Cement Works - 7 - Updates & Work in Progress

With hindsight I felt that just reassigning the block of 8 cement silos with all their dust reclamation gear on top wasn't really applicable to raw ground clinker storage.

After further online research that is correct, the clinker would be stored in a much simpler facility much like base materials (up to the 1960s), e.g. limestone, clay or coal. The simple warehouse is a first in last out arrangement so the clinker could deteriorate due to dampness, whereas modern storage is more like a silo with first in first out possible.

Two online references to note

1) General Processes :- https://www.cemnet.com/Forum/thread/168033/cement-manufacturing-process.html

2) Photographs and technical information :- https://www.cementkilns.co.uk/ck_clinker.html

Not sure how I missed this but that's wrinkly brain activity, or lack of!

Much work in progress, the pictures this time show a check for placement of the silica sand silos and the pre-mix facility, just held together with tape.

There are many constituents in manufacturing cement and many options depending on local resources of e.g limestone, clay and shale and the type of cement being produced. For my works the limestone is low quality so does not need diluting with shale or clay. Admittedly such sites appear to have been in the minority but its suits a plausible and manageable configuration of buildings.

My works includes the addition of silica sand, to something like 5% of the mix, 95% limestone so smaller silos for storage relative to the limestone warehouse is feasible.

These silos were part of the Walthers ADM silo extension kit. The sand delivery shed is leftover from the cement silos and is reduced in width to suit two silos width and reduced in height by approx 10mm to suit sand delivery by COVHOP wagons. The elevator parts were spares on the the sprue common to the Valley Cement and Medusa Cement kits. This is a rather useful aspect of the Walthers Cornerstone kits, plenty of spare parts to kit-bash with.

The pre-mix building is based on the Walthers Coal Flood Loader and will have mixing machinery underneath it, the mix output will be passed to the pre-heat building. It will mix the limestone and silica sand. The design of the machinery will have to be creative unless someone can enlighten me.

I have not been able to ascertain what type of wagons would have delivered this sand to a UK cement works in the 1950s-60s but a delivery by three COVHOPs would seem a likely size, or 6 in two batches for these silos. The delivery siding allows one in the shed and two pushed beyond it.
PRESTWIN wagons were also a possibility for the 1960s but I feel they would be of insufficient capacity for such delivery.

This industrial site has become quite a project in it's own right, suggestions always welcome.

Jim



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Thanks for the info Echidna.

The first link appears broken to me.

I have several Dave Larkin books and the Paul Bartlett photo resource is incredible, but researching industrial processes and associated details is difficult when so much is, and quite rightly so, inaccessible to the general public for safety and also for the protection of commercial intellectual property.

The use of COVHOPs fits well in my setup as they bottom discharge by gravity to a bin or pit below the tracks from which the sand is lifted to the top of the silo by an elevator.

PRESTWIN unloading by fluidising the sand with air may not be able to lift it directly into a tall silo, although it may transfer the sand to an intermediate vessel from which is lifted by another method, however that is pure speculation.

As with all our modelling the real scale of these structures is much larger than we can build or have space for so plausibility and feel are key to my construction.

Regards, Jim

 

Thanks Gary, all useful information, much appreciated.

Jim

p.s. It has also given me more engineering terms to search for yet more details.