| Description | Written from Cutters' Hall, Sheffield, 45 Wilkinson Street, Sheffield. The letter is headed Copy: Exhibition of Works of Industry of All Nations - 1851 [the Great Exhibition] (possibly indicating that the original letter was written on headed writing paper). The letter introduces a new kind of steam coal, currently relatively unknown in London, which Plimsoll hopes to supply to the company throughout the coming year. The letter describes the qualities of that coal, in terms of its use, its composition, its efficiency, by products, its effects on the boiler boxes and grates in which it is burnt. The letter also includes an analysis of the coal in terms of its evaporative power compared to Welsh coal, the percentage of soot compared to other coals and a description of its cohesion or liability to breakage and the amount of clinker and weight of ash per ton of coal. |