BARRYTOWN DREDGE

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 December 1936, Page 10

BARRYTOWN DREDGE

mammoth steel structure. A massive steel'framework, girders, plates, rods and pipes, rising 55 feet above the level of the surrounding land, dwarfing even the tallest trees and buildings—such is the present state of the huge pledge which is. being erected on the Barrytown Flat for Barrytown Gold Dredging Ltd. Work has., been' |n progress on this newest and largest addition to the West Coast gold-winners tor the past seven and a-halt months, and although it has been pushed on‘Svith all possible expediency by file contractors, Messrs A. and T. Burt Ltd., it will be another two months before it is biting deeply into the gold-bearing black sand of the Barrytown Flat, from inhere the main road takes a turn due east, several miles up the sea coast. ' In view of the fact-that the dredge, When operating, will be one of the largest consumers of electric power in its district, requiring between 400 and 500 k.w.y the members of the Grey Electric Power Board, accompanied by the -Engineer (Mr Sinclair Trotter), on Saturday, afternoon visited the dredge and were conducted over it by the supervisor tor the Dredging Company, Mr T» E. Hurst. " <; The most .impressive feature of the new dredge is its size. 'She highest point is 55 feet above thejevel of the dredge pond, while the top platform is only 20 feet lower. It is 148 feet Sin. long and an average of 67ft wide and is carried on pontoons of steel plate, rivetted together on the site. In contrast to other steel dredges on the West Coast, there is no welding on the Barrytown dredge—everything is rivetted or > bolted down,, and the quantity of steel rivets used must be enormous. When completed, it will be the largest dredge operating on the West Coast,"but it will soon be displaced from this proud position, for ■the - new-dredge 'to be erected at ‘Kaniefi', wiirbe JtfSt one 'and a-half times as' big again. The cost of the new dredge will be approximately £117,000, aiid whilst it is being built by a N.ew Zealand firm, it was designed fty the London firm of consulting engineers; Messrs F, W. Payne. The work eh tailed _. in drafting such a huge piece of . machinery is illustrated by the fact that the filing shelves for the blue prints occupy the whole of one side’of a large shed at the dredge site.

•Barrytown gold is notoriously fine, afid for this reason extensive goldsaving devices, are required on the new dredge, in fact, .they, extend over the greater part of the rear portion of the pontoon decking. There arc 18 jigs lor*' gold-saving, and they are almost all in position. Two inter-dependent electric ■'motors, each of 75 horsepower, will be used for driving the bucket line, of 80 buckets, each of 12 cubic feet capacity, and the ladder is 101 feet long, enabling the ground to be worked to a depth of 40 feet. This outsize in ladders' is nearing completion at the dredgfe site and weighs over. 60 tons, presenting a herculean task to lift it into position on the dredge, which is already floating. All of the machinery is big in proportion, the top and bottom tumblers weighing 12 tons each, and the crown wheel, which had to be delivered in two sections, owing to its size, 7i tons. The screen, on which work is at present proceeding, wjll be between 45 and 55 feet long and the water will be pumped, electrically, into it, from either side of the pontoons, which are in sections, each compartment being 'watertight, 10ft; 6in. deep/ In keeping with the remainder of the big dredge., the pumps, winches and motors are on the largest scale and dwarf much of the machinery in use is on a smaller types of the dredges at present operating. The superstructure of the dredge resembles a battleship. The decking and the steps of the inter-platform ladders are all of impressed steel plate so that they cannot become slippery, while all danger points are protected by steel hand-rails, set in rigid standards... ■

On a conservative estimate, it is expected that the dredge will handle• 200,000 cubic yards of material a mppth, ./as compared with between 40,000 and 60,000 cubic yards by the majority of the dredges now operating in the district. It will provide employment for about 25 men, who will work the three shifts. Already a small workers’ settlement has been established tat Barrytown, several new houses having been built to the latest design, even, being supplied with running water ffpm/'-’a mountain stream. ... .