Sandfields Pumping Station
Lichfield
1927 'The original pumping station at Sandfields, in
the Lichfield City area, is of considerable historical
interest. It is the oldest station of the company,
and is situated on a narrow piece of land bounded
on the north-west by the London, Midland, and
Scottish Railway Company’s line from Lichfield to
Walsall, and on the south-east by the Wyrley and Essington Canal of the Birmingham Canal Navigations. The pumping plant was designed and erected
under the supervision of the originator of the
South Staffordshire Waterworks Company, the late
John Robinson McClean, Esq., M.P., a well-known
engineer and railway contractor, and President
of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1864 and
1865. The inauguration of the works by the
starting of the pumping engines at Sandfields by
the late Lord Ward took place on October 26, 1858.
The plant consisted of three single-cylinder condensing rotative beam engines driving on to a
common crankshaft, and a battery of nine Lancashire boilers. The engines were built by James
Watt at his works in Soho, Birmingham, and it is
of interest to mention the fact that they were designed for, and originally worked as, blowing
engines on the South Devon Atmospheric Railway. [This needs to be checked - see below]
This method of railway operation not proving a
success, the engines were sold to the waterworks company and removed to Lichfield, where
they were re-modelled for use as pumping engines. At a later date the crankshaft was divided so that
two of the engines were left coupled, while the third was worked as a separate unit, in order to allow the rate of pumping to be more easily adjusted to suit the district requirements. Each engine had a double-acting steam cylinder 46 in. in diameter, with a working stroke of 8 ft., and each beam drove a ram 14 in. in diameter. The buckets were 18 1/4in. in diameter, with a working stroke of 8 ft., and were placed in a well 8 ft. in diameter and 70 ft. deep. The three engines working together had a total pumping capacity of 3.43 million gallons per 24 hours.
In the year 1873, the buildings were extended to accommodate a Cornish beam engine constructed
by J. Davies, of Tipton, which is still in use as a standby. This engine has a steam cylinder 65 in. diameter, the stroke being 9 ft. ....'
In 1922 the company decided to construct a comprehensive filtration scheme
for dealing with the water pumped from this station.
This scheme involved the re-modelling of the pumping machinery. The
three rotative beam engines were
scrapped, and the engine-house utilised for new plant. Two horizontal Sulzer Brothers uniflow condensing engines, each drove a direct-current 225-volt electric generator and a horizontal turbine force pump, the latter delivering the filtered water to the reservoir at Walsall. The engine cylinders were 29.5 in. in diameter, stroke is 25.6 in.,
and the engines ran at about 158 r.p.m. When
pumping three million gallons per day each engine
developed 392 i.h.p. The steam admission valves
were of the double-beat type. Both the electric generators and the turbines were driven by belts from the engine flywheels, fitted with Lenix belt-tightening gear, made by F. C. Smidth and Co., Luton. An electrically-driven vertical-spindle centrifugal pump for each unit was supplied with current from the generator,
pumped to Walsall reservoir. [1]
See here for photos and information about the various engines.
1858 Engines: The Engineering article states that the first three engines were designed for, and originally worked as, blowing engines on the South Devon Atmospheric Railway. It is a fact that in 1856, two of the Boulton & Watt Devon engines were advertised for sale. They were of 33" bore and 6 ft stroke. The Sandfield engines were of 46" bore and 8 ft stroke.