Maden and Hoyle
of Todmorden
1879 'TERRIBLE ACCIDENT AT TODMORDEN. BURSTING OF A FLY-WHEEL. ONE PERSON KILLED, TWO INJURED. About ten minutes to nine o'clock yesterday (Friday) morning, the fly-wheel of the weaving shed engine at Derdale Mill (Messrs. Maden and Hoyle's) flew to pieces, and caused the death of a woman (unmarried) named Sarah Pilling, a card-room hand, residing at Lumbutts. Shortly before the disaster, the engine had from some unascertained cause started at accelerated speed, and this was almost certainly the cause of the fly-wheel breaking. One segment of the wheel, weighing probably more than half a ton, was thrown upwards through the roof and in the direction of the main building. It passed through one of the second storey windows (the throstle-room), struck the floor between two of the machines, crashed through, and alighted upon a carding engine upon the ground floor. The piece of the wheel was 5ft. 9 in. long, by about 12in. broad and 12in. thick. The woman Pilling who was killed was in this room, and was probably struck the segment of the wheel. She was afterwards found near it quite dead, and her body was removed to the Rope and Anchor Inn. The two persons injured are also females, viz., Mary Escritt. winder, Millwood (unmarried), injury to an arm and to the head; Mary Mills, rover, Lumbutts (married and mother of three children), crushed and injured the belly. The first-named of these persons was in the winding-room, close to the engine-room, when the acoident occurred ; the latter was the throstle room, about 30 yards distant, through which one of the portions of the fly-wheel passed. The injuries of the two women were attended to by Drs. Thorp and Nash, who were on the spot very shortly after the occurrence, and they were afterwards driven to their homes a cab. The damage to property was very extensive. The engine-room was rendered a complete wreck, the roof being completely shattered, and the roof and floor of the winding room adjoining being greatly injured, one of the supporting iron pillars on the ground floor being broken. A piece of the driving-wheel also flew over the roof of the boiler-house and the wall of the main building. Happily, however, it rebounded and fell in the mill yard, but the concussion made a great bulge the mill wall. The piece would probably weigh ?cwt. The engine was by Bracewell, of Burnley ; its capabilities we were not able to ascertain, but it would probably be 60 or 80-horse power. The engine usually ran 41 revolutions per minute, but at the time of the unfortunate occurrence was running at a vastly accelerated speed, stated by one person to be nearly twice the usual speed. The deceased woman appears have been struck on the head ; her injuries are principally on the left half of the skull. [1]
- 1891 Directory (Todmorden): Listed as Cotton spinner and manufacturers. More details
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Burnley Express, Saturday 19th July 1879