29-10-2024, 10:53 AM
Most folk don't know that much of today's "wrought iron" in usually bent mild steel. I wouldn't have known this had I not met the redoubtable Chris Topp (now sadly deceased last Saturday) who used to work with Dorothea Restoration Engineers. He specialised in working with wrought iron and I had the pleasure and priviledge of working with him on the restoration of "Turbinia" the first turbine powered iron hulled vessel noted for "cutting up" the Naval Review in Portsmouth. Charles Parkinson, having been dismissed by the Royal Navy with his idea of turbine powered steam vessels, sailed it down from Newcastle and literally ran rings around the fleet. It is pretty much a rather large boiler with turbine in a very small sleek hull and is now in Turbinia Hall in Newcastle for anyone interested to view.