The Archimedes Screw

Our local National Trust property is Cragside, so over the winter we have been watching the progress of the Archimedes screw being put in place. Mr C has been explaining (in depth!) about how this works, so today I thought I'd better take a closer look at the thing.

As I have mentioned before, Cragside was the first house in the world to be lit by hydro-electricity. It was a wonder of the Victorian age. Lord Armstrong was fascinated by renewable energy and used his engineering knowledge to harness the energy of water to generate electricity. It was first used in 1878 to power arc lamps then two years later Joseph Swann's newly invented incandescent bulbs were used to light the house. Now the trust has got the Archimedes screw in place so that again the house can be powered by hydro-electricity, this time from Tumbleton Lake which is fed by Debdon Burn, which rises on the surrounding moors. The water will enter a concrete reception chamber into a pipe, then onto the top of the screw. The weight of the water pushes on the blades, allowing the water to fall to the lower level and causing the screw to rotate. The rotational energy can then be harnessed by an electrical generator connected to the main shaft of the screw turbine., producing about 10% of Cragside's electricity. Phew, I hope I got all that right!

I was intending to have a sofa day reading my book, as not only did Ella's visit tire me out, but also I'm feeling a bit weedy with a cold and sore throat, but then I thought a walk out would do me good. Back to the sofa now.

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