1898 Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Visits to Works
Note: This is a sub-section of 1898 Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Visits to Works (Excursions) in the Derby / Nottingham area
Midland Railway Locomotive Works
MIDLAND RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVE WORKS, DERBY.
Derby Works
The Locomotive Works of the Midland Railway at Derby occupy an area of 80 acres, of which 20 acres are covered by buildings, Plate 96. On the average about 25 new engines arc turned out annually, 100 are rebuilt with new boilers, and 900 undergo heavy repairs. The machinery is driven by 23 stationary engines. The works comprise general offices, stores, forge and smithy, iron and brass foundries; boiler, wheel, spring, coppersmiths' and tinsmiths' shops; machine and erecting shops; tender, millwrights' and paint shops; running sheds, chemical laboratory, test offices, photographic room, Ac.; also three large mess-rooms, which can accommodate 2,000 men.
The forge and smithy contain fifty fires, and eight steam-hammers ranging from 7 cwts. to 7 tons. The largest hammer forges the scrap iron and steel collected in the works, into uses for connecting rods, crossheads, &c., at the rate of 10 or 11 tons per week. Other hammers are largely used for stamping draw-bar hooks, crank pins, and similar work. A smaller smithy with twenty-one fires is chiefly devoted to repairs.
In the spring shop are furnaces for heating plates of springs, and machines for punching, shearing, nibbing, and slotting them, and two hydraulic spring-testing machines. There is also a powerful hydraulic machine for pulling off spring buckles.
There are two foundries served by four cupolas, two of which are in blast at a time. In the larger foundry, adjoining which is the core stove, locomotive and general work is carried on. The other foundry is exclusively devoted to making railway chairs, of which about 320 tons are turned out on the average per week. Brake- blocks and fire-bars, for which there is a large demand, are moulded in special machines. In the brass foundry are twenty-four furnaces, and about 10 tons of castings are made per week. The castings are cleaned by the steam and sand blast. The wheel and axle shop contains powerful machines for turning wheels, tires, and axles, and for slotting cranks, Ac. Hydraulic presses, capable of exerting a pressure of 500 tons, are used for fixing wheels on their axles and pulling them off.
In the boiler shop about 80 boilers and tender tanks are usually under construction at a time, with 500 men and boys at work on them. The flanging of boiler plates is clone by a large hydraulic press, and the plates are heated in gas-fired furnaces. There are two steam riveters and several fixed and portable hydraulic riveters in the shop; and the seams of the boilers are caulked by pneumatic fullering tools. All mountings are fixed on the boilers, and they are finished in every respect, and tested under hydraulic and steam pressure, before leaving the shop. The machine, fitting, erecting, and paint shops are all under one roof. They form a lofty well-lighted block of buildings about 450 feet square, and contain 600 machines driven by two vertical high-pressure wall engines. Walking cranes lift the forgings and castings on and off the machines. Amongst the most powerful machines are those for slotting and drilling engine and tender frame-plates; seven or eight plates can be dealt with on each machine at a time. A most complete apparatus is provided for testing and adjusting steam and vacuum gauges, brake valves, injectors and ejectors, and the valves connected with the warming of the passenger trains. The erecting shop accommodates 108 locomotives. Six 25-ton overhead travelling cranes worked by endless ropes are employed. Two of these working together will readily lift an engine, and carry it to any part of the shop where it may be required. Some of the newly- designed piston-valve engines are now under construction in this shop. The paint shop holds 40 engines, and 600 or 700 newly- painted engines are turned out annually.
There are four running sheds at Derby, in which 150 locomotives are stabled; the largest holds 45 engines, which stand on 48 pits ranged round two turntables. The coaling stage is of modern design. The cost of lifting a ton of coal on an engine is now about 2d., as compared with 4d., the price formerly paid. A break-down train and steam fire-engine are always kept in readiness to be despatched where required at a moment's notice. The water used in the works and that supplied to the locomotives is pumped from the River Derwent, and subjected to a softening process in apparatus capable of treating 30,000 gallons per hour, page 418. There are now 2,528 locomotives on the Midland Railway, and 15,500 men are employed in the locomotive department. the locomotive engineer is Mr. Samuel W. Johnson, President of the Institution.
Midland Railway Gas Works
MIDLAND RAILWAY GAS WORKS, DERBY.
Derby Works
Is 1875 the Midland Railway purchased from the Derby Corporation the Old Gas Works, which are near to the Midland Station, Plate 96. These works, which have since been enlarged, supplied 133,202,000 cubic feet of gas during the year 1897 to the works, stations, sidings, and signals in Derby and the neighbourhood.
The carriages on the Midland Railway are lighted by oil gas, which is manufactured at nine works belonging to the company, situated at Kentish Town, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Sheffield, Leeds, Bradford, Birmingham, and Bristol. One of the most complete of these works is at Derby, Plate 96. The process of manufacture is as follows. Scotch shale oil flows in a thin stream from a cistern overhead into retorts heated by a coke furnace. The gas given off from the retorts passes through condensers, washers, and purifiers into gas-holders. Thence it is drawn and forced by a compressing engine into store-holders at a pressure of 150 lbs. per square inch. The high-pressure gas is conveyed in pipes to the passenger station, and to the sidings where the gas-lighted trains receive their supply, and the reservoirs under the carriages are charged with it. Oil gas is now used to light 3,600 carriages on the Midland Railway. About one gallon of oil will produce 80 cubic feet of gas, of which the illuminating power is about 45 candles for a consumption of 5 cubic feet per hour. Both the coal and the oil-gas works are under the superintendence and control of Mr. Samuel W. Johnson, locomotive engineer.
Midland Railway Carriage and Wagon Works
MIDLAND RAILWAY CARRIAGE AND WAGON WORKS, DERBY.
Derby Works
These works, Plate 97, are situated about half a mile south of Derby Station, and the rail approach to them is a branch line turning out of the main goods line to Birmingham. The street entrance to the general offices of the department is from the London Road. The main portions of the works were erected in 1875-76, for the maintenance, repairs, and rebuilding of the carriage and wagon stock of the railway, and at that time were fitted up with all the best machinery, tools, and labour-saving appliances. In 1883, when the purchase of private owners' wagons was commenced, additions and extensions to the works were made for the repairs and renewals. Also in 1891, and again in 1898, increase in the number and dimensions of carriage stock necessitated additional shops being built, and a re-arrangement for the painting, upholstering, and polishing, &c., at the south side of the works.
The workshops generally are all of the same design, and of a uniform height of 21 feet to the underside of principals. The shops on the west side of the works, consisting principally of saw-mill, and of wagon and carriage building and repairing shops, are devoted to the working of timber, and to the erection and finishing of carriages and wagons; and those in the centre, consisting of foundries, forge, smithy, and machine shop, are given up to the production of the various metal portions of the vehicles. On the east side are the shops for dealing with the repairs to wagons; also for breaking them up when worn out, and for the subsequent conversion of the old wrought-iron work into new iron in the adjacent forge.
At the north end of the works are situated the general offices, which contain the superintendent's private office, the drawing office where all the designs for rolling stock are prepared, the offices where the accounts of the department and the records of the rolling stock are kept, and where also the time and wages sheets are made up, and all correspondence of the department conducted.
The next buildings are the first two timber-drying sheds, 300 feet in length by 100 feet and 150 feet in width. They are constructed of timber, with louvred walls to admit of a free circulation of air. These buildings are stocked principally with oak planks and oak scantling, all having been cut into standard sizes suitable for the various descriptions of rolling stock for which they are intended to be used. No system of artificial drying is used in these sheds, but the timber is " open " stacked, and remains there for an average period of two years. Near these sheds is a small drying room at the west corner of the saw-mill, where small quantities of timber, which may be urgently required for special purposes, are forcibly dried. This is a closed brick building, bearers being placed on the floor to form a raised platform, upon which the timber is stacked, with rows of wrought-iron steam-piping underneath; a current of hot air is supplied into the room by a fan. Adjoining the sheds is a timber yard in front of the saw-mill, where there is a gantry 350 feet long and 50 feet span, with two 5-ton overhead travelling cranes driven by steel-wire ropes, for unloading, stacking, and otherwise dealing with oak logs. As far as possible the logs are cut up into scantling as they arrive, being unloaded from the wagons by the cranes, and placed by them directly in front of the circular saws, which cross-cut them to the required length before being passed forward into the saw-mill.
The saw-mill and wood-working machinery shop is a building 320 feet long by 250 feet wide. The shafting and pulleys connected with the machinery are contained in a cellar 9 feet deep, extending under nearly the whole area of the floor. By this arrangement the whole of the shafting and pulleys are kept out of the way, leaving the floor of the mill clear and free for working the machines. In the engine house adjoining are three steam boilers, working at 140 lbs. pressure per square inch; and two horizontal engines, with 18 inch cylinders and 26 inches stroke, making 120 revolutions per minute, for driving the shafting.
After being cross-cut, the timber is dealt with immediately by the circular or reciprocating saws, which are ranged across the north end of the building. From the saws it passes either into the drying sheds for seasoning; or, if ready dried, along the mill to the various machines, 138 in number—for the purpose of mortising, tenoning, boring, planing, and grooving; band-sawing, carving, turning, dove-tailing, panel-planing, sand-papering, &c.-which are distributed about the mill in positions to suit the progress of the work, and to avoid as far as possible unnecessary labour in carrying it about. When all the machine work has been done to the timber, it is transferred to the carriage-building shop, or to the adjoining wagon-building shop. the latter, 320 feet long and 200 feet wide, has eighteen lines of rails 200 feet long, and is devoted entirely to the building of new wagons. The timber from the saw-mill and the ironwork from the machine and fitting shop meet here, and are put together and formed into the numerous descriptions of wagon stock, numbering up to 180 vehicles per week, just as may be required, including goods brake-vans necessary for working the traffic.
The carriage-building shop, 384 feet long by 200 feet wide, has eighteen lines of rails 200 feet long. For all new carriages the timber from the saw-mill and the ironwork from the machine and fitting shop meet here; and the whole of the bodies and underframes are constructed and finished as far as possible before going into the adjacent painting shop. The panel-drying shed is a timber building 300 feet long and 100 feet wide, with open louvre sides. The floor is raised 2 feet above the ground, and the floor boards are laid with 1-inch open spaces between them to allow a free circulation of air from underneath. Next in order is the carriage lifting shop, into which all carriages are first brought for lifting, where the wheels, axle-boxes, springs, brake-work, and other underwork are detached for examination and repair or adjustment, before the vehicles are transferred to the body-repairing shop. In this shop are four sets of hydraulic apparatus for lifting the large bogie carriages. The carriage repairing shop is a building 320 feet long by 300 feet wide, containing eighteen lines of rails 300 feet long; all carriages requiring repairs or renovating are brought here after they have passed through the lifting shop. The upholstery and finishing work is removed, and after being renovated is replaced, and all necessary repairs to the bodies are executed, before they are transferred to the carriage-painting shop. At the west end of this building is the finishing shop, where all internal wood decoration work, and the window-frames, doors, panels, mouldings, &c., for carriages are finished, after the wood has been so for prepared at the various woodcutting machines in the saw-mill; and there are in this shop a few small special wood-working machines.
The carriage-painting shop No. 1 is a building 400 feet long by 200 feet wide, containing twenty-two lines 200 feet long, for carriages under process of cleaning and painting. The fixing of the seats, backs, cushions, carpets, &c., and the completion of cabinet work are also done here, before the vehicles are transferred to No. 2 painting shop for the final processes of gilding, writing, fine lining, and varnishing. The mixing of paints and colours is carried on at the west end of the shop. The several machines for grinding and mixing the paint, making putty, &c., arc driven by a steam engine.
The upholsterers' shop and sewing room is a building 200 feet long by 120 feet wide, divided into two parts: one half for coach- trimmers, upholsterers, and leather-workers, with adjoining rooms for horse-hair carding and cleaning; and the other half is a ,omen's workroom, chiefly for sewing and polishing. In the trimming shop the chairs, seats, carpets, and saddlery are prepared. In the women's room about 150 are employed, who are either widows or daughters of the Midland Railway servants; they prepare all the seats and backs ready to be fixed in the carriages by the coach- trimmers. The sewing is done by a number of machines ranged in a line against the south wall, which are driven by power. In this room are done net-making, French-polishing, cleaning and varnishing of window-light frames, cleaning and lacquering of brass-work, washing, trimmings, and other light work which can be easily done by women. Ample mess-room and lavatory accommodation is connected with this room; also a separate entranceway direct from the street.
The carriage-painting shop No. 2, adjoining these shops, is a building 400 feet long by 300 feet wide, and has twenty-three lines of rails 300 feet long. Vehicles are received here from painting shop No. 1, and the process of fine lining, gilding, lettering, and varnishing is completed.
The machine and fitting shop is 400 feet long by 225 feet wide. In it are fixed the usual tools and machinery necessary for working all kinds of metal work. These machines, 309 in number, are driven by two horizontal high-pressure engines, 18-inch cylinders, 26 inches stroke, making 120 revolutions per minute, 140 lbs. pressure of steam, each arranged to drive half the machinery in the shop. Hydraulic power is used for wheel presses, cranes, lifts, and riveting; carriage wheels with wood centres and wagon wheels with solid wrought-iron centres are also made and repaired; and the tires, heated by gas, are shrunk on. The general machine-work in steel, wrought and cast iron, and brass, also brass finishing, and the ordinary fitters' and millwrights' work, are done here. Next to this building is the smithy and spring shop, 225 feet long by 200 feet wide, where most of the smiths' work is done. In it are ninety-two smiths' hearths and sixty-two machines, including eight steam-hammers from 3 to 7 cwts.; power hammers 1 and 21- cwts., hydraulic forging-presses, shearing and punching machines; and a complete equipment of bolt and nut-making machinery. In the two eastern bays of this building, spring making and repairing are carried on. The springs are made both by hand and by hydraulic presses. The forge, which comes next, is 200 feet long by 135 feet wide, and is used for working up into new iron the scrap iron, principally obtained from old wagons. It is provided with thirteen steam-hammers of various sizes from 5 to 30 cwts.; the boilers and furnaces are heated by gas on the regenerative principle of Wilson and Dawson. In this shop also are various hydraulic machines for pressing and bending wrought-iron, and twenty-six smiths' hearths. Adjacent to this building is the wheel-making shop, where is carried on the manufacture of wrought-iron wheel-centres. These are made by machinery worked by hydraulic power; which includes machines for rim-bending, spoke and rim welding, and a press of 1,000 tons power for welding the boss and punching the centre hole for axle at one operation.
