New Mills Pumping Station

[crueby]

Excellent!

[Kim]

It always feels so good when your pieces fit together the way you imagined they would! 

Kim

[steam guy willy]

Hi Thanks Chris and Kim , Yes however there is also ample metal left to enable the fitter to get it right ?!!

Willy

[steam guy willy]

I have now rigged up the air compressor to the turbine housing and tested set up I will replace the input pipe and make a better seal to get the full effect of the air flow. here is the video and some pics of how it all goes together.

Willy     Not a valid vimeo URL

[crueby]

Hi Willy,


I'm a little confused as to what turns what. Does the steam engine up top turn the turbine to move water?


Chris

[steam guy willy]

Hi Chris , Ok .. The New Mills air compressing station is powered by the turbines tn the lower part of the river ..there is a 6' 6" drop in the water level either side of the building . there was originally 4 steam engines that were used when there was not enough water coming down the river .  As Norwich is surrounded by hills they had to get the sewerage over the highest point to go to the sewerage works a few miles down the river. This was achieved by having large underground tanks that slowly filled up with the effluent. when they were full there was a blast of compressed air that forced the effluent over the highest part of the hill and then the syphon effect emptied the resovoir tank down to the Pumping station at Trowse. the device that triggered this is called a shone ejector.  There is a similar device in the Houses of Parliament in London ?!!.The New Mills building has retained some of the older electrically driven  machinery and these are dotted about the building but not in use any more . The steam engines were powered by the local municipal waste that was burnt in the boilers . The steam engines have since been removed but they can be seen in an early photo. There is also a pic of the two air reservoirs that are filled by the pumps .
I have made some more perspex parts to sort out the turbine gear drive to get the dimensions.

[crueby]

Clever setup - thanks for the explanation!

[steam guy willy]

Hi Chris , a few more pics and yes  when the set up used just the power from the river  and then the syphon system it was very cheap to run ?!!

Willy

[ddmckee54]

They pressurized a tank of sewage?  I'll bet that got messy when/where it leaked.

Don

[steam guy willy]

Hi Don , possibly yes , as they have been in use for the past 120 years  ??!!It also went through 2 world wars !! Possibly if i read through the last century's newspapers I might find something !

Willy.

[steam guy willy]

 so...connecting up the turbine to the crankshaft ..I have made two perspex standards to see how the adjustments will go together ...this is to avoid large or elongated bolting holes to get everything running true.

Willy

[RReid]

Getting more and more impressive all the time, Willy!

[steam guy willy]

Hi Ron , thanks and a bit more work tonight  fitting the gears together.  Once everything is firmly bolted together then the gears run very freely, also the actual dimensions become clearer and the clearances needed show up !!

Willy

[steam guy willy]

I am now making the gear standards and will make a template as there are two of them that are sort of identical . I have made a drawing with the dimensions and will transfer them to a piece of brass. The vertical part will have protruding tabs that will hold the flanges in place to be soft soldered together.

willy.

[crueby]

Good progress, those standards will be some fun.