It was only one hundred and sixty five years
ago that people established the connection
between dirty drinking water and killer diseases
such as cholera and typhoid.
In the growing industrial city of Nottingham
in central England, the need for clean water
increased. To supply the demand, the Corporation
expanded the existing covered reservoir at
Papplewick north of the city, built by Thomas
Hawksley, public water pioneer, by sinking
two new wells. By eighteen eighty-three
Marriott Ogle Tarbotton, gas and water
company chief engineer, had installed five
Lancashire boilers to power the boring machinery
then later steam pumps.
He erected an ornate pumping house to contain two James Watt and company steam powered beam engines.
Inside the pump house, a riot of ornate decoration
goes hand in hand with utility.
Stained glass windows, ornamented pillars topped by cranes, well known water fowl,
lend a cathedral like air to proceedings.
The nodding beams, like massive mechanical
monks at prayer, quietly rock without cease.
They unlock the power of coal, so plentiful
in this region, into raising water from the
filter rocks below to the underground reservoir
ready to be supplied to the people and industry
of the city.
James Watt's Company supplied the engines in eighteen eighty-four, the most modern that money could buy.
These double action piston machines were
a world away from that seventeen-fifty
kettle lid blowing off.
Watt improved steam power by his ingenious use of expanding and contracting gasses
as well as the mechanical linkages
and valve gear.
Although Watt died in eighteen-nineteen, his
pioneering work was carried on at the Boulton
and Watt factory in Birmingham.
One of the innovations we can see today is
the Watt Parallel Motion. The piston and its
connecting rod are vertical, but the beam
above traces an arc. If the piston rod were
connected to the beam it would bend with the
rise and fall. The parallel motion prevents
this by a four bar linkage whose lengths and
angles are designed to transmit the linear
motion from the piston to the circular motion
of the beam.
From the first day, engineers measured everything
about the operation, from the quantity of
water pumped and the amount of coal used,
to every pump of the engine. This beam counter,
worked by a pendulum inside the box, counts every stroke. City administrators, when not
drinking tea or playing golf, could calculate
the efficiency of the operation, no doubt
demanding cost cutting measures to ensure
money for corporate merry-making.
Another James Watt innovation is the double
action. Steam pushes one side of the piston
whilst condensed gasses pull the other side.
This means every stroke gives power.
Whilst all this pushing and pulling goes on
to rock the beam, the other end operates the
pump below ground. to raise the water. This
also provided pressure to keep the boilers
topped up.
In the boiler house things are becoming perilous.
When four boilers are working as designed,
the draught from the chimney was enough to
take out the smoke. Today, with only one boiler,
an electric fan helps out. This is what happens
during a power cut.
William Fairburn's Lancashire boilers heat
from the front. The hot gas goes along tubes
inside. The heat then comes forward along
the outside, before going back along the bottom
towards the chimney. This heats the water
evenly.
The boilers have inspection plates so men
can go inside, as well as low water alarms,
safety valves, and stop valves for the steam
take off. An arrangement of pierced collector
pipes and baffles inside the boiler stop water
entering the steam feed to the engines.
Every piece of the around two tons of coal
per day needed to keep this boiler alive,
arrives by human muscle power. That's around
two hundred kilowatts of energy gong off in
That's around two hundred kilowatts of energy gong off in there.
The balance between water and steam space
in the boiler is critical for efficiency.
This indicator shows the correct level.
Another exhibit, although never operated on
this site, is the coal mine winding engine
from the nearby Linby colliery. This was used
to transport coal and miners from the deep
This was used to transport coal and miners from the deep
workings to the surface. It lifted around
nine tons at a time.
It was built by Robey of Lincoln in nineteen twenty-two, and worked
until nineteen eighty-two.
This is the only steam winding engine still in operation in Britain.
Not only does the engine have to be strong
but also it has to have powerful brakes to
hold the load in position in the shaft.
As well as the steaming engines, today was
a celebration of all things 1940. Vehicles
and fashions were on display, and just as
it was at the time, the Second World War is
ever present.
And not everyone was on the winning side.
Vater unser du bist im Himmel, die Namer vertiger
heiligt; dein Reich komme; dein Wille geschehe,
wie im Himmel so auf Erden. Unser tägliches Brot gib uns heute. Und vergib uns unsere Schuld,
wie auch wir vergeben unsern Schuldigern.
Denn dein ist das Reich und die Kraft und
die Herrlichkeit in Ewigkeit. Amen.
Late, as ever, the Americans arrive; overpaid,
oversexed and over here.
This Willys Jeep was the first mass produced
four-wheel drive car, specified by the American
Army, but built by several manufacturers under
licence.
It is kitted out as a forward communications
vehicle, complete with short wave radio equipment.
This example from nineteen sixty-five was
made by Hotchkiss Brandt in Paris, but differs
little from the wartime spec.
People came in period costume ready to re-enact
a time when Britain was great, upper lips
were stiff, and a chap wasn't properly dressed
without a tie and a hat.
Although by nineteen forty most homes had
electricity, portable generators were still common.
These small motors provide noise and
fumes in the quest for those elusive volts.
No forties pageant would be complete without
a battle. Here, safely across the lake, the
plucky Brits are overwhelmed by the Teutonic
efficiency of the German war machine, but
not before lots of bangs and flashes.
