in these works; they have been erected at different periods as the
demand for the manufacture of gas increased. Of these retort houses
No. 7 is the largest; it is 260 feet long by 80 feet wide (inside
measurement), and it is 45 feet to crown of roof. Each retort house
has independent shafts, but the tallest shaft faces the east end
of retort house No. 2. It is a splendid piece of brick-work, the
height of which is 135 feet. When the top stone was laid Mr. B. Gray,
the builder, treated the men who were under him with a dinner. On
this occasion sixteen persons sat on the summit and partook of this
sumptuous repast. Nos. 1, 2 and 3 are ground retort houses, the other
four houses are stage retort houses. With respect to the interior of
these retort houses, there is plenty of room in front of the retorts
for a storage of coal and good space for drawing the retorts. On the
whole there is good ventilation in the roofs for allowing the smoke,
etc. to escape. The floor of the stage retort houses are paved with
grooved cast-iron plates. In these retort houses an open space is
allowed between the furnace and the flooring in order that the coke
when raked out of the retorts might fall into the coke hole below. The
benches of retorts are placed in the middle of the houses. The retorts
are built in settings, they are cylindrical tubes made of Stourbridge
clay open through and through with mouthpieces at both ends. At the
front of each bed of retorts is a furnace for heating up the retorts
with the residual coke after the coals have been carbonized. The
flame and hot draft of the furnaces are made to circulate thoroughly
throughout the setting, traversing as great a space as possible round,
under and above the retorts before egress is allowed to the main flue
communicating with the chimney. The retorts are charged every six
hours. Formerly, for cooling the retort lids, a pulpy mass of lime and
mud of the consistence of mortar was used under the cognomen of "blue
billy." This has been superseded by Morton's Patent Air-tight Lid, and
Holman's Patent Lever. The two mechanical contrivances combined for
this purpose are most efficient, and when financially considered must
be a great saving to the Company. In the new house there are seven
retorts in a bed; these, when heated sufficiently, are simultaneously
charged at each end with two scoopfuls of bituminous coal; the upper
retorts, on account of their retaining more heat, are charged with
three scoops--each scoop contains 1 cwt. 2 qrs. of coal As soon as the
lids are closed with the patent lever and cross-bar the process of gas
distillation commences. In house No. 7 there are 392 mouths--total
number of mouths in all the retort houses 1,793. As clay retorts when
heated at first have a tendency to crack, it is necessary that the
process of heating should be slow, also to get them up to their proper
heat a similar caution is requisite when cooling. Apart from the
manufacture of gas, in order to attend to the furnaces with the view
of keeping up the heat of retorts, a certain amount of Sunday labour
is involved, but it is gratifying to state that at these works labour
on the Lord's day is reduced to its lowest minimum. Among several
annoyances in the manufacture of gas is the choking or stoppage of
ascension pipes; the person whose employment it is to look after, and
if possible prevent this, is called by his fellow-workmen "the pipe
jumper." Pipes connected with the mouthpieces called the ascension
pipes conduct the gas to the hydraulic main, this is a large pipe at
the back of the ascension pipes partly filled with water, when the
works are started into which the ends of the pipes from the retorts
are made to dip, and by this means forms a seal by which the gas is
prevented from finding its way back either by those retorts which the
workmen may be re-charging or to other parts of the bench that for the
time may be out of action. The hydraulic main and its supports are very
strong in order to stand the alternate and unequal heating and cooling
of the benches, and the enormous strain occasioned by the large extent
of pipage. Wrought iron is used in preference to cast-iron because of
its lightness, strength and elasticity.
There are four lobbies for the accommodation of the stokers and
seats at either end of the retort houses. The men in the carbonizing
department are supplied with lockers in which to keep their provisions
and clothes. Each man has a half-pint of the best Scotch oatmeal per
diem allowed him to make "skilly" with. A quantity of oatmeal is put
into a bucket, water is poured on and then stirred, after the meal has
"settled" they dip it out with a mug to drink as often as they feel
themselves thirsty. The engineer has no objection to the men having
lemonade, etc., but all intoxicating drinks on the works are strictly
prohibited. On Sundays, between 9 and 10 a.m., a religious service is
conducted in the lobby at No. 6 retort house by the Missionary.
