Danish & N.Ireland Diatomaceous Earth exports to UK 1940

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Re: Danish & N.Ireland Diatomaceous Earth exports to UK 1940

#16

Post by Andy H » 03 May 2012, 01:21

Hi Phylo

I understand the broader point about Irish neutrality but as we both know, it did have other peaceful uses. So there's more than one way to skin this particular rabbit.

I'm not saying your wrong but I've got an open mind on it at the moment until I can dredge up some more production figures on NI production and any Eire figures etc

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Andy H

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Re: Danish & N.Ireland Diatomaceous Earth exports to UK 1940

#17

Post by phylo_roadking » 03 May 2012, 01:44

However, I MAY have tracked down some of the small UK mainland material - there was at least one small operation at kentmere in the Lake District, tho' it's possible it's a postwar enterprise...

Aha! http://www.cumbria-industries.org.uk/defence.htm
Diatomite extraction from Kentmere was stepped up to meet demand from TNT factories.
...and as you can see from the article, there were some of those in the area ;)

It seemed from a number of "thin" Internet sources that the diatomite was in sediments at the bottom of Kentmere tarn; this was drained, and the clay extracted....and when it was exhausted, the tarn was simply allowed to fill back up again :D During the interwar years, and the diatomite extracted then was used for insulation products...being mixed elsewhere with good ol' asbestos! :P

Then I found THIS! http://www.sdhs.org.uk/wp-content/uploa ... -Mines.pdf
C. DIATOMITE
The lake which gave Kentmere its name is not the one to be seen today, although both occupied broadly the same part of the valley floor. The Ordnance Survey did not map the valley in detail until 1860, so there exists no official survey of the original mere - though its former shoreline is not hard to trace along an almost continuous declivity in the fields. It would have extended a little more than a mile from north to south, and a quarter mile at its greatest breadth

Draining the Mere
The date of this operation is unclear, and several writers admit failure to find any reliable records from the usual sources (county archives, newspapers, etc.) A survey made for Christopher Wilson in 1802, and another by Hodgson in 1824, both show broadly similar outlines of a lake wider and longer than the present tarn, the former with its boundaries labelled “boggy ground”. The Corn Rent map (1836-38) in the Kendal Archives clearly shows the river -and nothing wider - flowing due southward through the site of the present tarn. Land on each side is divided and numbered and the ownership listed.

This evidence would put the drainage in the early 1830s; but Paul Wilson, Lord Lieutenant of Westmorland, whose family owned Kentmere Hall and extensive land (and still own the mineral rights) puts the drainage nearer 1840. This would accord with the construction of Kentmere Reservoir in 1845/48, designed to regulate the river and keep it flowing during summer droughts for the benefit of the numerous mills downstream (notably James Cropper's paper mills at Burneside, which still control the reservoir). The new reservoir would not have been needed while the original tarn existed. The 1840 date is supported by a technical article by D Walker in ‘The New Phytologist’ 1955. Several independent local sources agree in supporting a second date some thirty years later for the drainage. In the ‘Westmorland Gazette’ of 18 Nov 1871 tenders were “invited for ... diversion... and deepening... of the Kent at Millrigg bend... (for) drainage of Kentmere tarn meadows.” A very clear diversion channel, excavated partly in solid rock, is crossed channel, excavated partly in solid rock, is crossed by the road entering the diatomite works, and appears to have been used while the main river channel was lowered and widened. Mrs M E Hayton (née Mattinson) of Brow Top, Kentmere, who died in 1957 aged 87, recounted in detail how, when she lived as a child at Sawmill Cottage (a short way downstream of the tarn) workmen lodged “in the big room” at the sawmill (now a pottery studio). She owned a photograph of Isaac Coward of Kendal, the contractor for the drainage. Her family's moving house would put the drainage in 1876. It seems reasonable to believe that an operation as large as draining a valley floor, with an element of trial and error, could well have been found to need a second stage of improvement thirty years after the initial work.

