"What a monster!
Imagine an enormous see-saw, with a steam engine at one end, and a pump at the other…"
The GRAND JUNCTION 90 INCH ENGINE
When in April 1850 Charles Dickens fund himself visiting the place called at the time Kew Pumping Station where a huge hydraulic pump, the GRAND JUNCTION 90 INCH ENGINE, had been placed two years before (it was built in 1846 by Sandys, Carne & Vivian of the Copperhouse Foundry of Hayle, in Cornwall and wa the first engine made specifically for the service of the waterworks ) he felt impressed by the enormity of the engine - which is still the largest functioning today -, from the noise that it produced and still not used to see where the technological progress, that was taking its very first steps, was able to lead us, he wrote on the weekly journal that he founded the same year and conducted, named Household Words, in the issue of the 13th, what we're going to read:
THE TROUBLED WATER QUESTION.
My excellent and eloquent friend, Lyttleton, of Pump Court, Temple, barrister-at- aw, disturbed me on a damp morning at the end of last month, to bespeak my company to a meeting at which he intended to hold forth. ‘It is, he said, ‘the Great Water Supply Congress, which assembles to—morrow.’
‘Do you know anything of the subject?’
‘A vast deal both practically and theoretically. Practically, I pay for my little box in the Regent’s Park, twice the rice for water our friend Fielding is chargeed, and both supplies are derived from the same Company.
Yet his is a mansion, mine is a cottage; his rent more than doubles mine in amount, and his family trebles mine in number. So much for the consistency and exactions of an irresponsible monopoly. Practically, again, there are occasions when my cisterns are without water. So much for deficient supply.’
‘ Is your water bad?’
‘Not absolutely unwholesome; but I have drunk better.’
Showing to be well prepared about this topic, Lyttleton began with his speech:
[...] of the 300,000 houses of which London is said to consist, 70,000 are without the great element of suction and cleanliness; I find also that the supply, such as it is, is derived from nine water companies all linked together to form a giant monopoly; and that, in consequence, the charge for water is in some instances excessive; that six of these companies draw their water from the filthy Thames;—and the same number, including those which use the Lea and New River water, have no system of filtration—hence it is unwholesome: that in short, the public of the metropolis are the victims of dear, insufficient and dirty water.
Dickens then suggests to his friend a visit to Kew Bridge, where the Kew Pumping Station was located and where in 1848 the GREAT JUNCTION 90-inch engine was installed which distributes the water monopolized by the above mentioned nine companies.
Reached Kew Bridge,
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Dickens shows his friend what was the exact point in which the Grand Junction Waterworks Company drew water, that is from the river bed, but not before filtering it through a wide and dense network located on the mouth of the suction pipe capable of retain all the solid substances that flowed in the waters of the river as the origin of their unhealthy, because even if the purified water is almost completely tasteless on the palate, it is also completely deprived of pathogenic elements, a source of even serious diseases.
In a second time the water, after being sucked, is pumped by the GRAND JUNCTION 90 INCH ENGINE into a 3 acres and 1/2 filtering basin and left to deposit so that even the elements such as sand, earth, clay, drains of gutters, soaps, etc. remain on the bottom and therefore the liquid thus obtained is completely pure and crystalline - and it will be this filtering system, in fact, to prevent the sporadic cases of cholera that at the time were widespread among the population, probably among the less wealthy that couldn't afford running and completely clear water, didn't degenerate into an epidemic.
[...] our water is passed afterwards into the filtering bed, which is four feet thick.’
‘How do you make up this enormous bed?’
‘The water rests upon, and permeates through, 1st, a surface of fine sand; 2d, a stratum of shells; 3d, a layer of garden gravel; and 4th, a base of coarse gravel. It thence falls through a number of ducts into cisterns, whence it is pumped up so as to commence its travels to town through the conduit pipe.’
The engineer superintendent at the machines that Dickens and his friend Lyttleton were going to see, ensures that the water delivered by the nine companies so thoroughly filtered is completely pure, which cannot be said of that drawn from sources or from the gutter pipes - which were in lead - both collected for domestic use in the countryside and much less for those drawn directly from the rivers; even the one kept in the cisterns in the house, remaining stationary, tends to lose its purity, provided that initially it could boast it: in the smaller houses of London and the surrounding areas, water was in fact drawn by some tanks, often located in the attic, which were filled three times a week, but of course the flow of water was not continuous, that is current, and when they were empty, it was necessary to wait for the new supply.