_Scene in a retort house on week-day._--The stokers, after having been
at work in the retort houses for half an hour, are "off" for nearly
an hour, during which they employ their time in various ways; some
play at cards, some at draughts, some at dominoes, others read the
newspapers,--eight men in a group will club together and subscribe
a penny each, this enables them to purchase six dailies and two
weeklies, thus a group is furnished with newspaper intelligence for
a week. Others of the stokers will seek to bring grist to their mill
by employing the time they are off to their own pecuniary advantage
either in mending their own boots and shoes or the boots and shoes of
their fellow-workmen. At times some of the men may be seen mending
their clothes, or washing a pair of trowsers in a bucket of water and
using the wooden handle of a shovel as a substitute for a "dolly." Now
and then a man will lie on his back at full length on a heap of coals,
locked in the arms of Morpheus, presently he awakes out of his dreams,
rubs his eyes astonished at what has transpired during the past hour.
The foreman's whistle, similar to that used by a railway guard when
a train is ready to start, is the signal for the men to resume their
work, and to their credit be it said, they go at it manly and rush to
their shovels and scoops like British sailors fly to their guns when
commanded to salute a Prince or fire at an enemy! A stranger for the
first time is startled when the lids or "lips" as they are called are
removed from the mouths of the retorts by the bomb! bombing! a kind
of percussion or shock occasioned by the gaseous vapours confined in
the retorts being liberated by coming into direct contact with the
atmosphere, then commences the belching forth of flame, the issuing of
smoke, the raking out of carbonized coal blazing with tar in order to
clear the retorts which are again quickly charged with that peculiar
fossil of vegetable origin found among the carboniferous strata of the
earth. It is interesting to mark the agility with which the stokers
perform their duty. Five men constitute a gang,--there are three men to
a scoop. Scoops are made of iron. A scoop is 10 feet long, 7½ inches
wide, and 5½ inches deep with a T piece for a handle. It is placed on
the ground, filled as soon as possible, then raised by two men who put
underneath it a wrought iron bar called a "horse" so bent or curved
in the middle on which to rest the scoop. These two men, with the aid
of the man who holds the T piece, thrust the coals into the retorts
as quickly as artillerymen ram cannon, and so work at each bed of
retorts stripped to the waist, while the perspiration is oozing from
the pores of their skin like melted tallow! Now and again a hissing
noise with steam accompanied with clouds of vapour caused by buckets
of water thrown on the carbonized coal taken from the retorts. No
sooner is the coke thus cooled than it is (in keeping with all the
movements preceding) wheeled in iron barrows to a place in the yard,
where pyramidically it is piled stage upon stage until purchased by the
coal contractor and coke merchants who require it for their customers.
Respecting the employés at these important works--beneath the rough
exterior of their sooty skin, incidental to their occupation, these
sons of toil who forsooth earn their livelihood by the sweat of their
brow in common with their brother man, have hearts akin to the finest
specimens of humanity, and stand related to our Father in heaven, for
we are all His offspring, brothers for whom the Saviour died. Whatever
a man's status in social life, whatever part he may take, however
humble in the divisions of industrial, honest labour, these men know
that as Robert Burns says; "A man's a man for a' that."
From the hydraulic main the gas passes on to a set of condensers
or coolers at the south side of the works, through which it is
made to circulate until it is reduced to a temperature bearing
some approximation to the surrounding atmosphere, also to separate
condensable vapours before allowing the gas to pass to the purifiers.
The tar well or tank is a receptacle for the overflow of the hydraulic,
etc. A branch pipe from the main is inserted and sealed in a stationary
lute at the bottom. The tar thus deposited as well as the ammoniacal
liquor is valuable. There are five scrubbers, the tops of which are
reached by flights of wooden steps with hand-rails and a stage or
gallery above communicating from one scrubber to another. Each scrubber
is a cylinder 19 feet in diameter and 70 feet high, they are made of
cast-iron plates and contain a series of iron trays or gratings on
which are spread layers of coke, furze, etc. Water is injected from
the top by means of a revolving apparatus connected with vertical and
horizontal shafting and driven by a small engine below, thereby keeping
up a constant humid spray, the object being to separate the ammonia and
acids from the gas.
In front of houses Nos. 4 and 5 (which by the way are the oldest retort
houses inside these works) is situated the boiler and engine house.
There are three boilers 28 feet by 6 in diameter. In the engine house
four of Beal's exhausters occupy prominent positions, they are used
to exhaust or suck the gas from the retorts and afterwards force it
through the vessels for purification; two of these driven by engines
of 20 horse power work 150,000 cubic feet per hour each. Two driven by
engines of 12 horse power work 100,000 per hour each. Attached to the
inlet of each exhauster is one of Wright's exhauster governors, it is
made on the principle of pressure or suction elevating or depressing
a light cylinder working in a water-lute of sufficient depth. When
an exhaust is maintained on the water gauge, counter balance weights
equal to the exhaust on the area of the cylinder are applied, and the
oscillations, as the suction increases or diminishes, regulate to a
nicety the exhaust. The whole of the machinery in this department
is in excellent order and will bear the minutest inspection. Over
the engine house, which is reached outside by a corkscrew or spiral
iron staircase, is a workshop fitted up with machinery; it contains
a horizontal engine of eight horse power, which drives two lathes,
one bolt screwing machine, two drilling machines, and a saw bench.