The wagon repairing shop contains eighteen lines of rails 300 feet long; here wagons requiring heavy repairs are lifted, repaired, and painted; the lighter repairs are done at various out-stations. The shop is provided with several machine-tools driven by steam power, a smithy containing twenty-four hearths, and a storeroom. It is complete in itself for doing repairs to wagons. Adjoining is a covered shed for breaking up worn-out wagons.
The brass foundry, in the centre line of buildings, is a building 100 feet long by 90 feet wide, with an extension for the brass-melting furnaces, which are heated by gas on the regenerative principle. Gun-metal and bronze castings are Isere made for carriage and wagon bearings, and yellow brass for internal fittings of carriages. The iron foundry, 300 feet long by 90 feet wide, has two cupolas, and is provided with hydraulic lifts for raising loaded wagons and barrows to the cupola stage, and with hydraulic cranes in the moulding shop for heavy work. All the iron castings required for the building and repairing of carriages and wagons are made here, both by hand and by machine. Adjoining is the bar-iron store, where all the wrought- iron and steel is received and stacked away in racks; above is the tinmen's shop. Two shearing machines are placed at the south end of this store, for the purpose of cutting the bar-iron into required lengths before it is transferred into the smithy. Then follows the room where all the materials for the carriage and wagon department are received and stored, and issued to the various shops as required for daily use, and also forwarded to the various outstations for the repairs to carriages and wagons. The works offices comprise those for the works manager, correspondence, stores, pay, time-keepers, draughtsmen, and prime-cost clerks.
The principal timber yard is situated at the south-east side of the works, and covers an area of 13 acres. It is traversed for the whole length ofl 1,400 feet by three lines of rails., two lines for wagons to stand on when being unloaded, and one for the steam travelling-crane when unloading or loading wagons. The east side is used for stacking deals and battens, and the west side for storing American and Stettin oak logs. A portion of the west side is occupied by a shed, 600 feet long by 100 feet wide, for storing and drying oak scantling. It is a wooden building of similar construction to the timber drying-sheds, and is provided with light overhead-cranes, which travel its entire length.
The grease-making house is a two-storied building, so arranged that the ingredients for grease-making are carried up to the top floor by a power hoist; there they are thrown into two boilers fitted with mechanical stirrers, each capable of holding 7 tons of grease, whence it flows into cooling troughs situated on the ground floor; when cold it is cashed up, stored, and distributed throughout the railway. Threo mess-rooms are provided, each capable of accommodating 650 workmen. In one of them is held a religious service every morning during breakfast time, workmen forming the choir.
Connected with the works are two shunting engines continually employed in the day time, and one in the night, shunting and arranging the carriages and wagons in the works. Five steam traversers are in constant use getting carriages and wagons in and out of the shops; and two 5-ton steam travelling-cranes for loading and unloading material. For protection from fire there is a steam fire-engine, made by Messrs. Shand and Mason; and the fire-brigade consists of twelve firemen and three enginemen, living in adjacent cottages which are in electrical communication with several alarm stations within the works. A fire main 7 inches diameter, constantly charged with water at 60 lbs. pressure, surrounds each building. An ambulance corps of eighty members is also established.
The carriage stock of the Midland Railway consists of 4,786 vehicles; and the wagons amount to 116,331. The number of persons employed in these works is 3,450 men and about 150 women. Eight passenger.train vehicles and 180 wagons are built per week. The superintendent is Mr. Thomas G. Clayton.
Midland Railway Signal Works
MIDLAND RAILWAY SIGNAL WORKS, DERBY.
Derby Works
These works are situated about a quarter of a mile north of the passenger station, and immediately on the north side of the River Dement. The whole of the signalling required for the Midland Railway, and for the joint lines maintained by it, is manufactured here, as well as the signalling required for now railways as they are constructed.
The works were originally started in 1860, but not in their present position. Up to that time the signals and fittings had been obtained from private firms. About 1870 a portion of the present works which lie on the west side of the main line was erected. These have from time to time been increased; and in recent years the new works in the triangle on the east side of the main line have been added. The too works are connected by a subway under the line, and together occupy an area of nearly seven acres. They are provided with sidings conveniently laid out for the reception of coal, iron, timber, &c., and for loading up and despatching the finished signal apparatus.
The old works consist of the superintendent's offices and drawing offices, adjoining which is a fitting shop 160 feet long by 30 feet wide, where the numerous and rather complicated parts of the interlocking-lever frames are fitted, finished, and erected. Machinery suitable for each operation is provided in this shop: namely lathes, metal saws, burring machines, twist-drill grinding machines, &c., with planing tables and slotting machines, all driven by belting from overhead shafting. A machine in this shop cuts or engraves letters, numerals, &c., upon brass or other metal plates, under the guidance of two boys, one cf whom fills in the characters when sunk by the machine with coloured sealing wax, which, when cleaned off, gives the maximum of effect with the minimum of labour. Another shop, adjoining the fitting shop, is also used for the erection of locking frames, as well as for making the underwork for the locking of facing points, and the machinery for working level-crossing gates actuated from signal boxes.
The pattern and lamp-making shops are at the south end of the old works; and at the north end is a smiths' shop, 95 feet long by 45 feet wide, whirls contains twenty-four hearths giving employment to about fifty men. Steam-hammers of 7 cwts. and 5 cwts., steam-stamps, and combined shearing and punching machines, with nut and bolt machines, are conveniently placed in this shop. The blast to the hearths is supplied by a fan.
In the works in the triangle another smiths' shop, 94 feet long by 38 feet wide, is used for the manufacture of girder work, signal rods, &e.; and in the largo joiners' shop adjoining are made signal boxes, signal posts, &c. Another largo machine-shop recently built is provided with seven lathes, and with drilling, shaping, and slotting machines, all driven from overhead shafting. The same engine drives all the machinery in a large sawing and wood-working shop adjoining, where circular saws, and planing, slotting, and moulding machinery are provided. A new fitting shop, 100 feet long by 2G feet wide, with a store over it for finished fittings &c., is just being brought into use.
Practically everything in these works, which employ about 450 hands, is made on the piece-work system; and in the erection of the fittings turned out about 150 additional outdoor men are employed. All the fixed cranes and wagon turntables are also made here. The maintenance and renewals of over 1,700 signal boxes and stages are provided for by these works; in addition to which an average of thirty boxes a year are provided for new lines, &c. The average number of levers in Midland Railway boxes is about twenty, excluding stages. Mr. Thomas Woodward, the signal superintendent, is in charge of the works under the chief engineer, Mr. J. A. McDonald.
Electric Light Station
CORPORATION ELECTRIC-LIGHT STATION, DERBY.
Derby Electric Light Station
The site of this station in Full Street, on the banks of the River Derwent, is admirably suited for the purpose of an electric-light station. The buildings are substantially and well built, having an ornamental frontage. They were designed by Messrs. Bramwell and Harris of Westminster, and were opened in October 1893. In addition to the engine and boiler rooms, coal store, &c., are the offices, drawing offices, store and meter rooms, and a club room for the use of the staff.
In the engine room, which is about 60 feet long by 50 feet wide and 18 feet high to the underside of the roof principals, fourteen engines and dynamos are installed, and another engine and dynamo of 1,000 I.H.P. is about to be added. For the convenience of handling the machinery, three travelling cranes are erected in the roof, each capable of lifting 5 tons, and of being manipulated by one man. Three of the engines and dynamos, each of 40 I.H.P., running at a speed of 240 revolutions per minute, are used for the purpose of lighting the streets; two of them are constantly in use during the hours of darkness, the third being kept in reserve. There are also four engines and exciters used for energising the field magnets of the machines which supply private consumers with light, power, and current for cooking and similar purposes. Of these latter machines there are seven, namely two of 50 I.H.P. each, three of 100 I.H.P. each, and two of 250 I.H.P. each. Still more recently two of the 100 I.H.P. sets and two exciters have been removed to make room for the new 1,000 I.H.P. engine and dynamo.
All the engines and dynamos are combined, that is, each engine is coupled with its dynamo on the same shaft and bed-plate, thereby saving the room and also the mechanical loss of power due to driving either by ropes or by belts. All the oil used on the engines gravitates to a common tank, whence it is pumped back again to a purifier, and to the various oil reservoirs attached to the engines. Steam is supplied by six Lancashire boilers; three of them are fitted with Vicars' mechanical stokers, and three with McPhail and Simpson's superheaters, which increase the boiler efficiency by 30 per cent. From the boilers a ring main steam-pipe is taken underneath the floor plates of the engine house, and branches go to each engine. The exhaust from the engines is carried either direct to the atmosphere, or into a surface condenser in the basement with the necessary air-pump and Worthington circulating-water pump. The latter draws the circulating water for the condenser from the River Dement, which is adjoining; and delivers its hot water into the hot well on the top of the boilers, whence it is pumped again into the boilers by a small donkey-pump, either directly, or through McPhail and Simpson's water-softener, which reduces the hardness from 19.4° to 7.2° on Dr. Clark's scale. The coal is fed into the automatic stokers from a common hopper, into which carts deliver the coal direct; whence it is carried by a chain of buckets into a horizontal conveyer, and thence by a screw along in front of the boilers. The mechanical stokers and their feeders are driven by two small engines situated upon the top of the boilers.
The main switchboard in the engine room is composed of panels of enamelled slate, one for each engine, and the others for the feeder mains fitted into pitch-pine moulding. Along its front is a platform 61 feet above the floor, so placed that the whole of the engine room is always under the eye of the engineer in charge. From the switchboard, mains pass out to twenty-two centres in the town. In convenient spots at these centres are placed sub-distributing transformer boxes, upon which are mounted arc-lamps for the purpose of street lighting; in addition to the transformer boxes there are four brick transformer sub-stations. The current is transformed down from 2,000 volts to 100 or 200 volts; and is distributed to the consumers by mains placed in 4-inch earthenware pipes, running about 18 inches under the pavement. Pilot wires are brought back from the mains at various parts of the town, for enabling the engineer in charge to see whether the lamps are burning at their proper brilliancy. One half of the street lamps can be worked independently of the others: that is, every alternate lamp in the street is lighted from one main, the other main supplying the remaining lamps. The are lamps are of the Siemens and Brockie-Pell types, mounted on ornamental posts about 22 feet above the pavement. Each lamp takes a current of ten amperes at a pressure of forty-five volts, and gives about 1,200 candle-power.
About 400 consumers are now connected to the mains, equal to over 21,000 lamps. Owing to the increased demand, further additions will soon be needed. The electrical engineer is Mr. J. E. Stewart.
Derby Waterworks
DERBY WATER WORKS, LITTLE EATON.
Derby Waterworks
There appears to have been an organized system of water supply established as early as 1691, when the power derived from an artificial fall in the River Dement was applied, by means of a wheel and three small pumps, to raise water from the river and distribute it unfiltered through a 4-inch lead pipe some 400 or 500 yards long.
The supply was intermittent, and the pressure was in no case more than 20 or 30 feet above the ground-floor level of the houses. The population of Derby, when these works were established, must have been small, as about one century later it amounted to only 8,513. The above works appear to have remained about the same as originally formed, in regard to condition and extent, until 1848, when the population was 43,671, of which only about one-ninth was supplied from the then existing water works.
In 1848 a new company, with a capital of £40,000, was formed and an act of parliament obtained, for better supplying with water the borough of Derby and certain adjoining parishes. Under the powers so acquired eleven acres of land were purchased at Breadsall, about three miles from Derby; and the first instalment of the present works was constructed in 1849 and 1850, consisting of a circular collecting tank 150 feet diameter, to receive water from a line of pipes intercepting and collecting the springs in the valley of Bottle Brook, and also from filter tunnels by the River Derwent.
Two Cornish pumping engines, about 50 horse-power each, by Messrs. R. and W. Hawthorn, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, are supplied with steam from four boilers consuming on an average 5.75 cwts. of slack per hour. The steam pressure is 15 lbs. per square inch, cylinders 4 feet diameter, stroke 8 feet, pump ram 18 inches diameter, stroke 8 feet, raising 87 gallons per stroke against a pressure of about 170 feet head of water, and making 10 strokes per minute. The pumping main is 18 inches diameter, and service main to town 18 inches diameter. The storage reservoir has a capacity of 1.5 million gallons, and the three filter beds and service reservoir have a capacity of one million gallons.
Additional works were erected in 1875, comprising a circular collecting tank 50 feet diameter, two rotary single-cylinder pumping engines, by Messrs. Kitson and Co. of Leeds, of about 100 horsepower each, supplied with steam from four boilers consuming on an average 7.75 cwts. of slack per hour. The steam pressure is 35 lbs. per square inch, cylinders 3 feet diameter, stroke 7 feet, pump ram 17 inches diameter, pump bucket 2 feet diameter, stroke of pumps 3 feet 6 inches, raising 68.2 gallons per stroke against a pressure of about 280 feet head of water, and making 16 strokes per minute. The pumping main is 20 inches diameter, and service main to town 18 inches diameter. The storage-reservoir capacity is 11 million gallons, with four filter beds; and the service- reservoir capacity is one million gallons. The service reservoir at Littleover, two miles from Derby, has a capacity of about 300,000 gallons, supplied from the Breadeall works; it assists in supplying the higher parts of the town. The filter tunnels were extended on the side of the River Derwent in 1890, thus increasing the collecting area.
In 1880 the whole of the works were purchased by the corporation at a cost of £351,000. The original works of 1849 were designed by the late Mr. Thomas Hawksley, Past-President, and all later additions by Messrs. T. and C. Hawksley of Westminster, who now arc acting as consulting engineers to the Derby Corporation. Practically every house has now town water laid on, and the population supplied at the end of 1897 was 113,600. There is a constant pressure of between 100 and 200 feet in the service mains. The average daily consumption for domestic use is 15; gallons per head, and by meters 7; gallons per head, making a total of 23 gallons per head per day.
Milton Pumping Station
MILTON PUMPING STATION, SWADLINCOTE AND ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH JOINT WATER WORKS.
