“HWCPC” Ladder

afraidofthedank

afraidofthedank

Member
There’s a bloke in the states who has a ladder marked “HWCPC” that was given to him around 2009, and is trying to work out who gave it to him. Couldn’t link the original post I saw but he says:

“One of my ladders has “HWCPC” stamped on each rung. The ladder is 30 feet (9.1 m.) long with 6 inch (152 mm.) long, ½ inch (12.7 mm.) rungs spaced 10 inches (254 mm.) apart. I did not record where I got it or who gave it to me, but I believe that this was given to me around 2009, possibly at or soon after the UIS Congress that year. The ladder has Imperial dimensions, not metric, consistent with a UK or USA origin (among few others).”

He’s been in touch with some members of happy wanderers and apparently it wasn’t one of theirs.

Any ideas?
 
langcliffe

langcliffe

Well-known member
I can't imagine the Happy Wanderers ever stamping anything...

Is it possible that the gentleman (sorry, 'bloke') has misread the stamp, and that it actually reads "HWDPC"? The Heavy Woollens District Pothole Club, who I remember being active in the late 1960s, were responsible for the 1968 extensions in Sunset Pot.
 
aricooperdavis

aricooperdavis

Moderator
Here are the photos from the post:


FB_IMG_1668956200161.jpgFB_IMG_1668956202722.jpg
 
langcliffe

langcliffe

Well-known member
It appears to be a standard thin-wired home-made ladder with the rungs fixed by pin and araldite, dating from the mid-60s to mid-70s.

The stamp certainly looks like 'HWPCC'. It's possibly worth asking Jack Pickup if it rings his bell.
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
I caved on HW tackle a few times in the early 1970s as a youth and I don't remember any of their ladders being anywhere near that good a quality! (Mind you, for a long time, all their best ladders were down Pippikin around then, so we made do with the dregs.)

(Langcliffe - did your post immediately above include a bit of unintended keyboard dyslexia? Was "HWPCC" deliberate?)

This film made in 1971 is about HW cavers in Simpson Pot. I've not watched it for a while but I remember the occasional clip showing the club's ladders, if anyone eagle eyed enough wants to watch it all the way through to see how they compare? It's well worth watching anyway, as a caving film.
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Incidentally the film depicts HW member John Russom who was a mechanical engineer. (He was the designer of the "Russom drill" which jacked across the passage and I believe was crucial to making the Pippikin breakthrough.) He would likely have had access to letter stamps - so some ladders may have been stamped with the club's name at some stage.
 
langcliffe

langcliffe

Well-known member
Pitlamp said:
Incidentally the film depicts HW member John Russom who was a mechanical engineer. (He was the designer of the "Russom drill" which jacked across the passage and I believe was crucial to making the Pippikin breakthrough.) He would likely have had access to letter stamps - so some ladders may have been stamped with the club's name at some stage.
Click to expand...

The Russom Drill was also responsible for opening up the entrance to Hurnell Moss, if I remember correctly. The floor is natural, and the roof is natural - it's just that the bit between them disappeared.
 
C

cobz

New member
langcliffe said:
I think that it used used to open up Mistral, as well. It was an amazing bit of kit.
Click to expand...
Just to clear a few points. I know that the HW had a rubber stamp with their logo, to put on their documents, but regarding the ladders, somewhere in the back of my mind , there might be some Ladder ID Stamps. Its just a feeling I have.

Now with regard to the Russom Drill. It was first developed to gain acces to the Stemple pitch in Pip. We first tried drilling with a brace and bit! but the cantilever of the braces stopped any pressure being applied.
It was designed in conjunction with his uncle who was a design engineer at the Barrow ship yards.
The proto type was used for widening the Stemple fissure.

I think the next time it was used was on the Hurnel Moss dig. John Southworth and I were making slow progress just surface packing the bang.
Johns drill was used only once and we got in on the same day. The drill was new with a number of improvements

Yes the drill was used on Mistral, but the next big discovery was when we drilled the top of the entrance shaft of Big Meany We descended it later with Juan in the party, the only Lank Mills representative. Sid P on that trip had to go to Lancaster Hospital as he slipped and had a massive cut to his lower arm which was held together by the wetsuit.

After that John had his own "Mine" on the slopes of Bull Pot / Yordas, but I think the last time it was used was in the large cave whose entrance is at the same level a short distance up from White Scar.

Its now over 50 years since we did all that work and I am only working from memory. There may be one or two unintended errors

Dave Cobley
 
C

cobz

New member
cobz said:
Just to clear a few points. I know that the HW had a rubber stamp with their logo, to put on their documents, but regarding the ladders, somewhere in the back of my mind , there might be some Ladder ID Stamps. Its just a feeling I have.

Now with regard to the Russom Drill. It was first developed to gain acces to the Stemple pitch in Pip. We first tried drilling with a brace and bit! but the cantilever of the braces stopped any pressure being applied.
It was designed in conjunction with his uncle who was a design engineer at the Barrow ship yards.
The proto type was used for widening the Stemple fissure.

I think the next time it was used was on the Hurnel Moss dig. John Southworth and I were making slow progress just surface packing the bang.
Johns drill was used only once and we got in on the same day. The drill was new with a number of improvements

Yes the drill was used on Mistral, but the next big discovery was when we drilled the top of the entrance shaft of Big Meany We descended it later with Juan in the party, the only Lank Mills representative. Sid P on that trip had to go to Lancaster Hospital as he slipped and had a massive cut to his lower arm which was held together by the wetsuit.

After that John had his own "Mine" on the slopes of Bull Pot / Yordas, but I think the last time it was used was in the large cave whose entrance is at the same level a short distance up from White Scar.

Its now over 50 years since we did all that work and I am only working from memory. There may be one or two unintended errors

Dave Cobley
Click to expand...
Sorry. I have forgotten , that it was also used to extend Greenwood Pot
 
davel

davel

Member
cobz said:
... but the next big discovery was when we drilled the top of the entrance shaft of Big Meany We descended it later with Juan in the party, the only Lank Mills representative. Sid P on that trip had to go to Lancaster Hospital as he slipped and had a massive cut to his lower arm which was held together by the wetsuit.
Click to expand...
According to my log that was Sunday 17th October 1971. I was there but didn't go down the pitch.

Dave
 
davel

davel

Member
Ian Ball said:
I've not heard of this marvel of cave ingenuity. Was it ever discussed in Descent or similar?
Click to expand...
Someone may come up with a drawing or photo of the actual item, but in the meantime images of similar drills can be found by Googling boiler firebox ratchet drill. The drill is rotated using the ratchet handle and the back support is on a screw thread and is placed against an opposing surface (such as the opposite wall of a too-narrow cave passage) and unscrewed to apply pressure to the drill bit. If I remember correctly the Russom Drill had a number of different length extensions that could be used with it and the outer sleeve of the telescopic part had handles on it to aid jacking. The slow turning action with a lot of pressure is very effective for drilling holes in rock, but it does need an opposing surface for the jack to bear on.

Dave
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Ian Ball said:
I've not heard of this marvel of cave ingenuity. Was it ever discussed in Descent or similar?
Click to expand...
There is a blueprint for how to make something along these lines in one of the annual CPC Journals, from memory circa 1974(?). Also from memory I think this one included a spring to store the energy created by jacking across the passage, rather than by jacking directly. If I'm right, this one was based on the original Russom drill.

That's a cracking photo, darkdescender. We have it easy these days with lightweight cordless electric drills.
 
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