Against the wall of the engine house is one of Tangye's Special Pumps
for raising water from the dock to supply the whole of the works with
water for cooling purposes. Outside the engine house an apparatus
called a jet exhauster has recently been erected composed of a series
of vertical iron tubes, a steam boiler, a generator, and jet. A vacuum
is created by a blast of steam, thereby compelling the gas to rapidly
leave the retorts and at the same time the ammonia is supposed to be
entirely removed by means of water which percolates through shavings
with which the tubes or pipes are filled.
On the south side of the works, in addition to the coolers, there are
thirteen purifiers and fifteen plots or courts including the foreman's
lobby. Each purifier is of cast-iron, it is oblong in form, the cover
is wrought iron riveted together in sheets, and the seal is made by
means of a water-lute round the edge of the purifier. The purifying
material, which is sometimes lime but principally oxide of iron, is
carefully spread out on trays and these are disposed in tiers or sets
in such a manner as to leave a clear open space between each succeeding
layer to allow the gas to diffuse itself thoroughly throughout the
mass. Lime when once fouled cannot profitably be renewed for gas
purifying purposes, but the oxide of iron can be further utilized
by spreading out the oxide in an open court when the oxygen of the
atmosphere precipitates the sulphur and the oxide is again fit for use.
The gas passes from the purifiers to the station meter house fronting
the stores on the north side of the yard, where the quantity of gas
made is registered; adjoining which is Mr. Methven's the Sub-Manager's
office, and a test room or laboratory where various experiments
connected with the manufacture of gas are conducted. Against the north
boundary is a small gas house with gas-holder, etc., all complete,
occasionally used for experimenting purposes. From the station meters
the gas passes to the gas-holders; each of these enormous circular
vessels possesses great storage capacity. It is made on the principle
that the circle of all geometrical figures is the one that a fixed
circumference or outline is capable of enclosing the greatest amount
of space. A gas-holder is made by riveting together light wrought
iron sheets upon an angle framing and in shape resembles an inverted
cup, the crown being either flat or the segment of a large sphere. It
works in a circular water-tank, round which columns are erected that
sustain guides at proper intervals by which the gasholder when working
is supported, etc. Erected in different parts of the works, including
those (two) in the field Prince of Wales' Road, are five immense
gasholders with double lifts capable of holding in all 7,000,000 cubic
feet of gas. The most imposing view of the Works is from the gate near
the entrance of the Creek at Mill-Pond Bridge; in the creek there
are sometimes as many as forty barges. On entering at this gate the
eye is attracted by two ponderous lifts, which, by an arrangement of
rope bands attached to shafting with revolving iron drums and pulleys
supported by columns and girders and driven by two horizontal engines
of twelve horse-power, are capable of lifting 500 tons of coals every
twelve hours. The coals are raised from the barges in iron waggons
which hold 1 ton 15 cwt. each, there are two waggons to each lift so
that while one waggon is being filled the other on the stage above
is being conveyed on iron rails to whatever part of the retort house
the coals may be required. Each engine has a powerful brake and is
worked with two levers. On the west side of the creek is the manager's
residence, and an enormous gasholder with capacity to hold 2,000,000
cubic feet of gas; further on is a hand crane. In front of No. 7
retort house is one of Winshurst and Hollick's engine cranes, which
is capable of lifting 200 tons of coals in ten hours by means of a
chain and bucket lifted up to the hopper, a distance of nearly sixty
feet, and emptied. The bucket holds 15 cwt. of coal. That portion of
the Company's premises known as Mill-Pond Yard is used for the storage
of pipes, bricks, fire-clay, etc. Here is the carcass of the Old
Tidal Mill with lock gates; here too is the Workman's Institute and
Band room. Mothers' Meetings are held at the Institute on Wednesdays
at 3 p.m., on Sunday afternoons at 3 o'clock for Bible readings by a
Missionary in the district.[1]
[Footnote 1: Since the above description was written in 1877 very
extensive alterations have been made in these works. The Company have
completed a large purifying house at the south side of the Creek,
and have had constructed on the site of the Old Institute a dock for
the purpose of admitting steam colliers of 1000 tons burden; and
have erected a coal tramway from the same into the Works, crossing
Nine Elms Lane with an iron bridge 22 feet from the roadway, which
has been widened at least 20 feet. Moreover the carcass of the Old
Flour Water-Mill has been pulled down the only vestiges remaining are
the lock gates. Opposite Mr. Methven's residence a new institute and
stables have been built. In the Works the old offices, workshops,
stores, meter-house, and test rooms have been demolished, the high
shaft pulled down and the jet exhauster removed. A new meter-house has
been erected opposite the engine house and there has also been added
new machinery. The Creek has been narrowed and the portion of ground
recovered has considerably increased the size of the coke yard. A
parapet has been built on both sides of the Creek to prevent the water
from overflowing in the event of extraordinary high tides. Also a new
stage retort house is being erected parallel with retort house No. 6.