The Urban Councils of Swadlincote and Ashby-de-la-Zouch have combined for the purpose of constructing waterworks for the supply of their respective districts. The joint committee take the full control of the works, and are constituted a separate authority by the Local Government Board. In addition to supplying their own district, they have undertaken to supply the newly constituted district of Woodville, which purchases the water in bulk from them by meter at the price of ten pence per thousand gallons. The area of supply extends over about 14 square miles, and includes all the mining and pottery district of Swadlincote, extending from the boundary of Burton-on-Trent to and including the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Urban Sanitary District. It is undulating, and ranges from 200 to 550 feet above ordnance datum. Its manufactures are numerous and varied, and the district is rapidly increasing in population.
The pumping station is at Milton, eight miles distant from the service reservoir, and the water is derived from the alluvial gravels fed by the rainfall on an extensive watershed of new red sandstone and permian marls. The denudation of the sandstone in past ages has left behind in the gravels a small percentage of the iron which forms the coating of colouring matter on the quartz grains composing the new red sandstone; and the general hardness of the water is about 22 or 23 degrees, which, although not objectionable from a hygienic point of view, is not desirable for manufacturing industries. The water is obtained from a series of filter tunnels at the base of the gravels resting on the red marl formation, which are connected into a circular well 20 feet diameter and 24 feet deep; and also from a series of thirty bore-holes lined with 6-inch galvanised wrought-iron perforated tubes, each containing an inner suction tube 4 inches diameter carried to within a foot of the bottom and connected up watertight to the outer bore-hole tube. The bore-holes pass through a water-tight bed of alluvial clay from 7 to 9 feet thick, the water-bearing bed being found between this and the red marl formation below. They extend over ten acres of ground, and are connected by two lines of 9-inch suction pipes to the low-level pumps.
All the water is softened by the Archbutt-Deeley process, which reduces the hardness to 8 degrees and removes every trace of iron; and to effect this the water has to be pumped twice. The low-duty Plant consists of three pumps: one drawing from the well has a capacity of 30,000 gallons per hour; and two drawing from the bore- holes have a capacity of 15,000 gallons each per hour. The maximum speed is 40 revolutions per minute, and the maximum lift 51 feet. These pumps deliver through a 12-inch main direct into the softening tanks, and also into a circular tank which stores up the water during the intervals of the softening operations, enabling the tanks to be filled rapidly, and thus increasing their working capacity. The low-level pumps are driven by a pair of horizontal condensing engines, right and left hand, having 101-inch cylinders and 22 inches stroke, fitted with short ports and Meyer's variable-expansion gear; the pump crank-shafts are an extension of the engine crank-shafts.
The high-duty machinery consists of two tandem compound condensing engines, each working a set of three-throw horizontal ram pumps, the regular duty being to deliver 45,000 gallons per hour to a vertical height of 416 feet through eight miles of 12-inch pumping main. The ordinary load when one engine is at work is 418 feet, and when both are running 488 feet. The high-pressure cylinders are 14; inches diameter, low-pressure 23 inches, with 36 inches stroke. The cylinders are steam jacketed, having short ports with double slide-valves fitted with Meyer's variable-expansion gear, adjustable by hand whilst the engines are running. The low- pressure cylinders have Trick slide-valves arranged to cut off at about half-stroke. The crank-shafts are steel, machined all over; one end is fitted with cast-iron disc and steel crank-pin to carry the engine connecting-rod; and on the other end are forged three cranks, having throws slotted out for working direct by connecting- rods without the intervention of gearing. The rams are 9; inches diameter by 15 inches stroke, and the speed is 36 revolutions per minute. The pump suctions terminate in floating arms, which decant the water from the softened-water reserve-tank. The water is delivered into a service reservoir at Woodville having a capacity of one million gallons, from which it is again decanted into the distributing pipes. The softening process has proved highly effective, and has given general satisfaction to the inhabitants of the district, and particularly to the manufacturers who use the supply. The total cost of softening, including interest and depreciation on capital, and working expenses, averages about three farthings per thousand gallons. All the engines exhaust into a separate jet-condenser, attached to an independent condensing engine; this arrangement being particularly effective, a good vacuum is produced, and the main engines are started against the load without difficulty. The engines are supplied with steam by two Lancashire boilers 28 feet by 7 feet, worked at 100 lbs. steam pressure, which also supply the steam for the softening apparatus. The whole of the machinery was supplied by Messrs. Tangyes of Birmingham, and the apparatus for softening and carbonating the water by Messrs. Mather and Platt of Manchester. The cast-iron tanks used for the softening process were supplied and erected by the Stanton Iron Works Co., who also supplied all the cast-iron pipes used throughout the works. The general contractor was Mr. Joseph Tomlinson of Derby, and the engineers are Messrs. George and Frederic W. Hodson of Westminster and Loughborough.
Bemrose and Sons
MESSRS. BEMROSE AND SONS, PRINTING WORKS, DERBY.
Bemrose and Sons
This firm was established by the late William Bemrose in 1825, and was converted in 1892 into a private company. The Derby works, which consist of a group of mills, are situated close to the Midland Railway station, the main entrance being at the corner of Park Street and Canal Street. The work here undertaken comprises every kind of letterpress and lithographic printing, including the photo-mechanical processes, bookbinding, envelope making, and relief stamping. The machines used in the six letterpress printing rooms are chiefly of the Wharfedale single- cylinder kind; and perfecters, American two-revolution quick presses, and a French rotary web machine, may also be seen at work, along with a largo variety of small platen machines. In the lithographic department, the machines are of various English makes, from a small hand-press to a machine which will print sheets 40 inches by 60 inches. This department deals with lithographic printing in black and colours, from small commercial stationery up to mammoth posters. A third and distinct branch of printing which is undertaken is that of collotype printing. This is a process in which the prints are produced in a printing machine, with printer's ink, from a photographically prepared printing surface or plate. The surface consists of a gelatine film, coated on a. thick plate of glass, which has been developed under a negative. Working in connection with the printing departments are the composing, stereotyping, type-making, designing, engraving, and drawing departments, including a complete photographic studio. A complete bindery is attached, which is fitted with the latest mechanical contrivances for folding, sewing, blocking, paging, and perforating, and the other numerous operations necessary for the binding of books, &c. The stock of paper comprises about 1,400 sizes and sorts. The whole of the works are driven by a 350 horsepower superposed compound engine by Messrs. Galloway. In addition to driving the old portion of the works by shafting, this engine drives dynamos for the electrical driving of the new portion, and also for the electric lighting of the whole. The greater portion of the electric driving is done by the group system, that is, one motor has its own length of shafting for a certain number of machines; but the method of directly attaching motors on the printing machines may be seen in use, and also motors directly attached on shafting.
Browns Foundry Co
BROWNS FOUNDRY CO., NELSON FOUNDRY, DERBY.
Browns Foundry Co
Browns Foundry Co. was established in 1869 under the style of Messrs. Brown and Co., and was carried on under this name until July 1897, when it was converted into a private company. The works are situated in Stockbrook Street, about ten minutes' walk from the Market Place. The chief business is that of general ironfounders, and a specialty is made of castings for engineers and machinists. In the moulding shop, which is 125 feet by 75 feet, castings are made from a few ounces in weight up to four tons. In addition to the business of general ironfounders, they are also makers of stove grates and kitchen ranges, of which a large and varied stock is kept; also builders' castings, such as columns, windows, ornamental railings, stable fittings, &c.
The number of men and boys employed is about 150.
Cheetham and Hill
MESSRS. CHEETHAM AND HILL, SUN FOUNDRY, DERBY.
Cheetham and Hill
This foundry produces large quantities of castings for crushing and breaking mills used by contractors, builders, cement manufacturers, &c. The works, situated in the City Road, extend right back to the River Derwent. Powerful travelling cranes are employed for lifting, loading, and unloading castings, &c.; and the works are well supplied with every convenience of a labour-saving nature. The offices are well appointed. The business was founded in 1862, and at the present time employs about 90 men.
John Davis and Son
MESSRS. JOHN DAVIS AND SON, ALL SAINTS' WORKS, DERBY.
John Davis and Son
These works are engaged in the production of apparatus and instruments chiefly used in mining operations, and consist of various shops. The machinery is driven by electric ironclad motors, for which the power is supplied from their own generating plant.
In the instrument department are seen in progress theodolites, miners' dials, dumpy levels for surveying, and anemometers for measuring air-currents. In the miners' safety-lamp department special tools are used for turning out the various parts to standard size; and the construction of lamps and other apparatus in aluminium is now a leading feature. The extreme lightness is appreciated by the miner, and a specially strong alloy is used for this purpose. A new lamp has here been recently constructed, which is lighted by electricity, and is extinguished on opening. In the electrical department may be seen the construction of electric blasting apparatus for firing shots in coal mines, which is now largely employed under the new Mines Regulation Act. The electrical power and lighting department is now busy with several contracts for coal-cutting, haulage, pumping, and lighting systems in various collieries. The foundry, which is of recent construction, supplies the works with castings in brass, gun-metal, aluminium, and iron.
Derwent Foundry
DERWENT FOUNDRY, DERBY.
Derwent Foundry
These works are situated within five minutes' walk of the Market Place, and were established about forty years ago under the present management. They are devoted entirely to the production of stove grates and heating apparatus for domestic use. The show rooms contain grates from the most inexpensive kind to the most elaborate made. The works have been built at various times, and cover about an acre and a half. The moulding shop is the principal building. Stove grates being a distinct branch of foundry work, the moulders all become used to one particular class, and so work differently from the ordinary moulders making engineers' castings. Special moulding boxes are used for each different class of castings, in order to produce them well and cheaply. The various parts are then ground on stones about 6 feet in diameter and running at a high speed, and are afterwards polished on wooden and leather wheels covered with emery. They are then blacked, and the enamel is burnt on in stoves at a temperature of 500° Fah, After that they pass to be fitted together and sent out. Large quantities are shipped abroad in bundles or in large tubs, according to the class of work and its destination.
The number of men employed is about 200.
Eastwood, Swingler and Co
MESSRS. EASTWOOD, SWINGLER AND CO., VICTORIA AND RAILWAY IRON WORKS, DERBY.
Eastwood, Swingler and Co
These works are situated on the southern outskirts of Derby. The Midland Railway main line to the west adjoins them throughout the entire length, so that they are easily accessible for the large amount of traffic inwards and outwards which has to be dealt with, the siding accommodation being conveniently arranged for this purpose. the Derby Midland station is distant about one mile, and the Great Northern station about two miles.
The area of the works is a little over 27 acres, and is divided into various sections. In the wheel department, where the manufacture of wheels, axles, forgiugs of every description, and general finishing work is carried on, is a large hydraulic press, used mainly in bending large sections of corrugated and trough flooring for bridgework, &c. The next department is the " top rolling mill," where every description of sectional iron is rolled. There is also an iron-plate rolling mill, which, even in spite of the fierce competition of steel, has been kept continuously at work.
The bridge-building department covers a largo piece of ground, and an extensive business is hero carried on. Roofwork and bridges, both large and small, are sent to all parts of this country; and large numbers have been supplied to India, Australia, Japan, China, South America, West Indies, and other parts of the world. A large trade is also carried on in engine and wagon turntables. The foundry, fitting, and smiths' department was the first to be established over fifty years ago. All descriptions of castings are to be seen, including columns for warehouse and station work, cast-iron girders, tanks, railway chairs, &c.; and a large business is carried on in switches and crossings.
One portion of the works was originally occupied by Messrs. James Eastwood and Sons, and the other portion by Messrs. Thomas Swingler and Son, the whole being amalgamated in 1867; until 1st January 1887 it was carried on under the name of Messrs. Eastwood, Swingler and Co., and subsequently was formed into a private company. The present directors are Mr. J. R. Eastwood, Mr. T. C. Eastwood, Mr. A. Swingler, and Mr. J. A. Arnold. The number of men employed is about 1,000.
George Fletcher and Co
MESSRS. GEORGE FLETCHER AND CO., MASSON AND ATLAS WORKS, DERBY.
George Fletcher and Co
These works adjoin the Midland Railway, from which there are branches into the various departments, facilitating the receipt of raw material and the despatch of finished machinery. There are three main sections, consisting of foundry, machine shops, and boiler works, extending over a considerable area of ground, and affording employment for 400 to 600 men.
The original works of this firm were established at Farnham Place, Southwark, London, about 1850; but with a rapidly increasing demand for the specialities there manufactured, it was found necessary in 1862 to erect larger works, and in the following year the Masson Works were erected; from time to time these have been added to, and in 1883 the Atlas Foundry was acquired and extended. Machinery used in the production and refining of sugar is largely made here, and is well known throughout the world; also machinery for the manufacture of Portland cement is made both for this country and abroad. Sewage pumps, centrifugal pumps, and pumps for town supplies, as well as mining pumps, are a branch of manufacture; also centrifugals, hydro-extractors, brewing machinery, filter presses, hydraulic oil presses, winding engines, blast-furnace machinery, constructional ironwork, railway trucks for heavy loads and special purposes, and tank wagons. Boilers of all kinds are produced here, including boilers fired with refuse material; also special kinds for colonial use, and for localities where transport is difficult. Multiple-effect and ordinary vacuum evaporating apparatus are another branch of manufacture. The foundry is fitted for producing light and heavy castings up to 20 tons in weight.
W. and T. Fletcher
MESSRS. W. AND T. FLETCHER, LACE FACTORY, DERBY.
W. and T. Fletcher
This factory, situated in Osmaston Road, was built in 1883 by the present firm to develop the business established in 1873 at Meaner, Derbyshire, for the manufacture of silk and cotton laces. It was the first factory built in Derby for the manufacture of fancy laces, and at the present time employs 500 workpeople. Mr. Thomas Fletcher is now the sole proprietor.
Derby Gas Works
DERBY GAS WORKS, LITCHURCH.
