The immense Flywheel
At its height in 1912, the industry produced 8 billion yards of cloth, the immense flywheel at Ellenroad spinning up to 44 separate ropes to drive the spinning machinery in the five storey mill. These days, with the clatter of industry gone, just to see the steam engines with their symphony of centrifugal governors and shining pistons effortlessly turning the 80 ton, 28 foot diameter flywheel is an awesome sight. Bending over backwards to take in the sheer scale of the flywheel housing from underneath, the scale diagram of the rope system on the whitewashed wall gives an idea of how truly awesome it must have been when it was working.
Lancashire Boiler