tarboat's photos with the keyword: boiler

Shovelling coal into the feed hoppers of the automatic stokers at Claymills pumping station. The blocks on the floor are made from compressed rapeseed waste and are being trialled as an alternative to very expensive coal. Clearly these are unsuitable for the stokers and therefore have to be hand fired. They burn very hot but do not have enough surface area to volume to raise steam as well as coal. If they could be broken down to pieces the same size as the coal used, then maybe they would be a worthwhile substitute.

Steam hammer in action in the forge at the 'Red by Night' event at the Black Country Living Museum.

The safety valve lifts on the boiler powering the steam hammer at the Black Country Living Museum.

An egg-ended boiler in re-use as a water tank at Beamish Museum. These externally fired boilers were common in the mid-19th century and were particularly popular at collieries and ironworks.

A novel use for one end of an old egg-ended boiler as a mess hut for the workers on the Pockerley Waggonway at Beamish museum.

Boilerman and boiler front at Queen Street Mill, Burnley.

This pumping station was built by the Isle of Axholme Drainage Board in 1910 when two tandem compound steam engines by Marshalls Sons and Company Limited of Gainsborough were installed to drive a pair of Drysdale centrifugal pumps. Steam was provided by two Cornish boilers which were also made by Marshall. The site is now partly a museum and some of the old plant is demonstrated on open days. Both boilers are worn out but this right hand boiler would be capable of restoration if this was economically practical. In fact the remaining engine will soon to be powered by a small gas-fired unit which will be easily adequate to turn the engine over without load.

Slingfield Mill was built in 1864 for Thomas Lea, to the design of architects Lockwood and Mawson of Bradford. It was for many years spinning yarn for the carpet industry and after this ended in 1980 the mill has been converted for Debenhams on the lower floors and above as a Premier Inn. The boiler house and chimney nearby are now an Italian restaurant and listed Grade II along with the main mill.

;-) SHAGGY and I had a little adventure today and sought out an interesting place for a photoshoot. One of the highlights for me was a complete boiler house which included this fine example of Green's Patent Economiser which was designed to heat the boiler feed water using waste gases from the boilers. The chains operated scrapers to keep the flues of the heat exchanger clear. Sadly the maker's plates have been removed.

Safety valve weights hold down the lagging covers on the boiler backs at the Claymills Pumping Station.