Derby Gas Works
These works are in connection with the lines of the Midland Railway, and are contiguous to the Derby Canal. Their construction was commenced in 1872, and they occupy an area of about s4 acres. The productive capacity is about 3,000,000 cubic feet per day, and this can be somewhat increased. On the opposite side and adjoining the canal are about 121. acres of land for future extensions. Each of the two retort houses measures 241 feet by 51 feet 8 inches, exclusive of the adjoining coal sheds. About three-fourths of the retorts, heated by direct firing, are 18 feet long by 18 inches by 14 inches, and they each carbonise 4 cwts. of coal five times in twenty-four hours. About one-fourth of the retorts are 22 inches by 16 inches, each carbonising 4 cwts. six times in twenty- four hours; these are heated with producer gas, the air for combustion being heated regeneratively. The total number of mouthpieces is 606. The present maximum winter day's consumption of coal is about 200 tons, and the maximum day's delivery of gas is about 21 million cubic feet. The scrubbers and condensers are of the ordinary vertical kind, with the addition of Messrs. Kirkham and Co.'s mechanical washers. Two of the four direct-acting engines and exhausters are by Messrs. Gwynne and Co., and two by Messrs. Donkin and Co., each having a capacity of 60,000 cubic feet per hour. There are two sets of four purifiers, each 30 feet by 15 feet; and the two meters by Messrs: Parkinson and Co. have each a capacity of 60,000 cubic feet per hour. The three gas-holders are telescopic, and are severally 125, 90, and 140 feet in diameter, and contain collectively about 21 million cubic feet. The one of 125 feet diameter has four lifts, the top lift rising above the columns, and being guided by the wire-rope system of Messrs. Ashmore, Benson, Pease and Co. The gas is delivered into the town through floating governor valves, made by Messrs. Parkinson, and connected with 30-inch and 24-inch leading mains. Benzole or light petroleum spirit is used in the carburetting apparatus as required, and the gas is sent from the works with an illuminating power of about 174 standard candles. The annual consumption of coal and gas, including the work done at the company's smaller works in the centre of the town, is approximately 50,000 tons and 500 million cubic feet. The pumps are each in duplicate for water, tar, and ammoniacal, spent, and circulating liquors. The three boilers are of the Cornish type, 20 feet long by 5 feet 6 inches diameter. The continuous sulphate of ammonia plant was erected by Messrs. Ashmore, Benson, Pease and Co.; the still is that designed and employed by Mr. Alfred Colson, of Leicester; the productive capacity is about 4 tons of sulphate per day. Mr. Henry Swingler is the chairman of the company. Mr. Charles Taylor is the engineer in charge, and the winter number of men employed at these works alone is about 220.
Andrew Handyside and Co
MESSRS. ANDREW HANDYSIDE AND CO., BRITANNIA IRON WORKS, DERBY.
Andrew Handyside and Co
These works were established at the beginning of the present century, at first as an iron foundry, and were soon known for the superior quality of what were called "Derby castings." The Midland and Great Northern Railways adjoin the works, and are connected with them by means of sidings. With every facility for materials, fuel, labour, and transport, the firm have been engaged for many years in the manufacture and erection in Great Britain and abroad of important bridges, &c. In addition to the workshops and building-yards for steel and wrought-iron structures there are foundries for cast-iron and malleable cast-iron, and extensive machine-shops. The manufacture and erection of steel and iron structures have not been confined to the heavier class of work, such as large railway bridges and stations, or exhibition buildings, but comprise such work as enclosed markets, winter gardens, drill halls, and conservatories; also ornamental work, such as fountains, vases, gates, railings, &c. Steel and iron structures are continually being made for the colonies and foreign countries; and by their owe engineers and foremen the firm have erected bridges, &c., in Russia, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Italy, Sardinia, Canada, Australia, South America, and Africa.
The number of men employed is about 1,000.
Haslam Foundry and Engineering Co
HASLAM FOUNDRY AND ENGINEERING WORKS, UNION FOUNDRY, DERBY.
Haslam Foundry and Engineering Co
These works are situated in the City Road, on the south bank of the River Derwent, and are in close proximity to the Midland Railway goods depot. They were established in 1824, and in 1868 the Union Foundry was acquired by Sir Alfred Seale Haslam, who in more recent years converted it into a private company.
The works occupy an approximate area of 4 acres, and present a frontage to the City road of about 700 feet, the offices being in a central position. They extend from City Road to the banks of the River Dement, and consist of extensive fitting shops, which have an average span of 70 feet, and are fitted with powerful cranes, one of them capable of lifting a load of 30 tons. The engineering shops are equipped with all the most modern tools, and with foundries for snaking castings in iron up to 15 tons, and also brass castings of considerable size. Some years ago this company acquired the business of Messrs. Pontifex and Wood, of Shoe Lane, which they removed from London to Derby.
The principal productions of the works comprise all kinds of refrigerating machinery for all purposes and on various systems, namely compressed-air system; and ammonia system of compression and absorption type. The - machines are made in various sizes, some up to 200 tons ice capacity, and are extensively used for different purposes on board ship and on shore, for cooling stores containing frozen meat, perishable food, &c., for the manufacture of ice, for cooling water in breweries, and for cooling creameries. They are also applied to various industries, such as in oil works and in the manufacture of explosives. Some of the machines are of large dimensions, and capable of refrigerating a cargo of 3,000 tons of meat on board ship, for the conveyance of frozen food from the colonies to this country. A large number of machines have been supplied to the British, Russian, Spanish, Austrian, Japanese, and other navies, and to the P. & O. Steam Navigation Co., Shaw Savill and Albion Co., New Zealand Shipping Co., Pacific Co., Orient Co., Westray and Co., Houlder Bros., Union Line, Donald Currie and Co., Gulf Line, Aberdeen Line, River Plate Fresh Meat Co., Allan Line, Cunard Co., Ismay Imrie and Co., City Line, &c. A large business is done in the manufacture of apparatus for breweries, distilleries, vinegar making, and milk condensing; and coppersmiths' work in all its branches. Between 600 and 700 men are employed in the various departments.
This company was the first to supply refrigerating machinery on board ship for conveying frozen meat from Australia to this country; the " Orient," " Garonne," and " Catania," so fitted, brought some of the first cargoes of frozen meat in 1881. Extensive stores have been fitted up in London for the storage of frozen meat, one of which will hold approximately a million carcases of frozen mutton. Stores have also been fitted up for the same purpose in Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff, Hull, West Hartlepool, and various other centres, besides stores and freezing works in Australia, New Zealand, South America, and other parts of the world. The works are engaged at present in the construction of an installation for South America, which when completed will be perhaps the largest meat-freezing establishment in the world.
Holmes and Co
MESSRS. HOLMES AND CO., COACHBUILDING AND HARNESS WORKS, DERBY.
Holmes and Co (Derby)
This business has been established over 130 years, the present proprietors being the fourth generation. Mr. Charles Holmes was a coachmaker in Lichfield in 1760, and his son established the Derby business early in this century.
The manufactory. at Derby is one of the most complete and extensive in England, and stands on about two acres of ground. More than fifty years ago steam machinery was introduced into the works; several of the machines were of the firm's own invention, and were made on the premises, notably the spoke lathe and felloe saw.
The present engines of 50 horse-power were erected in 1856. The machinery includes a log horizontal saw, circular and band saws, lathes, planing and shaping machinery, iron lathes, planing and drilling machines, tire-bending and spring-making machines, West's hydraulic tire-setter, tapping and screwing, grindstones, emery wheels and polishing machinery, paint grinding and pounding machines, carriage hoist, fans for smiths' fires, steam-hammer, and Pumps for the necessary supply of water used on the works and in case of fire. In the workshops, which are all well lighted and heated with hot-water pipes, more than 100 carriages can be dealt with, and from 200 to 250 men can be employed. The show rooms and stock of carriages are among the largest in the country. There are also branch establishments at Lichfield, Sheffield, Burtonon-Trent, and in Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, London. The firm are coachmakers by appointment to the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and the government.
Kitchen and Co
MESSRS. KITCHEN AND CO., SEVERN BOILER WORKS, LITTLE CHESTER, DERBY.
Kitchen and Co
These works are situated at Little Chester on the outskirts of Derby, being one mile from the Market Place, and about two miles from the Midland Railway station. Including yard space, they occupy a site of about 21 acres, and are provided with a siding in connection with the Midland Railway main line.
The business carried on is the manufacture of wrought-iron and steel welded boilers used in connection with heating apparatus for warming buildings of all descriptions. Welded boilers have proved themselves to be particularly suitable for this class of work, and are now almost invariably used. The " Severn " pattern of boiler exclusively made at these works is a combination of the ordinary and tubular designs, and is made in sizes to heat from 300 to 9,000 square feet of radiating surface.
The large shop, about 240 feet long by 80 feet wide, is divided into two parts. In the larger the operations of marking out, bending, cutting, welding, smithing, &c., are carried out; and it is equipped with punching and shearing machines, rolls, large bending furnace, and twenty welding fires provided with cranes for handling quickly welded boilers up to four tons in weight. Adjoining are fitting shop and stores. The fitting shop is provided with large radial and other drilling machines, emery wheels, and other machinery necessary for fitting and tubing various sizes of boilers. To the right of the main building is a fan rosin, containing two large fans to provide blast. Adjoining is the engine room, containing a fine horizontal engine, made by Messrs. Robey and Co., driven from two boilers which also provide steam for testing purposes and steam- hammer. The engine has at present only one cylinder; but it is built ready for compounding as soon as the increasing weight to be driven may necessitate this. In the engine room is a large Tyne dynamo for electric lighting, which will shortly be started. The number of men employed is about 100.
Phoenix Foundry
PHOENIX FOUNDRY, DERBY.
Phoenix Foundry, Derby
These works, situated on the banks of the River Derwent, were established by the late Mr. James Haywood in 1834, and are pioneer works in connection with constructional ironwork. The original Shude Hill Market, Manchester, and the Stockport, Holywell, Columbia (London), Rotherham, Derby, Halifax, and many other markets, both British and foreign, were made and erected by this firm. Railway station roofs here constructed appear on the principal railways of the United Kingdom. For road and railway bridges the works hold a high reputation; and among somo of the more important contracts of late years may be mentioned the Battersea Bridge over the River Thames, and the Hobson's flooring and hydraulic tilt bridges for the Liverpool Overhead Railway, the weight in the latter contract being upwards of 10,000 tons.
The lock gates and machinery for the important escapes at Khosheysha, Kodabah, and Kafr Boolin, Egypt, for the Nile irrigation scheme, were supplied from these works to the Egyptian government. At the present time the works are engaged upon various railway contracts for bridges, &c., at Derby, Birmingham, Leicester, Hastings, Folkestone, Eastbourne, and upon the Bank station for the Central London Railway, and upon the support of the roadway covering the area in front of the Royal Exchange, Mansion House, and Queen Victoria Street. Though of somewhat limited area, the works are fitted with modern tools as far as these can be adapted to the original buildings. The business has recently been turned into a private company, the principals of which are Messrs. Crompton of Derby, with Mr. James J. Robins as managing director.
Royal Crown Derby
ROYAL CROWN DERBY PORCELAIN WORKS, DERBY.
Royal Crown Derby
These works are situated in the Osmaston Road, a short distance from the Midland Railway station. The earliest mention of Derby ware is in 1750, one year earlier than Worcester. In addition to the antiquity of the Derby ware, the renown of the Bow and Chelsea works was passed on to Derby through the purchase by William Duesbury of the Chelsea works in 1769 and the Bow works in 177G. Men, moulds, and traditions were transferred to the Derby works and engrafted upon them. In 1877 the late Mr. E. Phillips, formerly of the Worcester works, with Messrs. W. Litherland and J. McInnes, decided to revive the old glories of Derby china, and with this object the present company was formed.
For grinding and mixing the ingredients and for preparing the clay a powerful engine is employed. Every factory has its own special formula; some " bodies " have an easy fire, others require a harder fire, such as the Royal Crown Derby undergoes. This enables finer ground colours to be obtained at these works than can be got at most other factories. Some colours are under the glaze, others are laid on the glaze. On arriving at the "biscuit" oven, visitors see the "saggers" lifted out, containing various articles that have undergone their first fire, from which they emerge a pure white with a slightly rough or biscuit surface. In this stage are best seen the delicacies of the fine pierced and relief work. Close by is the glazing room, in which the biscuit ware is plunged into a liquid glaze like cream, and by peculiar whirling movements the workman rids the article of any excess of liquid glaze. After drying, the pieces are again put into saggers; and in passing through the fire the glaze melts, and the piece is coated with a transparent glasslike surface. The article is now ready to be decorated. This process is effected in the painting rooms, where all kinds cf ornamental and useful goods are being decorated. Passing on to the gold department, many hands are here engaged in decorating the ware with a tawny brown-looking paint, very different to look at now compared with its gold tint when burnt and burnished. When this gold work has gone through the fire, the burnishers improve it by treating some parts with a burnish from the agate or bloodstone, whilst other parts are left dull gold.
In another department the potter is seen at the wheel. The motive power is gained by a girl turning a fly-wheel, which by means of a band rotates the " wheel " or small revolving table of the potter, who takes a lump of clay, and throws it on the centre of the wheel to make it adhere; he then with fingers and thumb rapidly forms a vase, a cup, or some other object.
One speciality of this factory is egg-shell china, which is almost as thin as the shell of an egg, and far more transparent. These apparently very fragile articles are mostly decorated in schemes of gold and various bronzes; and to obtain the admirable results realised the pieces have to pass through the fire several times.
To meet the increased demand for the celebrated ware, a new wing was added a few years ago, which is mainly devoted to printing on china. A pattern is engraved on a copper plate, which is covered in the usual way with colour; then the surface is cleaned, the colour being left in the engraved r The impression is taken by a press on prepared transfer paper. A girl deftly cuts and fits it to the plate or other object, rubbing it down; shortly the paper will be damped and peeled off, leaving the pattern printed or transferred upon the surface, to be passed on later through the kiln.
The number of persons engaged at work here is about 350.
Roe's Timber Works
MESSRS. ROE'S TIMBER WORKS, DERBY.
Roe's Timber Works
These works, situated in Siddals Road, were founded over sixty years ago by the late Thomas Roe and Thomas Oakley. Mr. Roe was well known as an active member of the corporation, and a pioneer of public improvements in Derby; and at his death in 1879 the business was converted into a private company by his son, now Sir Thomas Roe, who is chairman. In 1893 the business of Messrs. Harvey Cholerton and Co. of Albion Street, Derby, one of the oldest timber-bending establishments in the country, was amalgamated with Messrs. Roe's. Special attention is paid to the supply of timber suitable for coach builders, cabinet makers, and the building trades; and amongst the firm's customers are the government, many of the principal railway companies, colliery proprietors, contractors, and the trade generally. About two years ago extensive alterations and additions were made at the Siddals Road Mills; but scarcely had these been completed when one of the most disastrous fires that over took place in Derby occurred on 7th July 1897, and swept away nearly the whole of the buildings, plant, and stock, scarcely leaving anything untouched.
