Topic: Yester-year

[pippy]

Wish I could post piccies - it was years ago when digital cameras weren't invented.  Steam launches are quite pretty though!  I remember being moored at the ship museum and several people thought we were an exhibit!  ;D ;D

The raw coal destroyed most of the liner to the firebox at the time and we had to have it repaired when we got home.  There were lots of dangerous moments in the trip when we were running out of steam, with enormous freight tugs ploughing across us on the rhinestat kanal, which we had to cross.  We got rocked about by them, and by waves on the open Zeider Zee (a big inland waterway) and had we capsized the crafy would have basically sank, if not exploded with the steam plant!

These days health and safety would probably ban such things!  Hence why kids today have no idea of the natural properties of different sorts of coal, using steam as you generate it, or superheat and how to stop it!!

[valmarg]

You're taking me back probably a bit further than my memory of science classes, but here goes.

Before North Sea gas, coal was burned anaerobically (ie in the absence if air) to produce 'town gas'.  This was the gas that was used until North Sea gas was discovered.

The burning of the coal in this way is the same as the method of making charcoal with wood.

The by-product of burning the coal to make the gas was coke.  You didn't need to nick it the gasworks couldn't give it away fast enough.  The trouble with town gas was that is was extremely sulphurous, and had to be filtered through 'some sort of soil'.  Memory lets me down on that.

Had a school trip to the gasworks, at the end of Gas Street in Burton upon Trent, which town was selected as the first town to be converted to 'natural' gas. ;D ;D

The bit I really remember is that dad had a greenhouse 45' x 15'.  It had a little coke burning stove, which circulated hot water round the pipes round the edge of the greenhouse.  Back in the late 1940's, the sodding greenhouse was better heated than the house, ??? ??? ;D

valmarg

[pippy]

Wow - thats more scientific than I would have known ! :D

What I meant was that different types of coal burn with different properties.  For example, coalite (nutty slack we used to call it!) burns very quickly with a high heat so is good for starting a fire.  Then there is furnicite, which burns more steadily, anthracite burns hotter but quite steadily.  Raw steam coal is much more unstable as we found out  :o

Steamboats and steam engines (boilers) in general generate steam from a boiler which will have a holding capacity of small amounts of steam.  The one we used didn't have much holding capacity at all which meant that whatever steam you generated had to be used fairly immediately.  People who run them have quite a few ways of dealing with this.  My favourite was called a "Windemere Kettle" which is basically a steam pipe coiled into a kettle and then out of the boat.  Makes hot water for tea in about 10 seconds!!  Steamboaters drink a lot of tea!  Especially when appraching locks ;D

[flossy]

 

  Memories are made of these too,

  I have, on occasion come out with the odd ' saying ' , probably from my Mum and more than likely
  originating from my Nan, and my grandchildren say  ' what do you mean Nan ' ?
 
  In all honesty - sometimes I don't know !

  Think my roots started further North than London, so someone may recognise a few of these,

  ' You'd laugh to see a puddin roll '                   

  ' My eye and Betty Martin '

  ' As black as nugates nugget '

  ' Don't play by the meskins '

   OH still tells me to ' get out the horse road ' and he is from Brum.

 Would love to hear of any more and where you think they came from ?

   floss x

 

   

 

[manicscousers]

ray's got 2 books of these, with the origins, will try to dig them out  ;D

[flossy]

   Thanks manics, will look forward to hearing a few more,   ;D

   floss x

[valmarg]

The only two I can help with flossy are:

'My eye and Betty Martin' - We say 'all my eye and Betsy Martin'.  It means a load of old rubbish and nonsense.  But who Betty/Betsy Martin was I've no Idea.

The other one is: 'As black as nugates nugget'.  I think the correct original expression is 'as black as Newgate's knocker'.  Newgate was an old London prison, and presumably the knocker on the front door was black. ;D

valmarg

[flossy]

   Thanks valmarg,

    Will try and find out where Betty/Betsy  Martin quote came from, but thats interesting about
    Newgate Prison,   

    At one time  - as a child I thought I heard  ' as black as nougats nugget '  imagining the
    most awful looking bar of nougat !

    Found out that the ' meskins '  meant the  dustbins in the back yard , wise words.

    floss x