This mechanism, completely innovative, allowed many people to enjoy the benefits of running water, estimated in about 100 liters per day 'pro-capite', as we will see proceeding with the reading of Dicken's article, except for Sunday, which was the only day when the companies that supplied the water distributed by the GRAND JUNCTION 90 INCH ENGINE did not provide their service, so, to all intents and purposes, it was certainly worth even spending more money to have in your homes the running water, at least for a question of health.
But Dickens still ignores what a huge device his eyes are going to to see:
[...] What a monster! Imagine an enormous see-saw, with a steam engine at one end, and a pump at the other. Fancy this‘ beam,’ some ten yards long, and twenty eight tons in weight, moving on a pivot in the middle, the ends of which show a circumference greater than the crown of the biggest hat ever' worn. See, with what earnest deliberation the ‘see,’ or engine, pulls up the ‘saw,’ or balance-box of the pump, which then comes down 11 on the water-trap with
the ferocious àplomb of 49 tons, sending 400 gallons of water in one tremendous squirt nearly the twentieth part of a mile high;— that is to the top of the stand-pipe.
The engineer who accompanied Dickens and his friend Lyttleton continues his illustrative speech explaining that the big pump sucks and compresses 11 times a minute thus pumping every 60 seconds 4400 gallons for a supply that goes from 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 gallons of clear water every day.
‘What proportion of London do you 'supply?’ asked Mr. Lyttleton.
‘The quadrangle included between Oxford Street, Wardour Street, Pall-Mall, and Hyde Park; besides the whole of Notting-hill, Bayswater, and Paddington. We serve 14,058 houses, to each of which we supply 225 gallons per day, or, taking the average number of persons per house at nine, 25 gallons a head; besides public services, such as baths, water ing streets, or manufactories; making our total daily delivery at the rate of 252 gallons per house. This delivery is performed through 80 miles of service pipes, whose diameter varies from 3 to 30 inches.’
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But do you wonder what did it mean, 80 miles of pipe network, at that time ... not only the pump was something monstrous, but so was the whole Kew Pumping Station and the entire engineering work that had been done with it!
Returning to the GRAND JUNCTION 90 INCH ENGINE, made in Cornwall which at that time boasted a record in the construction of such engines, it was really something monstrous for the times and we can still consider it such today if we think that it continued its work until 1944, without practically stopping, and it was so powerful that it had the ability to pump water to the upper floors of buildings, which encouraged the 'growth' of London upwards, ie the construction of buildings with more floors, especially in residential areas.
Today we can still observe it, with request, in function, at what was then the Kew Pumping Station, which in recent times has become the London Museum of Water and Steam.
Ah, I forgot to tell you that eventually, persuaded by what he had seen with his own eyes and heard with his own ears, the skeptical Lyttleton really had to rewrite his own speech for the conference which had to be held the very day after!
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My excellent and eloquent friend, Lyttleton, of Pump Court, Temple, barrister-at- aw, disturbed me on a damp morning at the end of last month, to bespeak my company to a meeting at which he intended to hold forth. ‘It is, he said, ‘the Great Water Supply Congress, which assembles to—morrow.’
‘Do you know anything of the subject?’
‘A vast deal both practically and theoretically. Practically, I pay for my little box in the Regent’s Park, twice the rice for water our friend Fielding is chargeed, and both supplies are derived from the same Company.
Yet his is a mansion, mine is a cottage; his rent more than doubles mine in amount, and his family trebles mine in number. So much for the consistency and exactions of an irresponsible monopoly. Practically, again, there are occasions when my cisterns are without water. So much for deficient supply.’
‘ Is your water bad?’
‘Not absolutely unwholesome; but I have drunk better.’
Showing to be well prepared about this topic, Lyttleton began with his speech:
[...] of the 300,000 houses of which London is said to consist, 70,000 are without the great element of suction and cleanliness; I find also that the supply, such as it is, is derived from nine water companies all linked together to form a giant monopoly; and that, in consequence, the charge for water is in some instances excessive; that six of these companies draw their water from the filthy Thames;—and the same number, including those which use the Lea and New River water, have no system of filtration—hence it is unwholesome: that in short, the public of the metropolis are the victims of dear, insufficient and dirty water.