Rebuilding however was shortly commenced, and a re-arrangement of the works was carried out, no efforts being spared to obtain the best possible and most modern machines; and the works now form one of the most complete establishments of the kind in this country. The mill, which is lighted by electricity, is both lofty and substantial, and consists principally of three bays, fitted up with steam and other cranes. There are also shops for turning, bending, and joinery work. The American band-saw, especially suitable for dealing with large timber, having pulleys 8 feet in diameter, is one of the largest made, and is capable of cutting up trees of 5 feet diameter. There are also a large vertical log frame, horizontal, cross-cutting, rack, and circular saws, together with a specially large planing machine for preparing floor boards, machines for turning, planing, moulding, tenoning and morticing, as well as automatic turning-lathes and saw- sharpening and knife-grinding machines. About 200 workpeople are employed, both on the premises and outside.
R. Russell and Sons
MESSRS. R. RUSSELL AND SONS, PEEL FOUNDRY, DERBY.
R. Russell and Sons
This foundry, situated in Meadow Road, was established in 1853, and turns out yearly a large number of stoves, grates, and kitchen ranges, especially the "Herald" cooking range.
The number of men employed is about 250.
Stanton Ironworks Co
STANTON IRON WORKS, STANTON-BY-DALE, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.
Stanton Iron Works Co
The works of this company comprise the Stanton-by-Dale and Hallam Fields blast-furnaces and foundries, besides the Teversal, Pleasley, and Silver Hill collieries, with extensive ironstone mines in the counties of Leicester, Lincoln, and Northampton, and limestone quarries at Wirksworth. The chief offices are at Stanton-by-Dale. The blast-furnaces and foundries, which were opened here more than half a century ago, have played a prominent part in the industrial history of the neighbourhood. The eight furnaces now in operation produce weekly about 2,600 tons of superior quality of pig-iron; a larger furnace is in course of erection to make 600 tons a week. The development has been especially marked since 1878, when the undertaking was acquired by the existing company, at which time they added the Hallam Fields blast-furnaces and foundries. The Stanton-by-Dale works, covering about 30 acres of ground, are situated midway between Derby and Nottingham. The foundries here include pits for casting pipes from 11 inches to 24 inches diameter, and shops for turning out special castings in connection with the pipe trade; and are supplemented with the usual pattern shops, &c. The Hallam Fields works, which cover an area of 60 acres, are near the Stanton-by-Dale works, with which they arc connected by several lines of railways. They are amongst the best equipped works of their kind in this part of the country; a special feature is the new machinery erected in the pipe foundries, enabling them to turn out pipes up to 60 inches diameter and 12 feet length. The works are provided with hydraulic machinery for testing the pipes, and all pipes are tested on the premises before being sent away. The combined output in pipes and castings is 70,000 tons a year. In addition to their extensive ironstone mines in Leicestershire, leased from the Duke of Rutland and other landowners, they have other mines in Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire, and the total annual yield is 500,000 tons. The three collieries are extensive, the royalties leased amounting to 8,000 acres; they have now been worked for a quarter of a century. The coal, coke, and cannel, are in high repute for steam purposes in iron and gas works; the coal from the Barnsley scam is equal to the well-known South Yorkshire coal. The yield of the Teversal colliery averages 1,200 tons daily. The Pleasley colliery, which was the first to develop the coal measures beneath the limestone in Derbyshire, was for many years the deepest colliery in the county, being worked at a depth of 52G •yards; it yields 1,700 tons daily, and is especially noted for the exceptionally high quality of its cannel. The Silver Hill colliery, which is not yet fully developed, yields a daily output of 1,000 tons of valuable soft coal, much esteemed for house and gas- making.
About 5,000 men and boys are employed, including 1,800 at the iron works, 500 at the ironstone mines, and 2,700 at the collieries. The nearest station to the iron works is Stanton Gate on the Midland Railway. The chairman of the; company is Mr. J. G. Crompton.
W. G. Wilkins and Co
MESSRS. W. G. WILKINS AND CO., WALL PAPER MANUFACTORY, DERBY.
W. G. Wilkins and Co
These works, situated in Uttoxeter Road, were established in 1880 by the present managing director, Mr. W. G. Wilkins, who commenced business then in a small silk mill with an old second-hand printing machine. The present factory was built in 1890, and has just been considerably enlarged; further extension in the near future is likely to be needed.
On entering the building, and passing through the clerks' office and the board room, the designers' studio is reached, and then the engravers' workshop. Here a number of men are engaged upon engraving the copper rollers or cylinders from which wall papers are printed. Passing the lathes and other machines, the paper store is entered. In it are immense stacks of "long elephant," as unprinted wall paper is technically called. Thence the tram lines, which run all round the interior of the works, lead to the largo and new surface-printing workshop, where ten powerful machines are working. There are two main divisions of paper-staining surface—in which the printing is done from a raised pattern that takes the colour upon its surface to deposit it upon the paper; and sanitary—in which the pattern is cut out of the solid copper or sunk in it, and from this engraving the colour must be forced into the paper by heavy pressure.
In surface printing, paper from a large roll of about mile length passes rapidly round a large cylinder, and in so doing comes into contact with the printing rollers, which have each a different part of the pattern raised on their surface. These pattern rollers are supplied with their respective colours from colour boxes arranged all round the frame of the machine. The colours are brought by means of the tramway direct from the factory. As the wet paper comes off the roll it passes into a huge drying chamber.
The majority of the machines in the second and third printing shops are for the manufacture of the sanitary or engraved papers. These machines require separate engines, owing to the great pressure necessary. In this process the colours are made to overlap; and being ground in transparent varnish, the various blended shades are thus artistically produced from generally prismatic colours. A machine printing in six colours can produce at least twenty shades by the skilful manner in which the six copper rollers are engraved. In the third printing shop the papers are being hung up to dry. As the printed papers come wet from the machine, an automatic machine takes a wooden rod from a box and hangs the paper on it, and then places the rod upon chains which travel up and down long tunnels fed with hot air. As the pattern dries, other machines roll the paper up, and deposit the sticks or rods into the same box again, ready to be sent again round the drying tunnels. Down below, a large fire-proof vault about 60 feet square contains thousands of valuable pattern rollers. Passing through the mechanics' shop, fitted with modern machinery, and through the workmen's dining room, and the dynamo room, the warehouse is reached on the floor above. Here the paper is rolled up by rapid machines into single pieces or rolls. Then again it is packed into large round bales, ready to be put on the trucks, which come up by the side of the little station platform.
Other departments are the order offices and large book-binding shops, where female workers are employed. The number of workpeople is about 200.
Derby Public Library
DERBY PUBLIC LIBRARY, MUSEUM, AND ART GALLERY.
The Free Library and Museum in the Wardwick were opened in 1879. They form a handsome building in the Flemish Gothic style, of red brick with white facings, and are admirably adapted for their purpose. On the ground floor are two spacious reading- rooms for the general public, a ladies' reading-room, reference, lending, and children's libraries; the upper floor is devoted to a natural history museum. The whole, including the curator's house and porter's lodge adjoining, was presented to the town by the late Mr. Michael Thomas Bass, who represented Derby for many years in parliament. Connected with this building, but with a frontage on the Strand, is the Corporation Art Gallery, also built by Mr. Bass, on the site presented to the town by the late Sir Abraham Wooiliwiss. This is a well-lighted and commodious building, consisting of two floors.
The lower gallery contains a magnificent collection of Derby China, the gift of the late Mr. Felix Joseph and others; in the upper gallery is a collection of paintings, of which there are three exhibitions every year.
Technical College
MUNICIPAL TECHNICAL COLLEGE, DERBY.
The College is a Gothic building, erected from the designs and under the superintendence of Messrs. Waller and Son, architects, Gloucester; it covers an area of about 17,000 square feet. The plan of the building is rectangular, and has four elevations. Those on the east and south side are plain, and built with red brick; the two elevations facing Degge Street and Green Hill are built with pitch face-wall stones from the Riga quarries, and with Hollington stone dressings. The elevation on Green Hill is treated in a highly artistic manner, and has a pleasing effect. The porch forming the principal entrance is situated on this side, projecting from the main building about six feet; there are two other entrances, for art students on the east side, and for science students on the south side.
The interior of the building is somewhat plain, the architects having endeavoured to make the building as convenient as possible for its general management; it has a clean and solid appearance. The walls of the corridors and staircases have a glazed-brick dado five feet high. The entrance hall from the porch has also a good effect, with polished red granite columns, carved capitals, stone arches, and mosaic floors. The principal staircase from the hall to the first floor has hard York stone steps, moulded, and wrought-iron ornamental balusters and skirting, with a polished oak hand-rail. The corridors leading to the different rooms run on the four sides of the building, and are lighted from two open courts, the walls of which are faced with white glazed bricks. The different floors include a sub-basement, a basement, ground floor, and first and second floors. The whole of the sub-basement is used for the heating and ventilating, which is on the plenum system, and has been carried out by Messrs. Ashwell and Nesbit of Leicester. The fan is 7 feet 6 inches diameter, and is driven by an electric motor. In the basement are the engine rooms, plumbing shop, modelling and casting rooms, room for typography, and a large room for manual instruction, as well as a boiler for generating steam for heating.
The ground floor contains a large art lecture room, a physical laboratory, and several large class rooms, together with the committee room and secretary's room and office. On the first floor is a large antique room for art purposes, and a fine lecture theatre for physical, chemical, and other demonstrations, a large mechanical drawing room, and several class rooms. On the top floor are exceptionally good chemical laboratories, a life painting room, together with several class rooms, and a large room devoted to light and shade drawing.
The rooms throughout the building are light and lofty; the floors are all fire-proof on the Dennett and Ingle plan of concrete arches. The cost of the whole building has been upwards of £30,000. The contractor was Mr. Henry Vernon of Derby, and the National Free Wiring Co. of London for electric lighting.
Advanced art is taught with considerable success, and two silver medals were gained last year. The sciences include those connected with machine and building construction, chemistry, steam, mechanics, physiology and hygiene, &c. There are eleven classes in connection with the City and Guilds of London Institution, as well as for literary subjects.
The whole of the work is under the Technical Instruction Committee of the Derby Corporation, which has recently granted a penny rate under the Technical Instruction Act for carrying on the work. The chairman is Mr. Councillor J. E. Russell, and the organising secretary Mr. George Sutherland.
Royal Infirmary
DERBYSHIRE ROYAL INFIRMARY, DERBY.
This building, of which the first stone was laid by Her Majesty the Queen on 21st May 1891, was opened by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire on 7th July 1894. It occupies a fine site of over 13 acres on the London Road, close to the Midland Railway station, and readily accessible from all parts of the town. The scheme for the complete infirmary comprises seventeen distinct blocks. Of these the two administration blocks, the laundry, nurses' home, outpatients' department, mortuary, three ward blocks, operation room, isolation hut, chapel, and secretary's house, have been completed, the remaining blocks being deferred for future erection.
In the centre is the front administration block, containing on the ground floor the secretary's offices, medical officers' consulting room, staff dining-room, surgery waiting hall, surgery and examining rooms. On the first floor are the matron's and resident medical officers' quarters and the board room. The second floor is devoted to bedrooms for the servants. Immediately behind this block, and connected therewith by a spacious corridor, is the rear administration block. It contains on the ground floor the entrance for stores, the various store rooms, and dining rooms for the nurses and servants. On the upper floor aro the kitchens, larders, and porters' quarters, the latter being approached by a separate staircase. The main corridor of the hospital runs through this block at right angles to the corridor leading from the front administration block; and from it, projecting right and left, are the ward pavilions of two storeys each, the operating rooms, the eye wards, and chapel; whilst at the south-east end is placed the out-patient block, containing a general waiting hall which can comfortably seat 230 persons, consulting and examining rooms, porters' office, dispensary, and laboratory. White and salt-glazed bricks enter largely into the construction of this department and the corridors.
The wards are 127 feet long, 29 feet wide, 14 feet high, and contain twenty-four beds each. Each patient has 2,066 feet of cubic space. The floors are made of terrazzo, a species of marble mosaic; they were the first ward floors laid in this material in this country. The wards are heated by ten steam coils, placed under the windows in recesses formed for their reception. Each coil has three leaves, and each leaf can be swung out at right angles to permit of free access to the air channels for the purpose of cleanliness; the air channels are in no case longer than the thickness of the wall. One of these ward blocks, the "Susan Strutt," was erected in memory of his daughter by the late Mr. George Henry Strutt, of Belper; and a second, the "Susan Evans," by Mr. Walter Evans, of Darley Abbey, in memory of his wife. The chapel, which provides seating accommodation for 102 persons, was erected in memory of the late Sir William Evans, Bart. The operating room is lined with marble slabs up to a height of seven feet, above which the walls and ceiling are finished with Keene's cement painted and varnished. The floor is laid in terrazzo. the various tables, &c., are made of iron and glass. The room and fittings are so arranged that the whole can be cleaned by means of a jet of water from a hose-pipe. The wards, chapel, and operating theatres are lighted by electricity.
The laundry block is connected with the rear administration block by a covered way. It contains receiving rooms for dirty linen, wash-house, steam-heated drying-horses, ironing room, and a sorting and delivery room for clean linen. At the back are the boiler house, engine room, workshop, disinfecting house, cremator for refuse, and water tower. Behind the main buildings are the isolation hut, mortuary, joiner's shop, store, and stable, &c. The nurses' house is completely detached from the rest of the hospital, and affords accommodation for forty-eight nurses. Each has a separate bedroom; and separate sitting and reading rooms have been provided for the assistant matron, sisters, and probationers. The buildings were designed by Messrs. Young and Hall of Bloomsbury, London, and the builders were Messrs. Walker and Slater of Derby. The heating apparatus, kitchen fittings, &c., were supplied by Messrs. J. Slater and Co. of Holborn, London.
Royal National Institution for the Deaf and Dumb
ROYAL INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB, FRIAR GATE, DERBY.
This Institution was founded in 1880, and has accommodation for 150 children and staff. The building was designed by Mr. Ernest Ryley of Derby, and has cost (including land) over £20,000 in its construction. At the last examination by the government inspectors under the Blind and Deaf Act, the progress in the education of the children so afflicted was most favourably reported on. In addition to the ordinary subjects, manual training is systematically taught; the course of instruction for the boys includes kindergarten, clay modelling, wood-working, carpentry, fretwork, &c., and for the girls needlework, knitting, &e.; both take part in the household work of the Institution. Physical training in drill and gymnastics receives considerable attention, and this year the children succeeded in winning for the third time the All England Challenge Shield offered by the National Physical Recreation Society. For the amusement and recreation of the pupils an entertainment and athletic fund is maintained by the teaching staff, and by its means athletic sports and seasonable pastimes are arranged. The President is Sir A. Seale Haslam, and the head master Dr. W. R. Roe.
