Penywern House Technical College
The Electrical and General Engineering College, Penywern House, Earl’s Court, London
Later see General Engineering College
From Engineering 1896/06/05:-
'In the basement are the engine and boiler room, the forge, battery-room, and machine shop. The engine was supplied by Messrs. Marshall, Sons, and Co., of Gainsborough, and is capable of indicating 25 horse-power. It is arranged to drive either of two dynamos, one being ' a continuous-current 12-kilowatt Kapp dynamo, built by Messrs. Johnson and Phillips, of Charlton, Kent, and the other being a Ferranti alternator, taking 15 horse-power, inclusive of exciter. The the two battery-room contains 27 circuit and three testing a cells of the chloride type, having a capacity of 500 ampere-hours. In addition to these sources of a electricity the main switchboard is also connected to the public supply mains, and all the house circuits can at will be coupled either with the batteries, the Ferranti machine, or the public supply.
The machine shop is 53 ft. long, and has an average width of 18 ft. 6 in. The largest tools contained in it are a side planing machine, having a 6-ft. stroke and capable of planing up to a width of 15 in., and a gap lathe with 8 in. centres and a 12-ft. bed, capable of turning in the gap up to 27 in. Both tools have been supplied by the Richards Machine Tool Company, London, and, as will be seen, are each driven by electric motors. These are of the continuous-current type, and were built by Messrs. Johnson and Phillips, Charlton. The method of mounting them is noteworthy, and is due to Messrs. Siemens Brothers. As will be seen on reference to our engraving, each motor is carried on a swinging frame which pivots about an axis near the floor. The position of this axis is such that the frame, with its load of motor and shafting, tends to fall over towards the machine, but is prevented from doing so by the belt, the tension on which, therefore, is constant, depending simply on the weight supported by the frame. Two rods connected with switches are carried from end to end of the lathe, and allow the motor to be controlled from any part of the bed. The side planing machine has proved a particularly useful tool. By mounting on its carriage a small electrically driven drilling machine, work which otherwise could only be done conveniently in a large radial drilling machine, has been successfully negotiated. Another large and powerful tool is a 30-in. turning and boring machine by the same makers as the two tools already mentioned, which is driven by an alternate-current motor. In addition to the larger tools, a fine instrument-maker’s lathe by Bowley having 3½-in. centres should be mentioned ; this is driven by treadle.
There are also 6½-in. and 5½-in. centre screwcutting lathes by Barnes, driven by a ½ horsepower Langdon-Davis alternating electro-motor, of which we hope to publish shortly a full description. Two ordinary lathes of 6-in. and 4-in. centres are also to be found, and a couple of hand power drilling machines. Some valuable additions to the plant have been constructed in the college workshops. Amongst these is a milling machine attachment for the large lathe, which, in addition to the ordinary run of milling work, is also used for cutting the slits in the armature of the Langdon-Davis alternate-current motors, a small circular saw being mounted on the spindle for this purpose. The attachment is driven by a 1/4 horse-power alternate-current motor, made in the shops. Another “home-made ” tool is a small screw - making machine intended for attachment to a lathe. An emery grinder having a 14-in. wheel, constructed by Pfeil and Co., of Clerkenwell, and a hand punching machine by the same firm, admitting in its jaws discs up to 19 in. in diameter, have recently been added.'