefully chiseled to become rails, pipes, pickaxes, axes, or train parts. These parts were then moved to the water tower to then taken by train to various parts of England to be used as parts of steam engines, locomotives, and rails. Following the iron, I rode the train back to London. The sky started to clear and the heavy sounds ceased to ring.

An abandoned furnace at Blaenavon

1860 June 7th.

Mines act of 1942’s Birthday

Today is the anniversary of the mines act back in 42. Not that it is celebrated, in fact, it was quite a misfortune for mine owners like me. Disabled a multitude of advantages us miner owners had. It mainly was the fault of another mine owner, at Huskar Colliery in Silkstone, which had a huge accident and alerted the attention of Queen Victoria. I remember the moment vividly, the whole event. I actually have an old diary entry from the time the commissaries came to the Rhondha.

“ 1841 September 26th,

I could hear the mutterings and the clip clop of a horse-carriage that carried the head of the royal commission of inquiry, Lord Ashley, followed by 2 of his followers.

One look at his skeptical face, and I could tell his purpose of being here. He strode around the place, marking things down on his parchment, his face scrunched up in distaste as he watched a group of kids run up the mineshaft with a small cart of coal. It didn’t get better since that moment, and I didn’t think his face could get more scrunched up. Every time he saw the children working he would just shake his head slowly.

Child working as a trapper

In my mine, children were very important, not to be looked upon in disgust. They were trappers; they would open and close ventilation doors to bring cleaner air into the shaft, so miners wouldn’t choke to death. Women too, although adults, were still looked badly upon! I don’t see the problem. In my opinion, that was extremely sexist. “

I remember, about a year after that day, the report was published. At that time, I thought the people would realize the need of labor and also would know that the women and children do it for survival and money. But, somehow the Victorian society appealed to this. Lord Ashley, as I recall, focused deliberately on the women and how they worked inappropriately in front of men making them unsuitable for wives and not fit for mothers.

Children mining

Such a boost from the Victorian morality pushed the report to be passed. It was the Mines and Collieries Act of 1842, or now simply the Mines Act of 1842. It cut my work force almost down by half, the women and children all taken from mines. Boom, my income drastically became a trickle, and it had never returned to its former profit. The rules were that women could no longer work in the mines, children aged under 10 to be employed underground. But Parish apprentices between ages 10 and 18 could still work in the mines. Ironically, the women were not happy that they could not earn that extra gain. Although the condition of work for the children and women were improved, amount of time people had to work were not lessened. This was great for me, as it helped me keep the income positive.

Although since that time, efficiency in coal production has been significantly lower, the real problem was at the time of the creation of the Pendyrus mine.

Woman bringing up

coal

Ferndale Colleries. Pendyrus mine 1 and 2.

1882 March 3rd,

Little coal, high demand

That is the worst that could happen to any miner. Of the 3 mines that were in operation, coal income has been significantly lower than the past years. Although the income was high, as coal became a very valuable resource, the demand was much too high. The industry that requires coal the most is the heavy-duty steam ships. The ships were used to secure the empire for her majesty. Ship captains loved the welsh coal that I harvest due to their ability to burn 10 times as hot compared to their weaker counterparts. These past days, I could barely keep up with the demand.

Not just my mine began to lower in coal production; almost all the coal miner owners in the Rhondda valley had a decrease in production. Because of this low, I was forced to develop and open a new mine called Pendyrus. It opened in 1876. It was 464 yards or 424 meters deep. It employed a massive 2912 people, which was a new high for people employed in a mine, in hopes that coal production would return to its former state. There were 2 parts of Pendyrus, no 1 and 2. Although they were that, no 1 was actually mine number 6 and Pendyrus 2 was mine number 7 in the Fernsdale Collieries. Both were situated 1.5 miles south of the no.1 mine that I developed.

Large mine near Tylorstown

Although steam ships had a very high demand for coal, there were multiple other industries and businesses that required the thing I produced. Steam Locomotives used huge amounts of coal to power their locomotives for miles of ways across and through the British Isles. Coal was needed for a myriad of steam engines. Almost all the factories and mines in Britain needed steam engines to work efficiently. Not to mention, I still had to supply the Blanaevon Ironworks. Still ships needed the most coal. They transport goods all over the globe, to colonies on opposites ends of the world. Transporting food, weapons, raw materials, workers, settlers, and tools. They also brought the imports back from rich colonies like India. Indian diamonds were the best. Asides that there were important imports of limestone, iron, coal, and importantly for the housing, timber. Rhondda Fach

This time really signified something really important, really it was the first time coal became a hard resource to obtain. For about half a century mines have been dug and mined out in the Rhondda. It’s surprising for coal to have become such a small amount now. And it has to happen during the time when the demand is the highest of the highest. I hope the development of the new Pendylus mine will eventually return the coal income to its former glory.

Ferndale Colleries

Sketch arts depicting what a mine disaster would look like within

the mine

1896 - Monday 5th February

Boom.

Damn. Not even a decade after I got the ownership to Pendyrus, Boom. A gas explosion that goes up in my face as if mocking me for the death my brother Alfred. Ah damn, I am so angry. Years we have gone without an accident, why must it happen right after I become the owner of Pendyrus. It has been 8 days since the explosion, that wretched Monday morning. Although it didn’t have a big death toll, it was so unexpected. The newest mine and not even a decade old just blew up. So frustrated, lost 57 workers and not just that 80 horse blown to smithereens, luckily it was only 5:30 in the morning so miners who worked the nigh shift were coming out for the beginning of the

day shift. If it was during the middle of the day or in the middle of the night when workers numbered 300, the death toll would have been much larger.

Inspectors described the mines “fiery”, we enforced a no lamps order except at lamp stations, this was for the safety of the miners. The Davie lamp enclosed a candle within so that the naked flame wouldn’t have contact with gas if there was, decreasing explosion chances. Another important aspect was that the fire would turn blue because of the chemical reaction with methane.

We also did not allow any kind of shots being fired within the mine, and that again was so that if there were gas in the mines the gunshot wouldn’t light it.

Well the cause was exactly that, a shot was fired by a fireman in Daniel Williams’s stall ignoring the possibility of gas being in the vicinity. He should have known that gas could always be a possibility, especially when there actually was gas in the stall! That inconsiderate fool, causing all this annoyance, and he doesn't have to care. And he’s probably happily burning in hell laughing at us.

I hate that man, bringing 56 men with him and 80 horses down to the burning pits. If only he was alive, so I could kill him. I would shoot him with the very gun that took down the mine. The rebuilding is still going on, and that part of the mine is yet to open. My profit is going down so fast, and almost that whole mine was closed down for repairs. The income has slowed to a trickle, especially with coal becoming rarer and rarer. Trapped miners

Mine crumbling in

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Bibliography