Diatomite or Kieselguhr
Whatever the date(s) of the drainage, the fact is that much of the reclaimed land, especially at the southern end, was a disappointment for farming purposes, remaining swampy and acid. However, an unexpected bonus was the discovery in the 1920s by two geologists on holiday of a huge deposit of diatomaceous earth, technically known by its German name Kieselguhr. The material consists of the microscopic skeletons of water-plants, as many as 60 million to a cubic inch, which flourished in clear cold water at the end of the Ice Age. It has remarkable insulation properties, especially for very high industrial temperatures when calcined and ground, and it has other uses as an inert filtration medium, for industrial filling and polishing, and in the manufacturing of explosives. No records or dates have been found for the discovery or first commercial development - the parent company no longer exists, and the recent manager believed the records to have been destroyed in Scotland. The deposit was worked on a small scale in the 1930s by Kencert Products, which later became part of Cape Asbestos, a South African mining organisation. Despite local beliefs, based on the firm’s name, no asbestos was ever processed in Kentmere.

Method of Working
The earth was excavated by a large ‘wet dragline’ operating radially up to 600ft from a tall lattice mast which stood on the west bank. The outer end of the dragline could be moved in an arc as work progressed, producing a broadly fan-shaped excavation. (Some of the anchor-cables on the east side, and the base of the mast on the west, together with a landing wharf can still be seen.) The earth was transferred to an overhead ropeway and carried to extensive concrete floors bounded by massive sleeper fences at the north end of the works (see photograph) where it was left to drain. Later, inside the works, it was calcined in a coke-fired rotary kiln (in the manner of cement), ground and bagged, or some of it compressed into special bricks. At its maximum, annual production reached 10,000 tons and about 40 men were employed, together with office staff.

Power was electrical, at first generated by the company until the public supply reached the works after the war. (It was not extended to homes in the upper valley until 1963.) By 1960 excavation had reached the limits of the dragline, and the method changed to a floating diesel-powered grab dredger, which loaded alternately two hopper-barges moved by tug (photo p.11). In this way the lobed extension to the tarn was created (map 3 p.9) but work ceased about 1980. The deposit was by no means exhausted, but overseas sources and alternative materials had made the product uneconomical. The works continued to operate as a research centre for its present owners, Hepworths, and now produces a specialised high-grade breathing filter which is exported to mines and quarries world-wide. Diatomite was also discovered in the bed of Skeggles Water to the east of Kentmere, but permission to extract it was refused about 1960.
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Re: Danish & N.Ireland Diatomaceous Earth exports to UK 1940

#18

Post by phylo_roadking » 04 May 2012, 22:13

Just turned up references to another small UK source - sadly I have no dates for it as yet...so it MAY be apochryphal...

http://www.aditnow.co.uk/mines/Lealt-Va ... e-Railway/
The Lealt Valley Diatomite Railway was a 2 foot gauge tramway on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, which ran parallel with the River Lealt.

At the opening the line was worked by gravity - the line being on a falling gradient - and manpower. Later, the line acquired the use of a steam locomotive.

The western end of the line was at Loch Cuithir, where diatomite - known locally as Cailc (Scottish Gaelic for chalk) - was extracted from the lochbed and dried on wire nets. The seaward terminus had warehouses on the cliff-top at Invertote. At the base of the cliff was a factory where the diatomite was kiln dried, ground and calcined. The line was extended from the factory onto a pier into the Sound of Raasay. Diatomite was also extracted from Loch Valerain and transported by aerial ropeway to Staffin Bay. During its existence, the Skye Diatomite Company extracted 2000 tons of diatomite.

From Invertote, the diatomite was transferred by skiff, onto Puffer Boats, waiting in the bay, and shipped across to the mainland. The diatomite was converted into kieselguhr which was mixed with nitroglycerine by Nobel Industries, at Ardeer, to make dynamite
Bum... http://www.stornowaygazette.co.uk/lifes ... _1_118249#
In the Trotternish area of Skye, taking the Staffin road out of Portree, travellers will pass the Storr Rock, and then after continuing a further five miles or so, arrive at a lay-by near a gorge with a sign pointing off to the left, indicating the small community of Lealt.

There is a lot more to this area than first meets the eye, and it's all down to a substance called Diatomite and even a brush with German espionage.

