The Droitwich Big Wheel.
basil | 11/12/2005 | 3:20 pm
The Big Wheel Pumping Engine.
Droitwich salt industry.
In the late 1900’s the brine from most of the salt works along the canal was pumped by a large steam engine situated in Gurneys Lane. This machine drove hundreds of yards of wooden linked rods over the fields to individual pump shafts at the works. Brine was brought up over 100ft into big settlement tanks and after a week transferred to the large iron heated tanks for evaporation into salt crystal. All that is left of this fine machine is two iron rails on which Bill Bonham, seen here, could open the heavy wooden doors to cool his working conditions.
In the Lane is a large cast iron vacuum reservoir which was in the pipeline to the brine baths. If the pipes were obstructed, rather than water pressure bursting them, air in the cylinder would compress to act as a shock absorber, as water cannot be compressed.
The brine baths supply was replaced by two gas engines at the Tower Hill Wells and now by electricity.
A popular pastime for Droitwich children was to sit on the pump rods and rock backwards and forwards, no health and safety in those days. Max.