Railway Servant's Orphange
RAILWAY SERVANTS' ORPHANAGE, ASHBOURNE ROAD, DERBY.
This institution occupies an area of between five and six acres in an elevated and open position, and will accommodate in its present state over 230 children. It is a handsome substantial building conveniently arranged. Under the direction of Mr. S. W. Johnson, locomotive superintendent of the Midland Railway, who is a member of the committee, it has been fitted with excellent modern apparatus for cooking, washing, and heating. It was established in 1875 on a modest scale for the children of men who had lost their lives in the performance of their duty on any railway in the United Kingdom. In 1881, when it had already been considerably extended, it became a branch of the Railway Benevolent Institution; and from that time the payment of a small subscription by the father renders his children eligible for admission, even if his death should occur from natural causes. For nineteen VP11.1, all the candidates eligible under either condition have been received. Since its establishment 743 children have been admitted, whose fathers were employed on twenty-six different railways; and there are now 223 in residence. The Orphanage is a model of cleanliness, neatness, and good order. In addition to their attendance in school, the children perform a variety of domestic duties. The girls leave the day school at twelve years of age, after which, besides receiving instruction in school lessons, they aro taught to do every kind of work in the house. Everything they wear, except their hats and boots, is made by them under proper direction; and when they leave at fifteen they have acquired a good amount of skill in all kinds of household duties. The boys leave at fourteen, having previously received instruction in manual work which helps to prepare them for a useful life; the greater number of them enter the railway service.
The chairman of the committee of management is Mr. Alderman Bottomley; the vice-chairman is Mr. James Williams, secretary of the Midland Railway; and Lord Claud J. Hamilton, chairman of the Great Eastern Railway, holds the office of treasurer. Twelve of the committee are appointed by the subscribers, and six by the board of the Railway Benevolent Institution.
Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton
MESSRS. BASS, RATCLIFF, AND GRETTON, BREWERY, BURTON-ON-TRENT.
Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton
These breweries are the largest establishments of their kind in the United Kingdom, or probably in the world. The railway system has done much to develop the staple business of Burton; but Bass, the Burton brewer, had established the brewery and acquired a name long before the introduction of railways. In 1777 William Bass founded the business which was the germ of the great business of his grandson, the late Michael Thomas Bass. The brewery was built on a plot about the size of a moderately large garden; now it occupies premises extending over 150 acres. It contains 39 steam- engines of 750 horse-power in the aggregate, and two portable engines of 26 horse-power. The traffic is worked by ten locomotives in and out of the premises, through which run 15 miles of railway. As many as 86,000 railway trucks are in use during the course of six months, and over 600 have been loaded in a single day. The stock of casks consists of 40,000 butts, 132,000 hogsheads, 128,000 barrels, 115,000 kilderkins, and 83,000 firkins; in all 498,000 casks.
Owing to the adoption of mechanical and scientific appliances, where the founder employed ten men his successors employ only one; and yet they need 2,800 men and boys at Burton, in addition to hundreds of others to manage their various places in London and the large towns. They also employ 400 managers and clerks.
The first brewery erected by William Bass, a little more than a century ago, has been enlarged from time to time. A second was built in 1853, and has been repeatedly enlarged; and _a third was built in 1861. The second and third breweries have been greatly enlarged to meet the growing demand, to an extent equal to a fourth new brewery; and the first brewery has also been entirely rebuilt on an enlarged and more convenient plan. More than five million bricks were used in the construction of the new brewery; the main block is 700 feet long, with an average breadth of about 108 feet. There are four floors, which give an average floor space of more than six acres. The racking rooms on the ground floor cover more than one and a half acre, on which there are three engine-rooms. The first floor contains the tunning and mashing rooms, with rooms for storing and grinding malt. The fermenting rooms occupy the second floor, and the coolers and copper-house the third. The tunning rooms are of the same area as the racking rooms, and contain 2,548 tunning casks of 160 gallons each. The mashing rooms have twelve mash-tubs, each of which will deal with 60 quarters of malt. From the malt rooms the malt, after it has been ground, is raised by a chain of cans, attached to a revolving belt, into a trough, from which it is sent forward by an archimedean screw to the malt-hoppers over the mash-tubs,' ready for use, to be dropped into the tubs as required.
The fermenting room has 159 squares or vats, each containing 2,200 gallons. The coolers are supplemented by four large refrigerators, capable of cooling 250 barrels of wort per hour. The copper-house contains three water coppers that will each boil 12,000 gallons, and eleven wort coppers that will each boil 2,200 gallons of wort. There are also three hot-water tanks adjoining the brewery, for the supply of boiling water for washing and brewing purposes; these are heated from circulating boilers, and hold 15,000 gallons each. Over the copper-house is a large water tank that commands the whole premises. It is supplied by engine-power, the water being pumped from wells on the premises.
In connection with the new brewery, a new cooperage and three large malt-houses were erected; also immense hop and ale stores occupying a total area of nearly six acres, and capable of containing 20,000 pockets of hops and about 60,000 barrels of beer. In the cooperage, in which there is ingenious machinery, 680 men and boys are employed.
At Burton the firm have twenty-three mailings, and at the Shobnall premises, in addition to immense ale-cask and stave wharves, are eight malt-houses, which were erected at a total cost of over £100,000, all communicating, and capable of malting about 80,000 quarters.
They have also largo establishments at Lincoln and Grantham, which together make during the malting seasons 7,500 quarters per week. Notwithstanding their great powers of production, the malting-houses are not adequate to supplying the wants of the concern, and malt to a considerable amount has to be bought. In London, adjoining the goods station of the Midland Railway at St. Pancras, is a large block of buildings used as stores, which are in direct communication with the breweries at Burton. At Poplar there is a depot for the export and continental trade. The present chairman of the company is Michael Arthur, eldest son of the late Michael Thomas Bass. Having represented Stafford, East Staffordshire, and the Burton Division, from 1865 to 1886, he was created a peer in the latter year under the title of Lord Burton.
Narrow gauge Railway of Arthur Percival Heywood
EXPERIMENTAL NARROW-GAUGE RAILWAY AND WORKS OF SIR ARTHUR PERCIVAL HEYWOOD, BART., AT DUFFIELD BANK, DERBY.
Arthur Percival Heywood
This experimental railway, of only 15 inches gauge, is situated about mile from Duffield Station, near Derby. It was constructed in 1874 with the following objects:—(1) to show that an annual traffic of as little as 5,000 tons between two points not more than a few miles apart can be transported under suitable conditions more cheaply and expeditiously by a locomotive-worked permanent railway than by road; (2) to test practically novelties of design in permanent way, engines, and rolling stock; (3) to provide means of carrying out various experiments on adhesion, traction, and resistance.
That which, after careful experiment, seemed to be the narrowest practicable gauge was selected as being ample for the purpose; for, if fairly level, a line of 15 inches gauge, say throe miles in length, with one locomotive, will readily deal with an annual traffic up to 30,000 tons of minerals.
The line at Duffield Bank is of a permanent character, laid for the most part on cast-iron sleepers, to lessen expenses of maintenance. Rather over half-a-mile is arranged as an experimental course in the form of the figure 8, so ao to give a run of any length required; and comprises three tunnels, two bridges, and a timber viaduct 91 feet long and 20 feet high, built as a model for an army field railway. A branch of one-third of a mile in length, having a gradient of from 1 in 10 to 1 in 12 and a two-thirds circle curve of 25 feet radius, connects with the workshops 80 feet below.
The locomotives are of the tank class, having six and eight wheels, with radial axles all coupled. This is believed to be the first successful solution of the problem, giving the maximum climbing power together with ability to pass a 25-foot curve without grinding. The rolling stock consists of open and closed bogie carriages 20 feet long, and of wagons of various kinds, all fitted with a simple self-acting coupler-buffer. A dining car capable of accommodating eight persons and a sleeping car with four berths have been built, not as a likely requirement of such a line, but to show the capabilities of this small gauge. On several occasions 120 persons have been accommodated in the passenger train, which has been hauled by one engine up a gradient of 1 in 20, and up another of 1 in 47 on a two-thirds circle curve of 40 feet radius. The line is equipped with a complete system of signalling, the interlocking being on a specially simple plan. The whole of the plant has been designed by Sir Arthur Heywood, and, with the exception of rails, boilers, and steel castings, has been made in his amateur workshops. In these shops was also constructed the whole of the plant for 41 miles of line of the same gauge, laid out and made by Sir Arthur to connect the Duke of Westminster's residence at Eaton Hall with the Great Western Railway. This line, laid on cast-iron sleepers and of the most permanent character throughout, has carried during the two years it has been at work, without mishap of any kind, a traffic of between 6,000 and 7,000 tons annually, at a cost (including interest at 4 per cent. on a total outlay of £5,893, and due allowance for renewals) of less than one shilling per ton per mile, a charge which, if the traffic could be quadrupled, would be reduced by nearly one-half.
Brush Electrical Engineering Co
BRUSH ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING CO., FALCON WORKS, LOUGHBOROUGH.
Brush Electrical Engineering Co
The manufacturing business of the Brush Electrical Engineering Company was established in 1879 at the Victoria Works, Belvedere Road, Lambeth, where the principal electrical plant and apparatus now manufactured was developed. Soon however the business grew to such an extent that the Victoria Works proved to be too small for the comprehensive requirements of modern electrical engineering. It was therefore decided in 1889 to acquire the Falcon Engine and Car Works, Loughborough, which had been in existence since 1860 employed in building locomotives, carriages, tramcars, and general rolling stock, and in engineering work. The works cover an area of about seven acres, and are situated on the Nottingham Road, adjacent to the Midland Railway station, having direct communication with the latter, while on another side they are bounded by the Great Central Railway Extension to London.
Since the Brush Company assumed ownership, the Falcon Works have undergone a continuous process of improvement and extension, the older shops being gradually rebuilt to suit modern requirements. The important extensions now in progress consist of a new pattern shop and store, a new brass foundry, smiths' shop, and testing department; and further additions are being made to the large machine and erecting shops and to the iron foundry. A large shop is also being built for the construction of motors for electric traction, and will be equipped with the most modern tools and appliances. The shops for the lighter classes of work are built on the weaving-shed principle, and include winding, lamp, dynamo and light erecting shops; each bay is about 200 feet long and about 50 feet wide. The new administration offices for the managers and staff have just been completed.
The manufactures are of a diverse character, including locomotives, carriages, tramcars, omnibuses, and all kinds of rolling stock; vertical high-speed engines of special design, of both " open" and " enclosed " patterns; dynamos and motors of all sizes for direct and alternating-current work; transformers, arc lamps and switchboards, hydraulic and electric lifts, and general electrical apparatus. Special appliances have been provided for the manufacture of transformers, of which the yearly output is large. At the present time, among a number of steam-dynamos of various sizes, there can be seen in the shops two large central-station generating units of 1,300 I.H.P. each, consisting of enclosed " Universal " engines coupled direct to " inductor " alternators. At the back of the works is an electric tram line for conducting tests of the various overhead and underground systems of electric traction. The number of men employed is about 1,000. Mr. R. Percy Sellers is the general manager, and Mr. C. E. Hodgkin the works manager.
Great Central Railway
GREAT CENTRAL RAILWAY, LOUGHBOROUGH TO SWITHLAND.
Great Central Railway
The new extension of the Great Central Railway to London, over a portion of which between Loughborough and Swithland, about five miles in length, the Members of the Institution will travel, is expected shortly to be opened for passenger traffic. This portion of the line runs at the foot of the Charnwood Forest range of hills, and skirts some of the most picturesque scenery in the midland counties. Fine views of the country, extending for many miles, are to be obtained from the tops of the highest hills, such as the Beacon Hill, Old John, &c.; and the district is particularly remarkable from a geological point of view, owing to the outcrop of granite, which is worked at several quarries in the neighbourhood, this being the only district in the Midland. where granite is obtained.
At Swithland a large reservoir has recently been constructed by the Leicester corporation, for the purpose of augmenting the supply of seater to that town, which of recent years, owing to its rapidly increasing size, has upon several occasions experienced considerable inconvenience from the restricted supply. The railway was in the first instance intended to pass between the reservoir and the hills,, but is now carried through the reservoir upon two viaducts, Plate 98; special clauses for the protection of the corporation interests during the construction of the works have been inserted in the railway company's act.
Swithland Reservoir
SWITHLAND RESERVOIR, LEICESTER CORPORATION WATER WORKS.
Swithland Reservoir and Leicester Waterworks
The Swithland Reservoir, Plate 98, which has been constructed under an act of parliament obtained by the corporation of Leicester in 1890, is situated in the Charnwood Forest, about nine miles to the north of Leicester. The area of land purchased for the site of the reservoir and works is 275.425 acres, and is situated in the valley between Buddon Wood, in the parish of Quorn, and the village of Swithland. The drainage area above the site of the reservoir is 3,500 acres, in addition to which there is an overflow from the drainage area of the Bradgato Reservoir of 4,400 acres.
The works consist of raising the Swithland road, constructing two weirs at Brazil Island, forming the embankment across the valley, with valve tower, overflow weir, tunnel outlet, by-wash, and bridge over same, carrying the now road from Mountsorrel to Woodhouse; together with filter beds, pure-water tank, Woodhouse Brook diversion, and bridge over same to cooling pond and settling pond; also engine-house and pumping station, entrance lodge, and board room. The capacity of the storage reservoir is 490 million gallons. The water is drawn through the valve tower to the filter beds, and is there filtered through a depth of 3 feet of Leighton Buzzard sand. There are six filter beds, having a total area of 88,644 square feet; it is usual to have one bed at rest for cleansing, while the other five filter the water into the pure-water tank at the rate of about 329 gallons per square yard per 24 hours, which is equal to an aggregate of about 21 million gallons per day. Each filter bed is fitted with a sand washer, similar to those in use at the Grand Junction Water Works, Loudon. The water used for sand washing is filtered, and is under a pressure of 300 feet. The water passes through the filter beds to the pure-water tank, which is covered; and thence it is pumped a distance of about 2i miles through a 20-inch rising main into the Hall Gates service-reservoir. This service reservoir is situated at a height of 468 feet above ordnance datum, and is sufficiently high for the water to gravitate to the place of consumption.
