Hartlepool College of Further Education
1946 MG TC
Chassis No. TC1441, Registration EDL 398
This MG TC car, built in 1946, was bought from Steve Baker MG at Grantham and restored by Hartlepool College BTEC Diploma Automotive Engineering students under the supervision of staff members Peter Ham, John Longmoor and Rob Pearson. The vehicle was originally red but was painted black in the 1970s for £17 and 18 Shillings. On arrival at the College it was completely stripped, given a thorough mechanical overhaul and then resprayed in Old English White. All the chrome components were also replated or replaced, and a new interior fitted and wooden dashboard installed. The car is now in full working order.
A Popular Model
Easy Does It
Love the Car
The TC was MG’s first post-WW2 model. Exactly 10,000 were produced from September 1945 (chassis no. TC0251) to November 1949 (TC10252), a larger number than any previous MG model. The original price was £527.
The TC, like many older cars with no driving assistance technology, required a very skilled driver to handle it properly. It’s 1250cc engine delivered 55bhp, with a performance of 78mph top speed and 27 miles to the gallon.
The MG TC is today still familiar to many due to its prominence in the classic film Love Story (1970, pictured above). Over 2,000 were exported to the US, despite no left-hand drive version ever being made.
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Hartlepool College of Further Education
Paris 1.0
Precision Engineered Ball Bearing Sculpture Paris 1.0 is a structure that gives the appearance of perpetual motion and involves a collaboration of engineering, physics and creative thinking. It is an HNC project to show design and manufacturing skills from the mechanical and electrical disciplines. The idea stemmed from a student residential course in Paris where a ball structure was part of an exhibition on the top floor of the Grande Arche (pictured below). The structure mesmerised the visitors with its intricate movement and sounds, and a group of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering HNC students were inspired by the design to create their own version as a centrepiece for engineering in the new College. The Project was named Paris 1.0 to indicate that this is the first version of what will be an ongoing exhibit. Next year the HNC group will enhance the design and build onto it for Paris 1.1. If the design is changed completely in the future it will be named Paris 2.0 and so on. Paris 1.0 works via a series of mechanisms which are designed to make the sculpture interesting to watch. It starts with Archimedes’ Principle by using a screw to lift several steel balls to the top of the sculpture. The screw is driven by a PLC (Programmable Logic Control) operated motor.
A splitter was then designed to send two steel balls around tracks that run parallel to each other. The tracks lead to a counterbalance so that the final stage is synchronised. The two balls are released onto their final track, one leading to a straight drop, the other to a Newton’s Cradle, each dropping at the same time to show that momentum is constant and that no energy is lost. The final stage concludes with the balls dropping onto two bounce plates that have been heat treated so that they have an identical hardness to the steel balls. The balls then land in a cone and spiral back to the Archimedes screw where the process begins all over again.
The team behind Paris 1.0 comprised of Project Leader Steve Bartlett (NSK Bearings), Justin Pallister (Seaward Electronics), Laurence Wilson (EDF Energy), Alex Robertson (EDF Energy) and Thomas Douthwaite (Cleveland Potash)
Hartlepool College of Further Education
Lyra Grand Piano Restored Musical Instrument
Lyra Grand Pianos, so named because they share the shape of the ancient stringed instrument the lyre, were first manufactured in 1885 in Vienna, Austria, and became a popular alternative to upright pianos. This particular instrument was made by the famed English piano maker Chappell & Co. of Bond Street, London, and is numbered 51323, which dates it to 1911. The 85-key piano is made of lacquered dark rosewood, with carved and gilded ornamentation on its fret. Under the guidance of lecturer Hedley Welsh, a number of levels 1 and 2 Carpentry & Joinery students gave up their own time to restore the piano.
Specialist Skills
Hitting the Right Notes
Key Ethics
With its many hundreds of delicate components in wood, metal and other materials, getting the piano to original condition needed a large number of differing skills. All of the students who worked on the project gained priceless experience, and proved their exceptional dedication and abilities.
The College’s piano is not just for show - it was restrung and tuned by Shackleford Pianos of Macclesfield in August 2011, and is fully playable. On some occasions pianists will actually use the instrument to enhance the already relaxing ambience of the College Atrium.
As it was made in 1911 this piano uses the traditional materials of 35 ebony and 50 ivory keys. However since the 1950s, to avoid animal cruelty, ivory has not been used to make piano keys.Modern pianos use a special dense plastic with the same charecteristics known as “Ivorine�.
Hartlepool College of Further Education
Tree of Remembrance
A memorial to those killed or injured in the workplace Hartlepool College has for several years been actively involved in commemorating Workers’ Memorial Day every April 28th, alongside local trade unions and the Trades Council. In addition to the annual service we hold, this stainless steel memorial sculpture is a further means of honouring that date. Standing 4.5m tall it will feature 300 metal leaves, each inscribed with the name of someone who has been injured or lost their life at work. It was produced by Clifford Chapman Metalworks of Washington, Tyne and Wear, who are one of the most respected fabricators of creative metalwork in the world.
Humble Beginnings
Remember April 28th
Still Work to be Done
The tree is an imposing and solid sculpture, built of steel and taking thousands of man-hours to construct. The pitch that led to its design and fabrication was far more humble though - a model made of twisted coat hangers that took only a few minutes!
April 28th each year is Workers’ Memorial Day, an internationally observed day of reflection which not only serves to remember those who have lost their lives at work, but also to highlight the need to observe safe practice and legislation.
The 300 leaves to be added to the tree only touch upon the number of people who have serious accidents at work. In the UK in 2010 there were 233,000 reportable incidents, 147 of them fatal, and 1.3 million suffered some form of work-related illness.