Casgliadau Arlein

Photograph captioned 'Cydweli Tinplate Works. This depicts the sad end of an old type tinplate works. It was a hot mill where the steel bar - it was always known as a 'tin bar' - was rolled through various stages into packs of eight sheets ready for washing, cleaning , annealing, cold rolling, dipping into tin and prepared for dispatch. In many hot roll departments the dominant feature was a giant fly wheel, an essential part of the transmission of power from the engine through a long length of shafting to the rolling machines. The fly wheel and the vertical steam engine, once potent forces at Cydweli, are now partly buried under scrap metal of all kinds. The staircase to the engine platform still stands to the left of the fly wheel.' Mounted on card. Made for the exhibition RECORDING WALES 3 in 1970/1971.