News on Screen

Series

Series Name

Mining Review 5th Year

Issue

Issue No.

5

Date Released

Jan 1952

Stories in this Issue:

• 1. SORTING OFFICE
• 2. HIGH TENSION
• 3. UNDER THE BORDER
• 4. TEE BOY

Story

Story No. within this Issue

2 / 4

Summary

BFI synopsis: Leatherhead Electricity Research Station power lines, and high voltage experiments by the B.E.A.
NCB Commentary - This is a common enough happening - and this. What’s being done about it?
Not transporting coal, but transporting electricity. To transfer electricity the length and breadth of the country, they’re developing here at Leatherhead an experimental overhead line carrying half a million volts. High voltages are easier to send over long distances - and it’s cheaper to send electricity across the country than to send coal. A lot of research is going on into the properties of these special high voltage lines and their insulators.
In the British Electricity Authority’s laboratory they’re preparing to test a large insulator under heavy working conditions. The laboratory, opened in 1950, is equipped with every safeguard. This rod earths the system. Until the door locks have been operated, the equipment is safely earthed, and no current can pass.
Now it’s safe to go ahead. The spark gaps open out. The current starts to build up. 100, 120, 140 thousand volts will surge across the gaps. Watch for the flash as the discharge wraps itself round the insulator.
This is only a part of the work of extending the national grid further and further, from the heavy load carrying lines like these down to the everyday pylons so similar to us, until every village can have the electricity it needs.

Researcher Comments

BFI sources suggest that this story was filmed on the 10th April 1951. The budget was £266 2s 5d. Commentary recorded 4 December 1951.

Keywords

Science and technology; Industry and manufacture; Energy resources

Locations

England; Surrey; Leatherhead

Written sources

British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
Film User   Vol.6 No.74 December 1952, p651.
The National Archives COAL 32   /3 Scripts for Mining Review, 1949-1956

Credits:

Camera

Cyril Arapoff

Production Co.

Documentary Technicians Alliance

Support services

Gitta Blumenthal

Camera

John Gunn

Sponsor

National Coal Board

Director

Tony Thompson