Dickens then suggests to his friend a visit to Kew Bridge, where the Kew Pumping Station was located and where in 1848 the GREAT JUNCTION 90-inch engine was installed which distributes the water monopolized by the above mentioned nine companies.
Reached Kew Bridge,
Dickens shows his friend what was the exact point in which the Grand Junction Waterworks Company drew water, that is from the river bed, but not before filtering it through a wide and dense network located on the mouth of the suction pipe capable of retain all the solid substances that flowed in the waters of the river as the origin of their unhealthy, because even if the purified water is almost completely tasteless on the palate, it is also completely deprived of pathogenic elements, a source of even serious diseases.
In a second time the water, after being sucked, is pumped by the GRAND JUNCTION 90 INCH ENGINE into a 3 acres and 1/2 filtering basin and left to deposit so that even the elements such as sand, earth, clay, drains of gutters, soaps, etc. remain on the bottom and therefore the liquid thus obtained is completely pure and crystalline - and it will be this filtering system, in fact, to prevent the sporadic cases of cholera that at the time were widespread among the population, probably among the less wealthy that couldn't afford running and completely clear water, didn't degenerate into an epidemic.
[...] our water is passed afterwards into the filtering bed, which is four feet thick.’
‘How do you make up this enormous bed?’
‘The water rests upon, and permeates through, 1st, a surface of fine sand; 2d, a stratum of shells; 3d, a layer of garden gravel; and 4th, a base of coarse gravel. It thence falls through a number of ducts into cisterns, whence it is pumped up so as to commence its travels to town through the conduit pipe.’
The engineer superintendent at the machines that Dickens and his friend Lyttleton were going to see, ensures that the water delivered by the nine companies so thoroughly filtered is completely pure, which cannot be said of that drawn from sources or from the gutter pipes - which were in lead - both collected for domestic use in the countryside and much less for those drawn directly from the rivers; even the one kept in the cisterns in the house, remaining stationary, tends to lose its purity, provided that initially it could boast it: in the smaller houses of London and the surrounding areas, water was in fact drawn by some tanks, often located in the attic, which were filled three times a week, but of course the flow of water was not continuous, that is current, and when they were empty, it was necessary to wait for the new supply.
This mechanism, completely innovative, allowed many people to enjoy the benefits of running water, estimated in about 100 liters per day 'pro-capite', as we will see proceeding with the reading of Dicken's article, except for Sunday, which was the only day when the companies that supplied the water distributed by the GRAND JUNCTION 90 INCH ENGINE did not provide their service, so, to all intents and purposes, it was certainly worth even spending more money to have in your homes the running water, at least for a question of health.
But Dickens still ignores what a huge device his eyes are going to to see:
[...] What a monster! Imagine an enormous see-saw, with a steam engine at one end, and a pump at the other. Fancy this‘ beam,’ some ten yards long, and twenty eight tons in weight, moving on a pivot in the middle, the ends of which show a circumference greater than the crown of the biggest hat ever' worn. See, with what earnest deliberation the ‘see,’ or engine, pulls up the ‘saw,’ or balance-box of the pump, which then comes down 11 on the water-trap with
the ferocious àplomb of 49 tons, sending 400 gallons of water in one tremendous squirt nearly the twentieth part of a mile high;— that is to the top of the stand-pipe.
The engineer who accompanied Dickens and his friend Lyttleton continues his illustrative speech explaining that the big pump sucks and compresses 11 times a minute thus pumping every 60 seconds 4400 gallons for a supply that goes from 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 gallons of clear water every day.
‘What proportion of London do you 'supply?’ asked Mr. Lyttleton.
‘The quadrangle included between Oxford Street, Wardour Street, Pall-Mall, and Hyde Park; besides the whole of Notting-hill, Bayswater, and Paddington. We serve 14,058 houses, to each of which we supply 225 gallons per day, or, taking the average number of persons per house at nine, 25 gallons a head; besides public services, such as baths, water ing streets, or manufactories; making our total daily delivery at the rate of 252 gallons per house. This delivery is performed through 80 miles of service pipes, whose diameter varies from 3 to 30 inches.’