(Messrs. Kirk and Randall, Contractors). In addition, three blocks of
new buildings have been erected on the west side of the road within the
principal gate, is B (1) containing coke office, cashier's office and
strong room; timekeeper's office, weigh office, coke foreman's office,
superintendent's office and test room. On the east side of the road
is B (2) containing gate-keeper's lobby and stores. At the south-east
corner of the Works is B (3) consisting of workshops, lobby, etc. The
whole of the three blocks were completed in about four months. (B.
E. Nightingale, Builder and Contractor). The factory bell has been
mounted against one of the columns belonging to the gasholder near the
timekeeper's office, and a gasholder of colossal dimensions is being
erected in the Company's field, Prince of Wales Road. The alterations,
improvements, etc., at these Works within the last ten years have
involved an outlay of about £200,000. _Yard Foreman_, Mr. A. Wilson;
_Carbonizing Foremen_, Messrs. H. Walker, M. Walker, R. Johnston, W.
Taylor, T. Reynolds, G. Feeney; _Purifying Foremen_, Messrs. D. Brown
and H. Aylett; _Foreman of Enginemen_, Mr. G. Wilson; _Coke Foremen_,
Messrs. G. Smith and C. Meredith; _Coal Gang Foreman_, Mr. W. Clowes;
_Timekeeper_, Mr. R. Whitmore. Mr. R. Harvey was foreman over the men
in the carbonizing department and had been upwards of forty years in
the Company's employment, in consideration of his valuable services the
Company have granted him, as they have also several other of their old
and faithful servants, an annuity.]
Upon the mains at their exit from the works valves are placed, each
valve having a revolving pressure indicator attached, the paper of
which is graduated into inches, and tenths, and marked with spaces
corresponding to the twenty-four hours of the day. In the meter-house
self-regulating governors are used for this purpose. From the
gasholders the gas is driven through cast-iron mains or pipes, and
from them by wrought iron service pipes to the lamps and burners which
help to illuminate our Metropolis. The Company's mains extend about
170 miles, and at any point they supply gas with the same abundance
and precision as at Nine Elms. At one time, the Works of the London
Gas-Light Company at Vauxhall were considered the most powerful and
complete in the world, and even now, in this age of rivalry and
sharp competition, under the judicious management of their Board of
Directors and their skilled Engineer, Robert Morton, Esq., the London
Gas-Light Company maintain an honourable position among other gas-light
companies, and are worthy the name they bear. The number of men
employed at these works in the Winter season is about 500. There is a
Sick Provident Club belonging to the works.[1]
[Footnote 1: All workmen employed by the London Gas-light Company
(unless hired on other terms) are engaged on weekly hirings, and are
required to give, and entitled to receive, a week's notice before
leaving or being discharged from the Company's service, except in case
of misconduct, for which a workman will be discharged without notice.
By order of the Board,
A.J. DOVE, Sec.
13_th March_, 1876.]
ON A RECENTLY-EXPOSED SECTION AT BATTERSEA.
_Extracts from a Paper read before the Geologists' Association, March
1st, 1872, by John A. Coombs, Esq._
"This section was exposed on a piece of ground recently acquired by
the London Gas-light Company for a Gas-holder Station. It is situated
to the north of the Prince of Wales' Road, Battersea, between the
high-level lines of the London, Brighton, and South-Coast, and
the London, Chatham, and Dover Railways, near the point of their
separation after crossing the Thames near the Chelsea Suspension
Bridge. The excavations were commenced at the latter end of last year,
for the purpose of constructing two gas-holder tanks, each 185 feet
inside diameter. The total length of the excavation, therefore, was
about 400 feet, by about 200 feet in width, and 30 feet in depth, the
direction of the longest distance being very nearly from N.W. to S.E.
