Clay Mills Pumping Station
Clay Mills sewage pumping station in Burton on Trent contains four rotative Woolf compound Beam engines made by Gimson & Co. of Leicester in 1885 which are being restored after a long period of dereliction.
With rivetted wrought iron box section beams 28 feet long, 24 foot diameter flywheel, two cylinders 24 inch diameter x 6 feet stroke and 38 inch diameter x 8 ft stroke, each engine ran at between 6 and 12 rpm and drove two sewage pumps (one from either side of the beam pivot) each of 21 inch by 6 ft stroke.
Taking steam at 80 psig from a rank of five Lancashire boilers, the engines exhausted into a jet condenser, the airpump of which was operated off the parallel motion guiding the piston rod crossheads.
The valves admitting steam into and out of the cylinders are opened by shafts driven by underfloor rotating cam shafts, operated via bevel gearing from the crankshaft, the valves are forced closed again by gravity acting on large weights known as 'top hats'.
This somewhat unusual view from below is up the pump rod to the crank and the underside of the beam beyond.
With numerous other engines both from on site and off, this years first steaming for many years will be well worth a visit.
Visit their official website for details of location and opening times and also visit that of the nearby Friends of Sandfields pumping station.