Known to the locals as 'Caile' (Gaelic for chalk), Diatomite is a clay-like floury grey substance, found in certain freshwater lochs and suppling many minerals used in the production of numerous products, ranging from beverages, sugars and cosmetics to chemicals, industrial oils and paint.

Trotternish was home to two mining areas - one in Digg, Staffin, and the other at Loch Cuithir in Lealt.

Although little is known of the Digg mine, where production ended sometime after the First World War, it is the history of the Loch Cuithir mine which is of interest.

Work began at Cuithir in 1899 and finally ceased over six decades later in 1960.

Over the years, the mine saw periods of inactivity, but when up and running operations made use of the large industrial works at the area - a large factory building, a railway with embankment cuttings, and a rolling stock traversing three miles of landscape, including an aerial ropeway.

The light railway was used to transport the Loch Cuithir Diatomite to the shores at Invertote for a final drying and grinding, and a large building containing a furnace, grinding machine and storage space was constructed there for this purpose.

Such modernised business works were quite remarkable for this part of the world at the time.

In those days there was no road between Staffin and Portree, so a puffer boat would anchor in the bay at Lealt, and local skiffs were used to transport the finished Diatomite from shore to boat, ready for shipping to the mainland.

There were around 40 to 50 people steadily employed at Lealt, yet on days that the boat came in this total rose to as many as 80 workers.

Perhaps one of the most intriguing aspects of the mine's history comes from the ownership of the drying factory at Invertote by Germans.

Although closed during the period of the Great War, surprisingly the now enemy forgein residents were allowed to stay on. Shortly afterwards a rumour began to circulate that the area was haunted, and that the ghost of a recent tragic death at the Lealt falls had appeared at the factory.

As the local story goes, (the rumour was actually started by the Germans) with the intent of keeping locals away. It turned out that the resident Germans were spies and that, almost unbelievable to the communitiy, the area was being used as a German base with submarines surfacing in the sea bay!

Moving on, the year 1950 saw the next development in the mining of Diatomite from Loch Cuithir. As the loch was one and a half miles up the moor, through peatbogs and rivers, the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland (DAFS) decided that a road should be built, with the intention of extracting the Diatomite by digger, and then taking it to the Lealt road end above Invertote.

The road took around a year and a half to build, during which the mine was put out of operation. Yet, when production started again, the new method of extraction did not reach the high standard of quality which was achieved when extracted manually by spades.

The mechanical extraction resulted in the Diatomite being less pure, and full of unwanted dirt.

Drying the substance is, in fact, the problem of the process, for it is obvious that in a damp climate like Skye, the diatomite does not lose its moisture quickly.

The problems which began after the construction of the 1950s road were further highlighted and compounded six years later.

A new factory was built at Uig (the site where the Cal Mac offices are now situated), far from the mining site at Loch Cuithir, and it may be said that this move was the ruining of the entire Diatomite industry upon Skye.

As Diatomite was no longer dried at Invertote it now had to be transported by road, wet, for the much needed drying process to Uig, 23 miles away.

A vehicle may have left Loch Cuithir carrying five tonnes of Diatomite, yet only producing one tonne of finished product after drying had taken place - a finished product which was also not as pure as it ought to be for the specialised work it had to do in various products.

A lot of money was wasted on travelling, and within the factory itself inefficiency was also present, with machinery often breaking down due to the damp state of the Diatomite.

Outside the factory, the scenic communities of Trotternish also began to suffer. When the factory was working, it poured out a fine white dust which covered every house in the area.

Grass became chalky in colour and after dry spells in the weather, the road-sides from Staffin to Uig would turn white with Diatomite - Uig was constantly under a cloud of dust.

With complaints of insubstantial profits and bad managment, the factory was finally closed to production for the last time in 1960.

Yet, although the Diatomite mining industry on Skye came to an abrupt ending, it was still regarded by many locals as a blessing at the time.