The average surface of the ground was 12-ft. 9-in. above the Ordnance
Datum Level, or 8 inches above Trinity High Water Mark. The general
Section was as follows:--
Alluvial Soil and Vegetable Mould 2 feet
Thames Valley Gravel 22 "
Altered London Clay (brown) 1 "
London Clay (excavated) 5 "
An interesting series of mammalian remains were obtained from
the Valley Gravel, which, considering the limited extent of the
excavation, and the number of specimens destroyed in the removal of
the material, shews this section to be fully as prolific in these
remains as the long-worked pits of Erith or Crayford. The specimens
have been examined and identified by William Davies, Esq, of the
British Museum, who kindly undertook to compare them with those in the
national collection. The following is a list of these remains:--
_Elphas primigenius_, Blum. Portion of lower jaw and tooth,
and the shaft of a humerus of a young individual.
_Rhinoceros tichorhinus_, Cuv. Part of a cranium, a lumbar
vertebra, a right metatarsus, and a left metacarpus.
_Equus caballus fossilis_, Linn. A right metacarpus, a right
radius, and an upper molar.
_Bos._ sp. Cervical vertebra.
_Cervus elaphus_, Linn. Portion of left ramus of lower jaw,
and portion of a right radius.
_Cervus tarandus_, Linn. The base of a shed antler. (This had
suffered considerable attrition).
There were also found a rib and a portion of an ilium of a _Cervus_
(species indeterminable), besides many other fragments too small or
too much mutilated for recognition. But the most unusual fossil found
in such deposits was that of _Pliosaurus_, a portion of the paddle
bone of which was found associated with the remains above mentioned.
This fossil, which was probably derived from the Kimmeridge Clay,
shewed evident signs of attrition, but not so much as to efface the
marks of muscular attachment; it was, moreover, charged with peroxide
of iron. Search was made in the anticipation of shells of _Cyrena
(Corbicula) fluminalis_ being associated with these remains, but
without success.
Immediately beneath the Thames Valley Gravel was the London Clay,
possessing all the typical features of that formation, without any of
the loamy gradations found in higher parts of the metropolis. The top
of the clay, however, to a depth varying from 9 to 12 inches, was of
a brown colour, resembling the brown (altered) London Clay found at
Hampstead and elsewhere.
The clay was excavated only to a depth of a few feet, thus preventing
a great number of fossils being obtained. Those found, however, are
sufficient for comparison with the zones of fossils found in larger
sections, and thus may afford evidence of the amount of denudation to
which the clay had been subjected at this spot before the deposition
of the gravel. By far the most abundant fossil found in the London
Clay was the _Pentacrinus sub-basaltiformis_, which was obtained
in the rounded angular, as well as the perfectly cylindrical form.
The following Mollusca were also obtained:--_Nautilus regalis,
Pyrula Smithii, Fusus bifasciatus, Voluta Wetherellii, Pleurotoma
teretrium, Natica labellata, Dentalium_, sp., _Leda amygdaloides,
Nucula Bowerbankii, Cryptodon angulatus, C. Goodallis_, and _Syndosyma
splendens. Teredo_ borings, _Serpula_, and teeth of _Lamma_ complete
the list of organic remains.
Septaria were abundant in the clay, many of which contained
drift-wood, bored by the _Teredo_, one contained a _Nautilus regalis_
as a nucleus, and several exhibited the usual crystallizations of
calcite, heavy spar, and iron pyrites. Selenite, however, was very
scarce in the clay, being found only in small crystals, and these by
no means numerous."
In Nine Elms Lane resided Mr. Sellar, a respectable tradesman who
kept a tea and cheesemonger's establishment, and who for five years
discharged his parochial duties as an overseer. Greatly deploring
the irreligious condition of the spiritually-benighted poor of the
neighbourhood, he had erected at his own expense, a hall at the
back of his premises in Everet Street, to be used for religious and
secular educational purposes. Subsequently the hall was rented by the
Wesleyan Methodists, and was used by them as a preaching station, Mr.
Farmer acting as steward and superintendent of the Sunday school which
he commenced there. When the Sunday school was opened in 1871, not
more than 20 per cent. of the children who presented themselves for
admission could read, and their knowledge of the sacred contents of the
Holy Scriptures was _nil_. However, though the task was difficult, for
seven years Mr. John Farmer, assisted by his small staff of Christian
teachers:--
Plodded hard, and labour'd well
As many in Nine Elms can tell.
The hall is now engaged by the Metropolitan Tabernacle Evangelization
Society. A Sunday school is still held in the place and evangelistic
services conducted there every Lord's day evening.