But do you wonder what did it mean, 80 miles of pipe network, at that time ... not only the pump was something monstrous, but so was the whole Kew Pumping Station and the entire engineering work that had been done with it!
Returning to the GRAND JUNCTION 90 INCH ENGINE, made in Cornwall which at that time boasted a record in the construction of such engines, it was really something monstrous for the times and we can still consider it such today if we think that it continued its work until 1944, without practically stopping, and it was so powerful that it had the ability to pump water to the upper floors of buildings, which encouraged the 'growth' of London upwards, ie the construction of buildings with more floors, especially in residential areas.
Today we can still observe it, with request, in function, at what was then the Kew Pumping Station, which in recent times has become the London Museum of Water and Steam.
Ah, I forgot to tell you that eventually, persuaded by what he had seen with his own eyes and heard with his own ears, the skeptical Lyttleton really had to rewrite his own speech for the conference which had to be held the very day after!
And arrived at the end of today's story, taken from the chronicles of 1850,
I hug you with love,
thanking you as always for having followed me up to here,
I hug you with love,
thanking you as always for having followed me up to here,
see you soon 💕
SOURCE:
"Che mostro!
Immaginate un'enorme altalena, con un motore a vapore ad un'estremità ed una pompa all'altra ... "
- immagine 1 - Il GRAND JUNCTION 90 INCH ENGINE
Quando nell'aprile del 1850 Charles Dickens si trovò a visitare il locale chiamato al tempo Kew Pumping Station in cui era stata posta l'enorme pompa idraulica, il GRAND JUNCTION 90 INCH ENGINE, costruita nel 1846 da Sandys, Carne & Vivian della Copperhouse Foundry di Hayle, in Cornovaglia, primo motore realizzato appositamente per il servizio degli acquedotti, egli, rimasto impressionato dall'enormità del macchinario - che è tutt'oggi il più grande motore ad asta funzionante -, dal rumore che produceva ed ancora non uso a vedere a cosa potevano in realtà condurre il progresso tecnologico che proprio allora stava compiendo i suoi primi passi, così scrisse sul settimanale da lui fondato quello stesso anno, Household Words, nel numero uscito il giorno 13:
LA CONTROVERSA QUESTIONE DELL'ACQUA.
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LA CONTROVERSA QUESTIONE DELL'ACQUA.
Il mio eccelso ed eloquente amico, Lyttleton, di Pump Court, Temple, avvocato, mi ha scomodato in una umida mattinata alla fine del mese scorso, per assicurarsi la mia compagnia ad una riunione alla quale intendeva partecipare sostenendo la propria idea. "È, ha detto, il grande Congresso sulla fornitura d'acqua, che si riunisce domani."
"Sai qualcosa a tale proposito?"
"E' un grosso affare sia in pratica che in teoria. In pratica pago per la mia piccola cisterna nel Regent's Park il doppio di quanto paga per la sua acqua il nostro amico Fielding, ed entrambe le forniture derivano dalla stessa compagnia.
Eppure la sua è una villa, la mia è un cottage; il suo affitto è più che doppio del mio, e la sua famiglia il triplo della mia. Tutto dovuto alla coerenza e agli introiti di un monopolio irresponsabile. Praticamente, ancora, ci sono occasioni in cui le mie cisterne sono prive di acqua di conseguenza all'offerta carente. '
"La tua acqua è cattiva?"
"Assolutamente non infetta; ma ho bevuto di meglio".
Dimostrando di essere ben preparato sull'argomento, Lyttleton cominciò il suo discorso:
[...] delle 300.000 case di cui Londra si dice consista, 70.000 sono prive del grande elemento di aspirazione e pulizia (ossia di acqua corrente). Trovo anche che l'offerta, così com'è, è derivata da nove compagnie idriche tutte collegate tra loro a formare un monopolio gigante; e che, di conseguenza, la tassa per l'acqua sia in alcuni casi eccessiva; che sei di queste compagnie attingono la loro acqua dal sudicio Tamigi, e lo stesso numero, comprese quelle che usano l'acqua del Lea e del New River, non hanno un sistema di filtraggio - il che non è salutare: in breve, la popolazione della metropoli è vittima di acqua cara, insufficiente e sporca.
