tarboat's photos with the keyword: compressor

The Roystone Grange limestone quarry was developed around the time of the First World War and by 1920 was using compressed air drills to assist in extracting the stone. This compressor house to supply the air was erected some distance away where there was a spring that supplied water to cool the oil engines and compressors. The structure has been secured and the roof is sound but it stands empty and unused.

There are several compressors still to be found on the various levels of the Dinorwic slate quarries. This is a particularly interesting example on the Australia level, high up in the quarry. Benjamin Chew Tilghman invented the Sandblasting process in c1870 and filed a patent for it in the United States. He began in business with his brother in Philadelphia manufacturing chilled iron shot for use in stone sawing and then moved to London where he formed 'Tilghman's Patent Sand Blast Co'. He later moved to Sheffield and then in 1879 opened a new factory in Altrincham which became the hub of the sand blasting industry in Britain. It is clear that the company produced compressors for sandblasting and these were also available for other industries such as quarrying that required compressed air for driving drills etc.

Ingersol air compressor and receiver on the Australia level at Dinorwic slate quarry.

At the rear of one of the Blondin winding enginehouses at Pen-yr-Orsedd slate quarry stands this Ingersoll-Sergeant piston-valve compressor dating from the 1890s. The Ingersoll-Sergeant piston.valve compressor was introduced in about 1891 and was distinguished by the method of admitting air to the cylinder, it being drawn in down a hollow piston tail-rod. The piston itself was hollow and provided with internal inlet valves. The idea was to accelerate the operation of the inlet valves by utilising the reversal of the piston at the end of each stroke, thus improving the volumetric efficiency of the compressor, and to reduce the clearance volume in the cylinder to permit the development of high pressures in a single stage. This example was made in the United States to a design of which production ceased in 1900. Originally powered by a steam engine, the electric motor that provided drive after 1906 can be seen in the background.