Liverpool's Hydraulic Power Company were the operators of a public
hydraulic power network supplying energy across the city of
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
, England, via a system of high-pressure water pipes from two pumping stations. The system was the third public system to be built in England, opening in 1888. It expanded rapidly, but gradually declined as electric power become more readily available. The pumping station was converted to electric operation in 1960, but the system was turned off in 1971. One of the pump sets was salvaged and presented to the
Liverpool Museum
World Museum is a large museum in Liverpool, England which has extensive collections covering archaeology, ethnology and the natural and physical sciences. Special attractions include the Natural History Centre and a planetarium. Entry to the ...
.
History
The Liverpool Hydraulic Power Co obtained
Acts of Parliament
Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of parliament be ...
in 1884 and 1887, to allow it to construct a hydraulic power network under the streets of Liverpool. The system was operational by 1888, and was the third such undertaking in Britain, following the opening of the first system in
Hull in 1877, and the second in London in 1883. At its inception, it supplied pressurised water at to its customers through around of mains. The pumping station drew its water supply from the
Leeds and Liverpool Canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool.
Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...
, and was pumped into the system by steam engines with a total output of .
Demand for power grew, and by 1890 there were two power stations, one on Athol Street to the north, and the other on Grafton Street in the south of the city. Nine
triple-expansion pumps could supply of water per day to the system, which now had of pipes, and by 1895 there were 453 hydraulic machines connected to the network. In addition to lifts, cranes and packing machines, the water also supplied hydrants and sprinklers which were used in case of fire.
The Institute of Mechanical Engineers made a visit to Liverpool in June 1891, to inspect various works, and details of the hydraulic power system were published in ''The Practical Engineer'' later that year. The pressure mains were made of
cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...
, and the flanged joints were sealed with
gutta-percha
Gutta-percha is a tree of the genus ''Palaquium'' in the family Sapotaceae. The name also refers to the rigid, naturally biologically inert, resilient, electrically nonconductive, thermoplastic latex derived from the tree, particularly from ...
rings. Where possible, the pipes were laid in circuits, so that sections could be isolated for repairs or extensions, without interruption of the supply to others beyond the isolated section. The steam engines were supplied by the Hydraulic Power Company of Chester, run by
Edward B. Ellington
Edward Bayzand Ellington (2 August 1845 – 10 November 1914) was a British hydraulic engineer who pioneered the development of urban-scale hydraulic power distribution systems.
Ellington was managing director of the Hydraulic Engineering Co of ...
, the man behind the first British system at Hull. Steam for the first two pumping sets was supplied by three
Lancashire boiler
A shell or flued boiler is an early and relatively simple form of boiler used to make steam, usually for the purpose of driving a steam engine. The design marked a transitional stage in boiler development, between the early haystack boilers and t ...
s, which were fitted with
mechanical stokers, operated by hydraulic power. Pressure in the system was maintained by two
hydraulic accumulator
A hydraulic accumulator is a pressure storage reservoir in which an incompressible hydraulic fluid is held under pressure that is applied by an external source of mechanical energy. The external source can be an engine, a spring, a raised weight ...
s, each having an diameter piston with a stroke of . The report wrongly quoted the operating pressure as .
Under the terms of their Acts of Parliament, the company had rights to lay mains beneath the streets in some parts of Liverpool, but in others they needed the consent of
Liverpool Corporation
Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards.
The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party and is led by Mayor J ...
. This consent was not always forthcoming, and there complaints in 1889 that the corporation were obstructing the expansion of the system to allow it to supply buildings owned by the Exchange Company, the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company, the British and Foreign Marine Insurance Company, and the
Prudential Assurance Company. All of them had water-powered lifts, which were fed from the corporation's own low-pressure mains. There were eight lifts in total, and over the course of a year, they used , for which they paid the Corporation £700. If they had been connected to the high-pressure system, the volume of water used would only have been , which would have cost £340. The high-pressure lifts were also significantly faster. A lift in African Chambers on Old Hall Street, when carrying three people, took 38 seconds to rise , but when converted to work from the high-pressure main, only took 15 seconds for the same journey. The volume of water used dropped by 94.3 per cent on the new system.
Decline
Around 1960, the steam engines at Athol Street pumping station were replaced by electric pumps. There were three manufactured by Ward Lennox, which were capable of delivering per minute, and three made by the
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
engineering firm of
Hathorn Davey
Hathorn Davey was a British manufacturer of steam engines, based in Leeds. The Sun foundry was established in 1846 and made railway engines and pumping machinery until 1870. The premises were taken over in 1872 by Hugh Campbel, Alfred Davis and J ...
, which could supply per minute. The Hathorn Davey pumps had been installed at
King's Cross railway station in 1924, and were obtained secondhand. The system continued in operation for only a few more years, and was shut down in 1971. One of the Hathorn Davey pumps and various other items of equipment were salvaged, and transferred to the Merseyside County Museum, now the
Liverpool Museum
World Museum is a large museum in Liverpool, England which has extensive collections covering archaeology, ethnology and the natural and physical sciences. Special attractions include the Natural History Centre and a planetarium. Entry to the ...
. The records of the company are held in the reserve store of the museum.
Points of interest
See also
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London Hydraulic Power Company
The London Hydraulic Power Company was established in 1883 to install a hydraulic power network in London. This expanded to cover most of central London at its peak, before being replaced by electricity, with the final pump house closing in 1977.
...
*
Manchester Hydraulic Power
Manchester's Hydraulic Power system was a public hydraulic power network supplying energy across the city of Manchester via a system of high-pressure water pipes from three pumping stations from 1894 until 1972. The system, which provided a cle ...
Bibliography
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References
{{Hydraulics
Hydraulics
Subterranea of the United Kingdom
Utilities of the United Kingdom