Dickens propone quindi al suo amico una visita a Kew Bridge, dove si trovava la Kew Pumping Station e dove nel 1848 era stato installato il GREAT JUNCTION 90-inch engine che distribuisce l'acqua monopolizzata dalle nove compagnie di cui sopra.
Raggiunto Kew Bridge,
- immagine 2
Dickens mostra all'amico quello che era il punto esatto in cui la Grand Junction Waterworks Company attingeva l'acqua, ossia dal letto del fiume, ma non prima di averla filtrata attraverso una vasta e fitta rete situata sulla bocca del tubo di aspirazione capace di trattenere tutte le sostanze solide che nelle acque del fiume scorrevano quali origine della loro malsanità, perché anche se l'acqua purificata risulta al palato quasi completamente priva si sapore, è anche del tutto privata di elementi patogeni, fonte di malattie anche gravi.
In un secondo tempo l'acqua, dopo essere stata aspirata, viene pompata dal GRAND JUNCTION 90 INCH ENGINE in un bacino di filtraggio che si estende per 3 acri e 1/2 e lasciata depositare affinché anche gli elementi quali sabbia, terra, argilla, scarichi delle grondaie, saponi, etc. rimangano sul fondo e perciò il liquido così ottenuto risulti completamente puro e cristallino - e sarà proprio tale sistema di filtraggio, infatti, ad impedire che gli sporadici casi di colera che al tempo erano diffusi tra la popolazione, probabilmente tra i meno facoltosi che non potevano permettersi di pagare l'acqua corrente e del tutto epurata, non degenerassero in un'epidemia.
[...] la nostra acqua viene passata in seguito nel letto filtrante, spesso quattro piedi".
"Come si fa a costruire questo enorme letto?"
"L'acqua cade a pioggia su di esso ed attraversa, in primo luogo una superficie di sabbia fine; quindi uno strato di conchiglie, poi uno strato di ghiaia da giardino ed infine una base di ghiaia grossolana. Scende allora attraverso un certo numero di condotti nelle cisterne, da dove viene pompata in modo da iniziare i suoi viaggi in città attraverso il condotto della rete idraulica".
L'ingegnere sovrintendente presso i macchinari a cui Dickens ed il suo amico Lyttleton si stavano approssimando garantisce che così filtrata l'acqua erogata dalle nove compagnie è del tutto pura, cosa che non si può dire di quella di sorgente o di quella che proviene dai tubi delle grondaie - che erano in piombo - entrambe raccolte per usi domestici in campagna e tantomeno per quella attinta direttamente dai fiumi; anche quella conservata nelle cisterne in casa, rimanendo ferma, tende a perdere la sua purezza, a patto che inizialmente potesse vantarne: nelle case più piccole di Londra e del circondario l'acqua era infatti attinta da alcune cisterne, spesso situate nel sottotetto, che venivano colmate tre volte la settimana, ma ovviamente il flusso dell'acqua non era continuo, ossia corrente, e quando si svuotavano bisognava attendere la nuova fornitura.
Questo meccanismo, del tutto innovativo, consentiva invece a molte persone di godere dei vantaggi dell'acqua corrente, stimata circa in 100 litri il giorno pro-capite, come vedremo procedendo con la lettura dell'articolo, esclusa la domenica, che era il solo giorno in cui le compagnie che erogavano l'acqua distribuita dal GRAND JUNCTION 90 INCH ENGINE non prestavano servizio, per cui, a tutti gli effetti, valeva sicuramente la pena spendere anche più denaro per avere nelle proprie case l'acqua corrente non fosse altro che per una questione di salute.
