Here is another shot of the Allis Engine in the Waterworks Museum in Boston, MA.

This place is a photographers paradise. To get the full machines in the shots, you do need an ultra-wide angle lens or try and pull it of with panoramas. I opted for the ultra-wide angle that does introduce some distortion (hence the leaning). If I had had more time, I might had tried to get some standard shots of the machines no "leaning" but my time was limited. Also, unfortunately, access the machines themselves was not allowed. Too bad, too because I cannot imagine a shot from up above, looking down, DAMN!

Oh well, better than nothing.

"Allis is a 5-story, self-contained steam engine that was the most thermally efficient pump of its era. Installed in 1898, Alllis was also 30 percent more fuel efficient than any other steam engine of its era.

The parts were manufactured in Milwaukee and sent to Boston via train, where they were assembled in the open air while an extension to the Waterworks building was constructed around it–brick by brick.

Apart from two giant flywheels that had to be hand-started by workmen with crowbars, Allis practically ran itself. It required nothing more than periodic oiling. Workers spent the rest of their time as they liked, and they often liked to polish and tend to Allis. The engine’s relatively pristine condition today gives evidence to the care lavished upon it at the time."

Source: www.bujournalism.com/freeradicalsmag/onthewater/steam-pow...

Tags:   hdr water history museum industrial boston ma pipes steam historic massachusetts engine reservoir valves drinking water massive engineering pump gauges waterworks pumping worthington tone mapped new england frank c. grace trig photography fittings Chestnut Hill pumping station pump house Allis Beacon Street WorthingtonSnow Pentax Art Great Engines Hall

© All Rights Reserved

The Waterworks Museum in Boston, MA

"The Metropolitan Water Works' Chestnut Hill High Service Pumping Station, built 1886-87 and expanded in 1897-98, was built at the height of what is sometimes called Boston’s Golden Age, a period of great prosperity for Boston and New England, lasting from the Civil War through World War I.

The architecture and landscape of Boston— both local and regional, physical and intellectual--serve as the backdrop of the construction of this building. While not unique as an “industrial building in fancy dress,” the Pumping Station has a fascinating story.

Starting in the mid-1830s, Boston developed its first public water supply. The Cochituate Aqueduct came into service in 1848, not long before the filling of the Back Bay. While mostly buried, that water system incorporated three visible public expressions of civic pride: a towering fortress-like reservoir behind the State House; the elegant gatehouse of the aqueduct’s terminal reservoir; and a 90-foot high jet of water that first erupted from the surface of the Frog Pond in the Boston Common during the Great Water Celebration, in October 1848, when the Cochituate water first arrived in Boston. For many years afterwards, it continued to play on certain occasions—a civic monument whose only substance was water.

While the Pumping Station does not explicitly reveal its industrial function, it is broken down into functional modules: coal store, boiler house, and, although masked by the tower and symbolic entrance arch, the machine room containing the pumps. To some extent, it presaged the modernist injunction that form should follow function."

Source: www.waterworksmuseum.org/historystories/architecture

© All Rights Reserved

"Allis is a 5-story, self-contained steam engine that was the most thermally efficient pump of its era. Installed in 1898, Alllis was also 30 percent more fuel efficient than any other steam engine of its era.

The parts were manufactured in Milwaukee and sent to Boston via train, where they were assembled in the open air while an extension to the Waterworks building was constructed around it–brick by brick.

Apart from two giant flywheels that had to be hand-started by workmen with crowbars, Allis practically ran itself. It required nothing more than periodic oiling. Workers spent the rest of their time as they liked, and they often liked to polish and tend to Allis. The engine’s relatively pristine condition today gives evidence to the care lavished upon it at the time."

Source: www.bujournalism.com/freeradicalsmag/onthewater/steam-pow...

© All Rights Reserved

"The Worthington-Snow engine is the youngest of the three engines at the Waterworks Museum. It was installed and brought on-line in 1916. It was also the last pump running in 1976, when the entire High Service Station was shut down.

The Worthington-Snow is a dual-expansion engine, which means there are two steam cylinders, each driving its own water pump. Steam at 185 pounds-per-square-inch from the steam boilers was sent into the first of the two cylinders, the high-pressure cylinder. When steam had pushed the piston the entire three-feet of the cylinder, the steam was sent to the second cylinder, the low-pressure cylinder. Here the steam expanded a second time to push the piston the three-feet length of the low-pressure cylinder.

On the left-hand side of the picture, you see four water pump chambers, two for the near high-pressure side of the engine and two for the low-pressure side of the engine. The pump plunger chamber is the grey connection near the bottom of the two near chambers. Water came into the pumping chambers from below and was pushed out of the chambers at the top.

The steam chambers are on the right-hand side of the picture. You can only see the high-pressure cylinder. The low-pressure cylinder is right behind. In the upper right-hand corner of the picture, you can see the steam pipe that carried the steam from the boilers into the high-pressure cylinder.

In the little window-like opening, you can see the rod connecting the back-and-forth movement of the steam piston in its cylinder to the back-and-forth motion of the water pump. This connector also turned the flywheel that you see in the middle of the picture. The flywheel is between the two halves of the engine.

Finally, if you look closely, in front of the flywheel is more of the connection between the steam engine and the water pump. It is the round bar over the word "Worthington." When the picture was taken, the water plunger, the high-pressure steam piston, and the rod connecting them were all the way to the right. The gap you see at the end of the round bar is just a little more than three-feet long. "

Source: www.waterworksmuseum.org/historystories/engineering/38-wo...

© All Rights Reserved

"The Worthington-Snow engine is the youngest of the three engines at the Waterworks Museum. It was installed and brought on-line in 1916. It was also the last pump running in 1976, when the entire High Service Station was shut down.

The Worthington-Snow is a dual-expansion engine, which means there are two steam cylinders, each driving its own water pump. Steam at 185 pounds-per-square-inch from the steam boilers was sent into the first of the two cylinders, the high-pressure cylinder. When steam had pushed the piston the entire three-feet of the cylinder, the steam was sent to the second cylinder, the low-pressure cylinder. Here the steam expanded a second time to push the piston the three-feet length of the low-pressure cylinder.

On the left-hand side of the picture, you see four water pump chambers, two for the near high-pressure side of the engine and two for the low-pressure side of the engine. The pump plunger chamber is the grey connection near the bottom of the two near chambers. Water came into the pumping chambers from below and was pushed out of the chambers at the top.

The steam chambers are on the right-hand side of the picture. You can only see the high-pressure cylinder. The low-pressure cylinder is right behind. In the upper right-hand corner of the picture, you can see the steam pipe that carried the steam from the boilers into the high-pressure cylinder.

In the little window-like opening, you can see the rod connecting the back-and-forth movement of the steam piston in its cylinder to the back-and-forth motion of the water pump. This connector also turned the flywheel that you see in the middle of the picture. The flywheel is between the two halves of the engine.

Finally, if you look closely, in front of the flywheel is more of the connection between the steam engine and the water pump. It is the round bar over the word "Worthington." When the picture was taken, the water plunger, the high-pressure steam piston, and the rod connecting them were all the way to the right. The gap you see at the end of the round bar is just a little more than three-feet long. "

Source: www.waterworksmuseum.org/historystories/engineering/38-wo...

© All Rights Reserved