In the pumping station there are two sets of triple-expansion direct-acting inverted-cylinder pumping engines of marine pattern, with three pumps, each 121 inches diameter by 3 feet stroke, and each capable of pumping 45 gallons per revolution. The diameters of the cylinders are 17, 27, and 44 inches. In the boiler house arc four boilers, 271 feet long by 7 feet diameter, fitted up with Green's economiser; and electric-lighting apparatus, which supplies electric light to the engine and boiler house and cottages. At a recent trial of the machinery each engine developed 143 indicated horsepower, with a consumption of fuel equal to 1.43 lb. of coal per indicated horse-power per hour. The grounds around the engine and boiler house and filter beds have been laid out in an ornamental manner.
Messrs. John Aird and Sons were the general contractors for the embankment, roads, bridges, weirs, filter beds, engine and boiler houses, and cottages; Messrs. Easton and Anderson for engines and pumps; and Messrs. Banks and Co. for boilers. The electric water- level indicators were supplied by Messrs. Jennings and Brewer; the valves and fencing by Messrs. Blakeborough and Son. The sand seashore were supplied by Messrs. Hunter and English. All mains were laid and jointed by men employed directly under the supervision of the engineer and manager, Mr. Frederick Griffith, who prepared the parliamentary plans and estimates, which were approved by the late Mr. Thomas Hawksley, Past-President, the consulting engineer to the water department. The detail works and contracts have been carried out under Mr. John B. Everard. The total cost of the land, works, and all incidentals thereto, amounted to £317,026.
Mintons
MESSRS. MINTONS' CHINA, EARTHENWARE, AND TILE WORKS, STOKE-UPON-TRENT.
Mintons
These works were founded in 1793 by Mr. Thomas Minton, who had earlier served his apprenticeship to an engraver. The buildings and appliances were only such as were absolutely necessary, but by slow degrees the pottery business increased. The goods for the most part were plain in design, neat and serviceable, and excellently made; and:the name of Minton soon became well known in the trade. Later on his second son Herbert entered the business, and subsequently became bead of the firm. During this period immense progress was effected. Semi-transparent porcelain was made in 1821, and soon afterwards the manufacture of china was commenced. In 1842 parian ware was produced here, followed by English majolica, which the firm were the first to make. The characteristic of their majolica is the opacity of the enamel laid on the surface.
The chief materials used in the making of earthenware and china are Cornish clay, blue clay, flint, Cornish stone, and bones. Cornish clay is mostly found in the neighbourhood of St. Austell in Cornwall, and about 16,000 tons are used annually in the Potteries; it is a compound consisting of silica and alumina, in about the proportion of 60 of silica to 40 of alumina. Blue clay comes from Poole in Dorsetshire; it is of a greyish colour, but turns perfectly white when fired, and does not contain so large a proportion of alumina as Cornish clay. Flint is pure silica; before it can be used by the potter it has to be calcined, after which it is ground in a. mill with water to the required degree of fineness. The constituent parts of Cornish stone arc kaolin or china clay, undecomposed felspar, and quartz. Bones are also used in large quantities after being calcined.
Most of the materials used in making pottery require a certain amount of pulverising, and many of the large firms have erected suitable machinery for the purpose. In the grinding mill are numerous pans of stones for grinding flint and Cornish stone, &c.
The colour mill, which is under the same roof, has twenty-eight pans containing granite milers, which are used for grinding the various colours. A special mill is set aside for grinding the gold used in ornamentation. The power necessary for driving the machinery of these mills is furnished by a powerful engine, which is supplied with steam by two large tubular boilers. The clay, Cornish stone, flints, and other raw materials, are stored on the banks of the canal, and brought by carts to the mill and slip-house as required. In the manufacture of ordinary earthenware, blue clay is the foundation and flint the whitening medium; Cornish or china clay also adds to the whiteness, and keeps the mass more porous, while the Cornish stone increases the density of the clays, and acts as a flux to snake the whole body more compact. A certain quantity of each of the materials is placed in a vat with water, and worked into a mass of uniform density by means of vertical plungers. The " slip " thus prepared is passed into troughs, and strained through sieves of lawn of varying fineness; after which it goes to the slip-house, where the various solutions are mixed in proportions determined by the character of the ware to be produced. The superfluous water is then removed, and the clay is taken to the pug mills.
There are three processes by which the clay is moulded into form—throwing, pressing, and casting. After the thrower has formed the article, it is passed on to the turner who removes the superfluous clay. Plates and similar articles are formed in the pressing shops. The clay is placed on a plaster mould, and made to revolve rapidly; at the same time the workman presses it with a tool called a " profile," and so gives it the requisite shape. After the ware has been formed by either of these processes, it is placed in the drying rooms. For those articles which cannot be pressed, owing to their peculiarities of shape, the process of casting is adopted. In the "greenhouses" are the various articles in the "green" state, which are gradually drying. Next the ware is fired in " biscuit ovens," having previously been placed in "seggars" made of rough clay, which are piled one on another in the ovens. After being fired the ware is in the state called " biscuit "; and patterns can then be printed on it if required. The next process is that of glazing; after which the ware is again packed in seggars previously washed out with phosphate of lime, and is taken to the " glost ovens." Here it is kept for about fifteen hours at a lower temperature than in the biscuit ovens, and then enamel colours are laid on. Once more it is baked in the kiln for about six hours, during which time an ordinary red heat is maintained. The gold ornamentation next requires burnishing, which is done by girls, who use bloodstone and agate tools. The ware is then taken to the sorting rosins, where any marks Ac. are removed; and it then goes to the warehouses, which are divided for the sake of convenience, each class of goods having a room to itself. In the show room are seen specimens of all kinds of pottery ware.
In addition to the various departments already mentioned are the seggar works, where the seggars used in the different ovens are made; also the china works; and the copper-plate printing rooms, where the transfers are prepared. In the studio of M. Solon, who formerly was in the great china factory at Sêvres, is seen a process of ornamentation called "pate sur pate." In this process the clay is laid on by means of a brush, and then worked with suitable tools, the thick parts of the clay for lights, and the thin and transparent for shades. The artist has of course to be his own designer. In the modelling department are prepared the designs of all descriptions, from a vase down to the smallest article. The number of persons employed in all the departments amounts to about 1,000.
Nottingham Museum and Art Gallery
CITY OF NOTTINGHAM MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY, NOTTINGHAM CASTLE.
The present building known as Nottingham Castle was commenced in 1670 by William Cavendish, first Duke of Newcastle, who purchased the site occupied by the Norman castle and fortress, which was dismantled during the Commonwealth by order of the Parliament through Colonel Hutchinson, the governor and member of parliament for Nottingham. With the exception of the entrance gate-way little remains of the Norman castle or its outworks. On the south terrace can be seen the remains of a spiral staircase, which led from the castle into a secret passage known as Mortimer's Hole. It was by this passage that the young King Edward III., at midnight 19th October 1330, entered the castle with others, and surprised Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, who was taken to London and executed at Tyburn the following November.
The castle stands upon a precipitous rock a little over 200 feet above the sea-level, commanding the valley of the Trent cast and west; and is surrounded by pleasant grounds, in which the President, by permission of the Museum Committee through the Mayor of Nottingham, held a reception for Members and other guests on the afternoon of Thursday 28th July. It is a fine example of Italian classical architecture of the Jacobian period in England. The east front is specially worth notice; as is also the central doorway on the west front, now a window and partly hidden by the modern colonnade erected in connection with the adaptation of the building for museum purposes; in the north staircase hall may be seen the original model of the mansion, giving the position of the flights of steps on the west and east fronts. It was to this castle Princess Anne fled with Lady Churchill from the Palace of Whitehall, to meet the adherents of the Revolution of 1688, which ended in the flight of James II.
During the Reform Riots the castle was attacked' and burnt by a great mob in October 1831. It stood as a ruin until 1876, when, through the energy of the late Alderman W. G. Ward and the good offices of Mr. Gladstone—one of the Newcastle Trustees—it was taken over from the Newcastle Estate Trustees by the Corporation of Nottingham, and adapted for the Municipal Museum and Gallery of Decorative and Pictorial Art, and was opened on 3rd July 1878 by the Prince and Princess of Wales.
The collections consist of pictures in oils and water-colours, drawings and engravings of the English and foreign schools, objects of decorative art, including pottery and porcelain, enamels, metal work (gold, silver, bronze, iron, &c.), textile fabrics, baud and machine- made laces, embroideries, &e., marble and plaster sculpture, classical antiquities from Greece and Rome, medals, coins, &c., and arms.
Gallery A contains a collection of original drawings by British artists (1750-1860), principally for book illustration. Gallery B is the water-colour gallery, in which is a collection of proof engravings after the works of Sir Edwin Landseer, R.A. In Gallery C is an exhibition of water colours, black and white, Re., by local artists. Gallery D is known as the Long Gallery: to the archway is an exhibition of oil paintings by local artists; beyond the archway is a loan collection of paintings in oils by modern artists. Gallery E consists of portraits of local celebrities, pictures from the National Gallery, Re. Gallery F has a collection of local views, in oils, water colours, and engravings, Ac.; also English pictures in oils and water colours, bequeathed by the late Mr. Henry Lammin. On the north staircase are autotypes of pictures in the National Collection; and arms are exhibited on the staircase to the Textile Gallery. In the latter is a permanent collection of laces and embroideries, &c. Room H on the ground floor contains collections of oriental porcelain, Ac., Burmese objects in bronze, marble,; and in Room I is a collection of Wedgwood ware, English porcelain, earthenware, and glass, Ac. In Room J is decorative wrought-iron work, and cases containing porcelain, Ac. Electrotypes of gold and silver plate, reproductions of Pompeiiau bronzes, sculpture, and engraved local Portraits, are to be seen in Room K. On the south staircase are sculpture, and autotypes of pictures in the National Collections. In Room L are classical antiquities from Nemi, Italy; and Egyptian and Cyprian pottery, &c., from excavations. The director is Mr. G. Harry Wallis, F.S.A.
Nottingham Electricity Supply Station
CORPORATION ELECTRICITY SUPPLY STATION, NOTTINGHAM.
This station commenced operations in September 1894. It contains six Lancashire boilers 28 feet by 7 feet, each capable of evaporating 5,000 lbs. of water per hour, and all hand-stoked. The steam pipes are of mild steel, with flanges and branches electrically welded on solid by the Benardos process. The engines are all Willans central-valve, and are coupled direct to Siemens two-polo shunt-wound continuous-current dynamos. Three engines are of 360 I.H.P., four of 135 I.H.P., and three of 80 I.H.P.
The batteries are the Electric Power Storage K type, and are capable of taking the night load of the station. The remaining machinery consists of a Green's fuel economiser of 240 tubes, and a Berryman feed-water heater, with the usual feed-pumps, both steam and electrical. The buildings were erected to the designs of the city engineer, Mr. Arthur Brown; and the whole of the engineering work was designed and carried out under the supervision of Mr. Herbert Talbot, electrical engineer to the corporation. The number of amps connected with the mains is equivalent to 40,000 of eight candle-power, and there are now about 500 consumers taking a supply.
George Blackburn and Sons
MESSRS. GEORGE BLACKBURN AND SONS, HOSIERY MACHINERY WORKS, NOTTINGHAM.
George Blackburn and Sons
These works, situated in the Meadows district, were founded in 1852 by Alderman George Blackburn, now chairman of the company, in conjunction with the late Mr. Edward Attenborough and Mr. Samuel 'Mellor. The total area of the premises is nearly 5,000 square yards. The various departments comprise the iron foundry, fitted with electric light and all modern appliances; brass foundry; pattern snaking and joinery shops; pattern stores; turnery shop, fitted with lathes, planing, and shaping machines specially designed; smiths' and grinding shops, &e. The fitting rooms, 210 feet long, are upon the first and second floors, and are equipped with shaping, drilling, milling, slotting, and other tools. The cutting room contains straight and circular dividing and cutting machinery, designed and made by the firm for trick and wheel cutting of every description. The special productions of the works comprise all the various machines used in the manufacture of knitted hosiery goods of every description, which are shipped to all parts of the world where hosiery goods are manufactured; also cigarette-making machines and lace-weaving machines. The number of workpeople employed is about 300.
Thomas Forman and Sons
MESSRS. THOMAS FORMAN AND SONS, PRINTING WORKS, NOTTINGHAM.
Thomas Forman and Sons
The premises of this firm present an elevation to South Sherwood Street and North Street. At the point of junction, fronting the Theatre Quadrant, rises a flight of steps giving access through a vestibule to the counting-house. For the production and publication of the " Nottingham Daily Guardian," " Nottingham Evening Post," and " Nottinghamshire Guardian," the North Street wing is utilised. Practically the whole of the matter for the newspapers is set by linotype machines, driven at option by electricity, gas, or steam. The other portion of the works is devoted to the general printing business, which has been conducted on an extensive scale for many years. The departments are equipped with the latest and most efficient machinery for chrome-lithography, letter-press and block-colour printing, with the allied branches of electrotyping, stereotyping, &c.
Edward Cope and Co
MR. JOHN JARDINE, MESSRS. EDWARD COPE AND CO.'S LACE-CURTAIN FACTORY, NOTTINGHAM.
Edward Cope and Co
The works of Messrs. Edward Cope and Co. were started by Mr. William Cope in 1843 at what was then known as Taylor's factory in Broad Marsh, Nottingham. His first machines were converted from traverse or plain net machines, the pattern being produced by means of bars, with the aid of nogs fastened on the cards, and other devices. In 1850-1 he commenced building machines expressly for curtain work with jacquard application, the first pair being 32 quarters or 288 inches wide, 5 point gauge.
In 1855 he entered into partnership with Mr. W. G. Ward, and in 1856 the firm purchased the factory and business of Messrs. Robinson and Sisling at New Basford, where the business is now carried on in larger premises. Mr. Cope died in 1868, having retired shortly before from active participation in the business; and his son Mr. Edward Cope took his place, the title of the firm being changed to Ward and Cope. Many inventions and improvements are due to the latter.