Following from World War One, the industrial works provided employment for many returning men who could not find work else where in the island. And at peak production, around 1955/56, 50 to 60 men were paid good wages to work at the factory.
In other words, the diatomite was transported by tramway to be processed at Invertote, production continuing until 1913. The industry was briefly revived between 1950 and 1961, using road transport I.E. no WWII production...strange, for such a valuable resource...!
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Re: Danish & N.Ireland Diatomaceous Earth exports to UK 1940

#19

Post by phylo_roadking » 04 May 2012, 22:40

Returning therefore to Kentmere for a moment...

http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Cape_Asbestos_Co
• 1942 US Navy adopted amosite insulation, stretching the resources of Cape's amosite mines. The Barking factory made gas filters for respirators, insulation materials including a new fireproof resinated lining board (Pluto board) for warships, brake linings for armoured vehicles, and fireproof clothing. A second factory was acquired at Hebden Bridge to make gas filters and, later, millboard and some pre-formed insulation materials. Cape also acquired Kentmere Diatomite Co Ltd, owner of the only known deposit of diatomaceous earth in England.
!!! At least we're finding out where it isn't :P
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Re: Danish & N.Ireland Diatomaceous Earth exports to UK 1940

#20

Post by phylo_roadking » 04 May 2012, 22:47

Then I found THIS -

http://www.scran.ac.uk/packs/exhibition ... osives.htm
In more peaceful times nitroglycerine (or blasting oil) had been used as a commercial explosive with production being pioneered by the Swedish Chemist Alfred Nobel in 1862. Unfortunately it was very dangerous to handle but in 1866 Nobel invented dynamite, nitroglycerine made safe by absorbing it onto a diatomaceous sand, known as kieselguhr, to produce a pliable dough-like material.

Nobel established a dynamite factory at Ardeer in Ayrshire, which, by 1907 by was reputed to be the largest explosives factory in the world and which closed only relatively recently. The required kieselguhr was found in substantial deposits in Scotland at Loch Cuithir on the Isle of Skye and in Aberdeenshire.
:D
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Re: Danish & N.Ireland Diatomaceous Earth exports to UK 1940

#21

Post by phylo_roadking » 04 May 2012, 23:19

It seems there was indeed a SECOND exploitable source of Diatomite in Scotland - at Muir of Dinnet near Ballater in Aberdeenshire ;) There was a drying area and kieselguhr production plant at a location known as Black Moss...

But here's a SECOND funny! 8O

http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/publications ... eserve.pdf
In 1867, Alfred Nobel discovered that the highly volatile nitro-glycerin liquid could be
soaked up by inert diatomaceous earth, or diatomite. This substance could then be
rolled into sticks and so dynamite was invented! Diatomite (sometimes called
kieselguhr) was suddenly in demand and this resulted in a small industry springing up
at Muir of Dinnet in 1867.
Lochs contain many billions of microscopic algae, which have an outer casing made
largely of silica. As they die and decay, the durable silica cases accumulate into
layers, called diatomite, at the bottom of lochs. Black Moss was particularly rich in
diatomite and between 1867 and 1910, it was dug from the moss and sent all over
the world to make dynamite, or be mixed into paint.
From a historical chronology of the area in that article...
In 1876, the first diatomite is mined at Black Moss, for use in
making dynamite, paints and pigments.
Diatomite mining ceases in 1919
8O 8O 8O That's a SECOND source of diatomite in Scotland that was NOT exploited during WWII! Only Kentmere and Toome were producing it, it seems...

EDIT: Since typing the above earlier, I've discovered another diatomite production location in Aberdeenshire, at nearby Ordie Moss, that produced similar amounts to Black Moss...but production there TOO was discontinued after WWI!!!
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Re: Danish & N.Ireland Diatomaceous Earth exports to UK 1940

#22

Post by phylo_roadking » 05 May 2012, 00:43

Okay, now things are getting confusing :lol: I've just found ANOTHER article that would indicate that the Skye deposit WAS being worked during the war!

http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/celtica/Diatoms2b.htm
The deposits at Loch Cuithir and Loch Valerain were worked during the last two decades of the 19th and first two decades of the 20th Centuries. Between 1899 and 1914, more than 2000 Imperial tons of diatomite was removed from these two sites, exhausting the one at Loch Valerain. In the late 1930s, the works at Loch Cuithir were reopened and exploited by the Skye Mineral Syndicate Company, but this did not last particularly long.
The same article mentions other Aberdeenshire deposits, but only that the Kinnord, Ordie and Black Moss ones were ever exploited...and this halted after WWI.

