Asquith
Diamond
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2005
- Location
- Somerset, UK
Photos of W & F Wills’ works in Bridgwater, England.
I’ve mentioned Wills before, in the context of one of their steam engines at Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum. See links below (warning to dial-up users – four photos in the first link):-
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/showthread.php?t=115316
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/showthread.php?t=151275
Wills’ normal business was clay-working machinery and cast iron road signs. Bridgwater was a big producer of bricks and clay tiles, and these were exported all over the place. In fact I came across a big Victorian municipal building 11,000 miles away in New Zealand which had been roofed with Bridgwater tiles (although it had recently been re-roofed with new tiles, from France). It was said that at one time all the clay-working machinery in the Bridgwater area had been made by Wills.
This is a steam engine, with space for something else on the bedplate, I know not what.
I’ve enlarged part of the photo to show the lathe in the background, with its unusually long cross slide (and an unusually low tailstock!?). Behind the lathe is what appears to be a slotting machine, and a flywheel which mysteriously blends with a horizontal structural beam.
Wills also made boat engines, and provided the machinery for two unusual steam vessels which plied the River Parrett in front of Wills’ ‘Perseverance Works’. The vessels had powerful pumps for water jets which blasted away accumulations of silt from the river banks. The next thumbnail shows the main engine, with the condenser behind, and pump unit on the right.
The photo above shows the two stage pump, driven by a de Laval steam turbine, whose gearbox has two output shafts. The pumps were made by Wills, but the turbine and gearbox were made by Greenwood & Batley of Leeds.
Silt from the River Parrett was used to make millions of ‘Bath Bricks’. These were used worldwide for scouring and polishing, either using the ‘brick’ itself or scraping material off to use as scouring powder. I recently came across an unusual use for the material in an old American steam engine book. Purists look away now. ‘When pillow blocks, or main bearings, become troublesome from overheating, the annoyance, in a majority of cases, can be remedied by mixing a quantity of Bath brick-dust with water, and running it through the holes in the caps when the engine is in motion, as it has a tendency to smooth off the surfaces in contact, and bring them to a solid bearing.’ (‘Handbook of Land and Marine Engines’ by Stephen Roper, published in Philadelphia in 1875).
I’ve mentioned Wills before, in the context of one of their steam engines at Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum. See links below (warning to dial-up users – four photos in the first link):-
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/showthread.php?t=115316
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/showthread.php?t=151275
Wills’ normal business was clay-working machinery and cast iron road signs. Bridgwater was a big producer of bricks and clay tiles, and these were exported all over the place. In fact I came across a big Victorian municipal building 11,000 miles away in New Zealand which had been roofed with Bridgwater tiles (although it had recently been re-roofed with new tiles, from France). It was said that at one time all the clay-working machinery in the Bridgwater area had been made by Wills.
This is a steam engine, with space for something else on the bedplate, I know not what.
I’ve enlarged part of the photo to show the lathe in the background, with its unusually long cross slide (and an unusually low tailstock!?). Behind the lathe is what appears to be a slotting machine, and a flywheel which mysteriously blends with a horizontal structural beam.
Wills also made boat engines, and provided the machinery for two unusual steam vessels which plied the River Parrett in front of Wills’ ‘Perseverance Works’. The vessels had powerful pumps for water jets which blasted away accumulations of silt from the river banks. The next thumbnail shows the main engine, with the condenser behind, and pump unit on the right.
The photo above shows the two stage pump, driven by a de Laval steam turbine, whose gearbox has two output shafts. The pumps were made by Wills, but the turbine and gearbox were made by Greenwood & Batley of Leeds.
Silt from the River Parrett was used to make millions of ‘Bath Bricks’. These were used worldwide for scouring and polishing, either using the ‘brick’ itself or scraping material off to use as scouring powder. I recently came across an unusual use for the material in an old American steam engine book. Purists look away now. ‘When pillow blocks, or main bearings, become troublesome from overheating, the annoyance, in a majority of cases, can be remedied by mixing a quantity of Bath brick-dust with water, and running it through the holes in the caps when the engine is in motion, as it has a tendency to smooth off the surfaces in contact, and bring them to a solid bearing.’ (‘Handbook of Land and Marine Engines’ by Stephen Roper, published in Philadelphia in 1875).