In 1860-6 he built a machine combining the warp and curtain principle, dispensing with bobbins and carriages: the tie thread, which took the place of the bobbin thread, being knitted in, as in the warp frame. To these machines he also applied the throw-thread principle, according to which the thread composing the cross part of the ground was thrown across the machine, as in the loom, up to the extent of 72 inches. By this process various novelties were produced in cotton, wool, linen, flax, jute, and silk. He next produced what is termed "combination work," and subsequently double combination work; also a novelty in portiere and window curtains, known as the "Japanese cymbaline curtain," of which the texture is an excellent imitation of chenille in narrow vertical strips, with woven cross bands in the colour of the main design; this curtain has a rich and sumptuous appearance, and is equally suited for a portiere or for a moderately heavy window hanging. After his death in 1896, the business was purchased by the present proprietor, who has also added hosiery machinery of the latest construction. The curtains presented to the Duke and Duchess of York by the Corporation of Nottingham on the occasion of their marriage were manufactured at these works, which employ 200 workpeople.
Humber
MESSRS. HUMBER AND CO., BEESTON CYCLE WORKS, NOTTINGHAM.
Humber
This business was established by Mr. Thomas Humber in Nottingham in 1868, and commenced in a small way. In 1878 he removed to Beeston, where the nucleus of the present extensive factory was formed. In that year he employed about eighty hands, and now the business finds accommodation for nearly 2,000. In 1887 the business was formed into a limited company with a capital of £125,000. Shortly afterwards a factory was purchased at Wolverhampton, which has since been quadrupled and a second factory acquired there in 1896; and another at Coventry, which, having been burnt down in 1896, has since been replaced by a new building four times as large and capable of turning out 1,000 machines per week. In 1896 it was found necessary to separate the selling from the manufacturing branch by means of the formation of another company—Humber and Co., Extension. Subsidiary companies have also been formed in Westboro, Mass., U.S.A., in Lisbon, Moscow, Copenhagen, and Malmi; in Sweden, to cope with the sale of cycles in those countries; and the entire combination of the Humber companies finds employment for about 7,000 men.
The Beeston works comprise tt right wing, which is three storeys High, 40 feet broad and 400 feet long; a left wing, of which the first half is three storeys high, 40 feet wide and 300 feet long, and the second half is one storey high, 50 feet wide and over 300 feet long; the central buildings between the two wings are one storey high, generally 50 feet wide and about 600 feet long.
The departments consist of the offices, which contain over 8,000 square feet, and are lighted throughout by electricity; the foundry, where all the cast parts are produced, and where the annealing and hardening are also carried out; the turnery, which comprises screw- cutting lathes, capstan lathes, profiling machines, boring and drilling machines of all descriptions, and hub-making plant, besides numbers of tools and appliances of the firm's own invention specially designed for cycle work; the forgo and brazing department, which includes steam-hammers for stamping parts, testing machines for tubing, &c.; the fitting shops, which are five in number, where the several parts comprising the frames, forks, &c., are put together; the sand blast, where all joints which have been brazed are cleaned; the filing-up department, where the frames and forks are highly polished before enamelling; the enamelling shops, seven in number, each of which is devoted to a separate process; the glazing department, where the parts to be plated are first polished by the best Sheffield cutlers on spindles with the shafting underground; the plating shop, which has its own engine and two powerful dynamos; the wheel-making department, which is 400 feet long; the gear-case department; the finishing shop, where all complete and finished parts are finally collected and put together; and the packing shops, where nearly all machines are packed in crates, or in closed cases for distant countries. The entire motive power is supplied by six engines, representing a total of 260 horse-power.
In each department every article is tested and examined before passing on to the next process, and all work which does not come up to the standard is rejected; notwithstanding which, every part is again examined and tested in the finishing department, before putting the complete machine together.
The 1898 speciality is the detachable joint, which is the invention of Mr. H. Belcher, the general manager, and Mr. F. Easom, the works manager. Where this is used, brazing is done away with, and the tubes are held securely in their joints by means of a tapered cotter; this cotter, passing through a split cross strut within the tube which itself is also split, causes the tube to expand within the joist. By this means it is possible to use lighter tubing, as the detrimental effects consequent on the great heat of brazing are done away with, and therefore the frame is rendered stronger; the frame can readily be taken to pieces, and the whole machine be packed in a small compass for export or storage; the use of aluminium is now made possible, and this material has been adopted with great success in light machines.
Raleigh Cycle Co
RALEIGH CYCLE WORKS, NOTTINGHAM.
Raleigh Cycle Co
These works at Lenten, a suburb of Nottingham, were established in 1896, though the Raleigh Cycle Co. was founded in 1886. At first the trade was purely local; but in 1887 they were joined by Mr. Frank Bowden, the present chairman of the company, who extended the business and formed it into a company. In 1891 it was reconstructed, and continued to grow until it was found necessary to have larger premises. In 1896 the capital was further increased to build and equip the present works, which were erected from the designs of Mr. G. P. Mills.
The building covers about 61 acres, and employs about 1,400 men. A single ground floor has been adopted for the whole of the operations of the works; and light is obtained from the roof, which contains 150,000 square feet of glazing. Vehicular traffic to and from the loading and unloading bays is conducted through a long central transept; and over twenty miles of telephone wire is used to connect the various departments.
In the store-room, where the raw material enters, are thousands of feet of weldless steel tubing cut into lengths; and stampings, steel bars, and other rough parts. The machine shop is nearly two acres in extent. Every kind of ingenious tool is here used for making, with automatic exactitude, hubs, axles, cranks, gear wheels, lugs, &e. Among the 400 machines at work may be seen those cutting front and back hubs from plain steel bars; each hub, after being shaped by the cutters, is sawn off automatically. Then there are the machines for automatically drilling hubs for spoke holes; also rows of huge power-presses, and a large number of profiling or upright milling machines. The machinery is divided into two sets, each driven by a 60 horse-power Stockport gas-engine. There are four more of these engines in the factory, two of 60 horse-power, one of 24 horsepower, and one of 10 horse-power; all are set upon blocks of concrete 8 feet deep. There are nine lines of shafting, measuring in the aggregate about 3,000 feet, and each line drives four lines of machinery.
Adjoining the machine shop is the hardening department with its rows of furnaces. Then follow the frame-building sleep, fitted with benches, and a sand-blasting room, where the flux adhering to the joints after brazing is cleaned off by a strong blast of sand. The men in this room wear costumes not unlike those used by divers, each having a helmet into which the fresh air is pumped through a tube at the top. The cycle frame, leaving gone through these stages, passes into the hands of the filers-up and grinders, who polish it preparatory to its being plated or enamelled. The plating shop contains about twenty large vats of solution, in which the various parts are suspended, while the deposit of plate is made by a current of electricity from two large dynamos, driven by a 24 horse-power engine.
The enamelling shop is completely shut off from the rest of the building, in order that no dust or dirt may get into it; the flooring and walls are of glazed brick, and all parts are painted, so that it may be periodically washed down with a hose. Then follow the wheel shop, the tire-fitting department, and the finished stores. The machine is finally passed into the finishing shop, where it is put together and completed. A speciality made here is the triple-tube frame of the No. 1 ladies' safety bicycle. When completed, the machines are handed in to the saddling room, where they are wrapped up and passed across into the packing department. The managing director is Mr. D. W. Bassett, formerly general manager of Messrs. Humber and Co., of &est. and Wolverhampton. During a considerable portion of that time he had associated with him Mr. G. P. Mills, who is now the works manager of the Raleigh Cycle Co.
Turney Brothers
MESSRS. TURNEY BROTHERS, TRENT BRIDGE LEATHER WORKS, NOTTINGHAM.
Turney Brothers
These works, established in 1862, are of large extent, covering, with yards and approaches, the whole area of a considerable island surrounded by canals and the river. On entering the central yard are seen three large boilers with self-feeding furnaces, supplying steam to sixteen engines, inclusive of that driving the dynamos of a complete electric-light installation. There is also an automatic registering check-time clock for the workmen. The whole yard is traversed by rails for the trolleys carrying skins from one stage of preparation to another. Two large pit sheds are opposite to the engine-house; the skins, after being sorted and thoroughly inspected, come here for liming. In the pits about 30,000 skins are treated per week, and the sheds are capable of dealing with 90,000 skins at a time.
The next operation is performed by the "cobbers," who clear off the outer side of the skins any wool or hair yet remaining, whilst the "flesbers" perform a like service in cleaning the inner side of flesh; in this work the skins are placed over a wooden "beam," and worked with knives by experienced operatives. The matter that is taken off is used in the manufacture of gelatine, glue, and grease.
The skins are next split by machines. The outer or "grain" side when separated is known as the "skiver," and when tanned makes light leathers for hat linings, pocket books, purse linings, &c.; and the inner or flesh side is converted into chamois or wash leather. The knife used for splitting makes 1,200 strokes a minute. After this process the different skins undergo different modes of treatment. The skivers or outer sides are washed to remove the lime, and then " bated " and " drenched," great skill and care being required in the process. Sumac and larch bark are mostly used in the tanning of light skins; the sumac is imported from Palermo.
Proceeding to the vast series of drying rooms, over fifty thousand skins are seen in process of drying or sorting, and many floors of several warehouses are devoted to these purposes. In some of the drying rooms a current of air accelerates the drying, the state of the atmosphere having a considerable effect on the time required. In the warehouses are seen specimens of larch-tanned "Basil" leathers, which are prepared for fancy leather work from the finest sheepskins only. Another building is devoted to freeing the skins from grease by means of special machinery; and the dyeing factories occupy another wing of the buildings.
There is a considerable difference between the treatment in making skivers and chamois leather. For the latter the skins, after cleansing and washing, are placed in large hydraulic presses. Under the pressure of 2i tons per square inch all the animal grease exudes from the plates whereon the skins are laid. The grease is practically pure mutton tallow, and is used in the manufacture of the best soaps. The next process is that of "milling." Fish oil is the medium used, and the skins are thorotighly impregnated with it in large fulling mills. After the various processes, all superfluous oil is extracted by hydraulic pressure; it is then known as " sod " oil, which is used by carriers of leather, and a large trade is carried on in this substance alone. The finest chamois leather is used for suede gloves. In the glace kid departments are powerful glazing machines, and examples of their work can be seen in the warehouses. The managing director of the firm is Sir John Turnoy. The number of workpeople employed is about 500.
University College, Nottingham
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, NOTTINGHAM.
This college, which was formally opened in June 1881, occupies a large central plot of land, formerly known as the Horsefair Close and Burton Leys. It was erected by the corporation at a cost of nearly £80,000, and is one of the finest piles of public buildings in the provinces. In design it is Gothic, and is built of Ancaster stone. It consists of a principal façade in Shakespeare Street, with central block of lecture theatres, laboratories, &c.
The new technical schools adjoin the natural history museum, and are connected by a corridor with the remainder of the college buildings. The structure is of three storeys, and corresponds in style with that of the main building. In the basement are the carpentering shop and boiler house; on the ground floor, mechanical workshops, testing, dynamo, and lace rooms, plumbers' and smiths' forges; on the first floor, a commodious lecture theatre, mechanical laboratories, hosiery, and professors' resins; on the second floor, drawing office, class room, and industrial museum. Fresh air is supplied by a fan in the basement, and drawn out into an 'Toast shaft. The whole building is lighted by electricity, and cost upwards of £20,000.
The east block of the college in Sherwood Street is occupied by the central free public libraries and reading room, and the west block in Bilbie Street by the natural history museum.
Creswell Colliery
CRESWELL COLLIERY, NEAR CHESTERFIELD.
Creswell Colliery and Bolsover Colliery Co
This is a new colliery opened by the Bolsover Colliery Co., on the eastern boundary of their royalty. There are two shafts 18 feet diameter, sunk 445 yards deep to the celebrated Top Hard , seam of coal, which is from 5 feet 0 inches to 6 feet thick, and is identical with the Barnsley bed of South Yorkshire. There are 125 yards of cast-iron tubbing in each shaft, which keeps back the water and obviates the necessity and expense of pumps. The main winding shaft No.1 is fitted up with a steel girder headgear, which is the largest ever made; the height from pit-bank level to centre of pulleys is 65 feet, and the pulleys arc 18 feet diameter. There are two double-deck cages in the shaft, and three tubs of coal are wound on each deck; each tub carries 12 cwts. of coal, so that at each wind 3 tons 12 cwts. of coal are raised. The two decks are loaded and unloaded simultaneously, both at the top and the bottom of the shaft. On the pit bank the tubs from the top deck run on a falling gradient to the weighing machine, after which they are tipped by a mechanical tippler on to jigging screens and carrying belts; by this means the coal is divided into different qualities according to the size, each quality being spread out on a separate belt for the purpose of picking out all dirt, pyrites, and other impurities. The tubs from the bottom deck run on a falling gradient to a creeper, which raises them to the same level as those from the top deck, and they are dealt with in like manner. The winding engines for this shaft were built by Messrs. Thornewill and Warham, and have cylinders 40 inches in diameter with 7 feet stroke, and slightly conical drum averaging 22 feet in diameter. The engines are fitted with automatic expansion gear.
No. 2 shaft, which is the upcast, is fitted up with pitch-pine headgear 52 feet high from bank level to centre of pulleys, and the pulleys arc 16 feet in diameter. The shaft is fitted up with single-deck cages holding three tubs upon the deck. No coal is at present being drawn from this shaft; but it is intended eventually to raise 800 to 1,000 tons per day from it, when the underground workings are fully developed. At present it is used for sending down timber and all other material into the mine.
The colliery is ventilated by a high-speed fan 20 feet in diameter, made by Messrs. Walker Brothers, Wigan, which is driven by a compound engine and ropes, and is capable of producing 200,000 cubic feet of air per minute with a 3-inch water-gauge and 170 revolutions per minute. There is an electric lighting and pumping plant, driven by a Marshall engine fitted with Cruet's trip governor. The lighting dynamo has a capacity of 300 16-candle-power lamps and 110 volts; and the pumping dynamo is 20 horse-power, driving a motor and pump 1,000 yards away for supplying feed-water to the boilers. Electric haulage machinery is about to be put up. There is a range of ten double-flue Lancashire boilers 30 feet by 8 feet, fitted with Hodgkinson's coking stokers; and creepers for supplying slack to the stoker hoppers, and for conveying the ashes away from the boilers. The chimney stack is 9 feet internal diameter and 175 feet high. The workshops consist of smiths', fitters', and joiners' shops, stables, mortar mill, store room, time-keeper's office, and corn and chop chamber.
The colliery has been designed to produce an output of 3,000 tons daily; and the whole of the sidings have been laid at a uniform gradient of 1 in 75, doing away with the necessity of using any locomotive power. The present output is from 1,600 to 1,700 tons daily, and the number of men employed is about 700. The general manager is Mr. John P. Houfton, and the certificated manager Mr. J. G. Linneker.
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