Friends help protect historic model

THE Friends of King Edward Mine have paid for a Perspex cover to protect an historic model of a man-engine in the museum.

The model, which has recently been overhauled by Mike Holland Smith, shows how the machine carried workers up and down a mine shaft.

Without a protective cover, it was felt that the delicate moving parts on top of the model could be at risk. So the cover was ordered from Parc Signs, of St Austell, with the cost covered by the recently established Friends of King Edward Mine.

The man engine was originally a German invention, the 'fahrkunst', and was first installed at the Spiegelthal Mine in the Harz mountains in 1833.

Created initially by hammering in large nails into existing pit work, it soon became a separate piece of equipment that used a system of platforms attached to a reciprocating rod, which married with platforms created on the side of the shaft.

As the rods moved up and down, the miner was able to step on and off the platforms, moving up or down the shaft in a series of short stages.

Take-up of the labour-saving device was relatively slow in Cornwall, although the Royal Polytechnic Society had been advocating its adoption, even going so far as to offer financial incentives.

The first engine was installed at Tresevean Mine in 1842. Only the first two engines followed contemporary German practice, using just one reciprocating rod, the subsequent 14 man engines installed in the county all used two rods.

King Edward Mine Museum will be open from May to September 2009. This year's open day, with free entry and all equipment working, will be on Sunday, April 26. There were over 1500 visitors to the event in 2008. More information about King Edward Mine and the Friends is contained on the website at www. kingedwardmine.co.uk