Grinders' disease

What is the connection between the 1945 film Brief Encounter and Sheffield?   Not the setting, or the destination of any of the trains (although there are signs for trains to Skipton and Bradford).  But the interests of Dr. Harvey, the male character played by Trevor Howard.   There is a scene where he talks about pneumoconiosis, and mentions that it can be caused by metal dust.And this is grinders' disease, common among Sheffield grinders.  Sheffield City Morris dance to a song about the Sheffield grinder, and a bit of further research uncovers this song, sung here by Roy Bailey. At what is now Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, grinders ground scythe blades, using water powered wheels.  The blades were exported worldwide.  There is information at Kelham Island Museum as well about the grinders, many of whom ground cutlery blades.  One of the hazards was that the grinding stone would break and the grinder be injured by the pieces flying off.  This is why health and safety is important, to prevent this sort of thing happening! Another hazard was the dust.  Bailey's song records the thought that 32 was old for a grinder.  Sheffield is built on metal related industries, but the impact of these industries on the people who worked in them is quite thought provoking.  Working with hot metal and working to shape it were and are hazardous pursuits.Searching PubMed for the phrase "grinder* disease" gives you a message t...
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