The Cold Rolling Mill
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After hot rolling to the required thickness the plates were black annealed to remove the stresses and toughening of the rolling process and then black pickled to remove the oxide film from the surface. They then went to the cold rolling mill where they were cold rolled to put a fine surface finish on the steel. This process did not change the thickness of the plates but needed to be carried out in a relatively clean environment and was thus some distance from the hot and dirty environment of the hot rolling mill. The Cold Rolling Mill at Kidwelly was powered latterly by a 500hp Cole, Marchant & Morley Horizontal Tandem Compound Drop Valve Engine of about 1920. The original boilers are long gone but the splendid chimney survives and a cut down Lancashire boiler has been installed together with a pair of Weir pumps.
The engine drove three stands of mills by ropes from a drum on the crankshaft.
Geared to the flywheel rim is a substantial twin cylinder vertical barring engine. I suspect the main function of this engine was to provide slow turning when dressing the mill rolls.
A few spares are always useful.
The Morlais Colliery Winding Engine
Smaller Engines and Steam Pumps
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