A couple of pump houses containing water treatment devices and Evans pumps - photos are all phone.
The first one is on the outskirts of Swindon, appearing on maps between 1898 and 1922, pumping from a nearby well.
I think the pump was made by Joseph Evans & Sons judging from a picture in a 1930 catalogue, reproduced below.
An Evans pump has appeared before in report #1 of this series, but this is one of the manufactures who don’t cast their name in large letters in obvious places so it’s hard to be certain.
Whatever drove the pump has gone, leaving just a plinth.
On a table nearby is a water purification device by Wallace and Tiernan, called a ‘Hypochlorinator’, for treating the water to be pumped with bleach (essentially chlorine).
Admittedly it’s nothing much to look at, but devices like this are actually quite important.
Many will have heard of the Broad Street water pump that was the source of a cholera outbreak in London in 1854.
Wallace and Tiernan in the US developed automatic chlorine dosing equipment to deal with another bacterial epidemic, typhoid, in the 1920s.
Although certainly not the first to use chlorine, chlorination of drinking water subsequently became widespread and has saved many lives.
The firm had a branch in Tonbridge for a while, and are still going as part of the Siemens group.
The second pump house is in Llangattock-Vibon-Avel in Monmouthshire appearing on maps between 1903 and 1918 - it once provided water to a large house.
General view of the setup, having evicted a resident sheep - the diesel engine seems to have driven the pump (out of sight behind the tank) via the lineshaft on the back wall.
A few of the engine, a Lister CS, which are quite common.
The big tank is for cooling water, circulated by convection, with the smaller one for fuel.
Along with the remains of more recent pumping activities, including a modern centrifugal pump, is another Evans, similar to the last one.
The well from which water was being pumped - it looks deep enough to be close to the suction limit.
Another Wallace and Tiernan Hypochlorinator.
The first one is on the outskirts of Swindon, appearing on maps between 1898 and 1922, pumping from a nearby well.
I think the pump was made by Joseph Evans & Sons judging from a picture in a 1930 catalogue, reproduced below.
An Evans pump has appeared before in report #1 of this series, but this is one of the manufactures who don’t cast their name in large letters in obvious places so it’s hard to be certain.
Whatever drove the pump has gone, leaving just a plinth.
On a table nearby is a water purification device by Wallace and Tiernan, called a ‘Hypochlorinator’, for treating the water to be pumped with bleach (essentially chlorine).
Admittedly it’s nothing much to look at, but devices like this are actually quite important.
Many will have heard of the Broad Street water pump that was the source of a cholera outbreak in London in 1854.
Wallace and Tiernan in the US developed automatic chlorine dosing equipment to deal with another bacterial epidemic, typhoid, in the 1920s.
Although certainly not the first to use chlorine, chlorination of drinking water subsequently became widespread and has saved many lives.
The firm had a branch in Tonbridge for a while, and are still going as part of the Siemens group.
The second pump house is in Llangattock-Vibon-Avel in Monmouthshire appearing on maps between 1903 and 1918 - it once provided water to a large house.
General view of the setup, having evicted a resident sheep - the diesel engine seems to have driven the pump (out of sight behind the tank) via the lineshaft on the back wall.
A few of the engine, a Lister CS, which are quite common.
The big tank is for cooling water, circulated by convection, with the smaller one for fuel.
Along with the remains of more recent pumping activities, including a modern centrifugal pump, is another Evans, similar to the last one.
The well from which water was being pumped - it looks deep enough to be close to the suction limit.
Another Wallace and Tiernan Hypochlorinator.
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