Ma Dickens ancora ignora quale enorme congegno sta per presentarsi ai suoi occhi:
[...] Che mostro! Immaginate un'enorme altalena ( N.d.A. - una tavola sospesa con un perno centrale ) con un motore a vapore a un'estremità e una pompa all'altra. Immaginate questo "braccio", lungo circa dieci iarde, e ventotto tonnellate di peso, che si muove su di un perno collocato nel mezzo, le cui estremità mostrano una circonferenza maggiore della corona che persino il più grande copricapo indossato abbia mai avuto. Dovreste vedere con quale agevolezza una parte del braccio, ossia il motore, tira su l'altra parte o scatola della bilancia, che poi scende lungo il sifone con una feroce pressione di 49 tonnellate che invia 400 galloni di acqua in un tremendo getto alto quasi la ventesima parte di un miglio: - questo in cima al tubo di supporto.
L'informatore che accompagnava Dickens e l'amico Lyttleton prosegue il proprio discorso illustrativo spiegando che la grande pompa aspira e comprime 11 volte il minuto pompando così ogni 60 secondi 4400 galloni per una fornitura che va da 4.000.000 a 5.000.000 di galloni di acqua potabile ogni giorno.
"Che porzione di Londra rifornite?", chiese Mr. Lyttleton.
"Il quadrilatero compreso tra Oxford Street, Wardour Street, Pall-Mall e Hyde Park; oltre a Notting Hill, Bayswater e Paddington. Serviamo 14.058 case, a ciascuna delle quali forniamo 225 galloni al giorno, o, facendo conto che il numero medio di persone per ogni casa sia nove, 25 galloni a testa; oltre ai servizi pubblici, quali bagni, lavaggio delle strade o fabbriche mantenendo la nostra erogazione giornaliera totale al ritmo di 252 galloni per casa. Questa distribuzione viene eseguita attraverso 80 miglia di tubi di servizio, il cui diametro varia da 3 a 30 pollici ".
- immagine 3
- immagine 4
- immagine 5
- immagine 6
- immagine 7
Ma ci pensate, 80 miglia di rete di tubi, a quell'epoca ... non solo la pompa era qualcosa di mostruoso, ma lo era anche la Kew Pumping Station e l'intera opera ingegnieristica che con essa era stata realizzata!
Tornando al GRAND JUNCTION 90 INCH ENGINE, realizzato nella Cornovaglia che a quel tempo vantava un primato nella costruzione di macchinari a braccio, esso era realmente qualcosa di mostruoso per i tempi e tale lo possiamo considerare ancora oggi se pensiamo che continuò il suo lavoro fino al 1944, senza praticamente fermarsi mai, ed era così potente tanto da avere la capacità di pompare acqua ai piani superiori degli edifici, cosa che incoraggiò la 'crescita' di Londra verso l'alto, ovvero la costruzione di edifici a più piani, soprattutto nelle zone residenziali.
Oggi lo possiamo ancora osservare, su richiesta, in funzione, presso quella che era allora la Kew Pumping Station, divenuta in epoche recenti il London Museum of Water and Steam.
Ah, dimenticavo di dirvi che infine, persuaso da ciò che aveva visto con i propri occhi ed udito con le proprie orecchie, lo scettico avvocato Lyttleton dovette davvero di tutta fretta riscrivere il proprio discorso per il convegno del giorno dopo!
a presto 💕
Tornando al GRAND JUNCTION 90 INCH ENGINE, realizzato nella Cornovaglia che a quel tempo vantava un primato nella costruzione di macchinari a braccio, esso era realmente qualcosa di mostruoso per i tempi e tale lo possiamo considerare ancora oggi se pensiamo che continuò il suo lavoro fino al 1944, senza praticamente fermarsi mai, ed era così potente tanto da avere la capacità di pompare acqua ai piani superiori degli edifici, cosa che incoraggiò la 'crescita' di Londra verso l'alto, ovvero la costruzione di edifici a più piani, soprattutto nelle zone residenziali.
Oggi lo possiamo ancora osservare, su richiesta, in funzione, presso quella che era allora la Kew Pumping Station, divenuta in epoche recenti il London Museum of Water and Steam.
Ah, dimenticavo di dirvi che infine, persuaso da ciò che aveva visto con i propri occhi ed udito con le proprie orecchie, lo scettico avvocato Lyttleton dovette davvero di tutta fretta riscrivere il proprio discorso per il convegno del giorno dopo!
E giunti in fondo alla storia di oggi, tratta dalle cronache del 1860,
vi abbraccio con affetto,
ringraziandovi come sempre per avermi seguita fino a qui,
a presto 💕
