More Economic History.

The first two pictures above are of the so called chain bridge in Kiev, built around 1850. The “suspension cables” were actually chains. The iron and steel work apart from the chains was made by my great great grandfather’s firm John Musgrave & Sons.

The bridge was destroyed by retreating Polish troops in the 1920s, re-built, and then destroyed by the Russians in WWII.

John Musgrave also produced stationary steam engines for powering factories and mills. The colour picture shows the only half decent surviving engine. John’s great great great grandson is on the left.

In the days before electric motors, factories were powered by one or two large engines with shafts and pullies delivering power to smaller machines around the factory.