But it finishes with THIS passage!

Other Sites
There are three further sites of particular interest (mainly in a scientific rather than commercial context).
On the Isle of Lewis, some fifteen miles North of Stornoway, is a deposit called the North Tolsta deposit. This site was worked on a minor scale, yielding quite good quality diatomite and there is estimated to be around 2000 Imperial tons left.

At Kinross in Fife there is a thin layer of diatomite which is thought to have been deposited by Loch Leven as it changed its boundaries.

Near Balerno, Edinburgh, at a place called Dalmahoy, there is a diatomite deposit which was discovered by one J. W. Lunn in 1924, and the diatomite from it was extensively analysed by researchers in Dundee. Recent attempts to study the deposit further met with problems as there is rumoured to be an unexploded bomb from the Second World War lying somewhere in the diatomite! (Henderson, 1925; D. Mann, pers. comm.).

There are also minor deposits near Golspie (Sutherland); on Eigg and Mull (South Ebudes); Unst (Shetland) and at three sites in Argyll (Glen Shira, South Cur and Campbeltown).
Now I can go searching by name...except I'm not finding very much of anything! Some VERY "thin" references to the Lewis operation...bascially that it existed :lol: ...but that's all :(
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Re: Danish & N.Ireland Diatomaceous Earth exports to UK 1940

#23

Post by phylo_roadking » 07 May 2012, 03:08

Andy - completely out of the blue...a friend who happens to be an explosives safety inspector for the HSE has drawn my attention to something really important that may skew our understanding of what we're looking at...

By WWII - dynamite was of course going out of fashion fast!!! 8O Gelignite was "in", for commercial blasting too. The closure of WWI-era diatomite works would not only have been triggered by the end of the war in 1918...but by changing purchasing/use patterns.

Diatomaceous earth would still have been an important product - there would STILL be a need for tooth powder and toothpaste even in war time, and certainly for insulation products...but it's demand for explosives production would have been going way down. Which might account for all the known reserves in Scotland being left unexploited in WWII, and the old WWI-era works not being re-opened...?
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Re: Danish & N.Ireland Diatomaceous Earth exports to UK 1940

#24

Post by Andy H » 20 May 2012, 21:25

Hi Phylo
Thanks for those most recent postings, I wasn’t ignoring what you had found but just trying to find more pieces of the puzzle.

Been digging around the US Bureau of Mines database & archive, especially from 1939-1942. For whatever reason the Bureau of Mines wasn’t at liberty to publish annual production figures of Diatomaceous Earth (DE) since 1926, and could only publish them in 3yr blocks.

It notes in its 1941 mineral yearbook, that studies were being undertaken to see the effect of Chlorine on DE by the British Refractory Association. One of the usages of refractory materials was in the linings on kilns, furnaces and reactors! In addition it notes in all its wartime digests that DE was used as a abrasive by heavy industry (especially the military) and in steel forges and mills etc. In addition to its numerous other uses, which under wartime conditions, multiplies as its uses became ever more diverse.

Andy H

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Re: Danish & N.Ireland Diatomaceous Earth exports to UK 1940

#25

Post by phylo_roadking » 20 May 2012, 23:03

In addition to its numerous other uses, which under wartime conditions, multiplies as its uses became ever more diverse
...in particular, in mid-war the Americans started issuing DE-based water filters to its troops ;)

The chlorine wrinkle is interesting...chlorine was hardly a war gas by WWII....but....submarines and wetted batteries? :idea: :wink: Or perhaps heavily chlorinating drinking water for longterm storage in the Desert or Tropics or at sea...and eventually removal by DE when required for drinking?
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Re: Danish & N.Ireland Diatomaceous Earth exports to UK 1940

#26

Post by phylo_roadking » 29 May 2012, 01:28

Andy - I've just had a brainwave...scope this out!

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 7#p1703277
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