Birmingham Compressed Air Power Co

[mikejee]

This is not a company I had come across before. The 1890 OS map shows a Compressed air works in the triangle between the canal, railway and Artillery St.
If the survey had taken place in 1883 then this would not have been shown, and if the survey had occurred in 1893 then the building would have been there but not marked compressed air works.

1. Start of Project.

The aim of the company was to provide a supply of compressed air to an area of Birmingham in the wards of Deritend, St Martins, St Bartholomew &
Bordesley, covering an area of about 1.5 sq miles from a central station. Compressed air as a power source was not new. Murdoch had used it at the Soho works for one of the machines many years before, a similar system was reported to be used in connection to the Mersey Tunnel in Liverpool , while in Paris apparently it was used extensively to generate electricity, having 30 miles of mains, and also as a power source for several thousand clocks!
The air would be distributed by a series of mains comprising cast iron pipes totalling a length if about 23 miles carrying air at a pressure of about 40 lb/sq inch (psi). The main mains would be 24 inch cast iron pipes, with side mains of 7 inches. In order to carry out the works necessary a parliamentary bill was required, and in the bill’s presentation it was claimed that the saving to the factories would on average be about 20-30% over their normal fuel costs. . A report compiled by the organisers is available online at https://archive.org/details/reportonascheme00robigoog . It seems to have been assumed that the compressed air would be used to power dynamos to produce electricity for the machines or as a direct power source. The scheme was aimed only at workshops, but the chairman of the committee investigating the Bill commented that he was surprised the scheme was not being extended to use for powering tramways.
.
The prospectus for the Company was issued in 1886 and, as so often happens, was somewhat extravagant in its claims, postulating the development of things such as air clocks and air cooling apparatus. The area to be covered was somewhat smaller than initially suggested, excluding Bordesley and being circumscribed by the Midland Railway, Belgrave St and Belgrave Road to Bristol St, Bromsgrove St, Jamaica Row, Moor St, Belmont row, Lawley St & Garrison St. The initial plan was to provide 15,000 horse power, from 6 triple expansion compound condenser beam engines, produced by Fowler of Leeds, to work compressors. The engines would be powered by boilers heated by gas produced from 12 Wilsons patent gas producers in which steam is passed through heated coal. Initially four steam engines were envisaged. At a meeting of the British Association in that year the Chairman, Sir James Douglas commented that “Birmingham has provided itself with perfect sewage, water and gas schemes, and is now going to launch into a scheme for securing a perfect distribution of motive power, which it required more than any other town on the face of the earth.”
Work commenced on building the central works in March 1887. By 24th February 1888 all the foundations were completed, the four engine houses built alongside Artillery road, and one of the engines almost completely installed. The seven gas producers had been installed, together with the coal platform & chute. I would guess that the view shown on the c 1889 map below (Fig.1) shows the progress at about that point. Here the sidings have not yet been installed (though I have marked where they will be), but the gas producers that are beside the sidings are there, as is the coal chute at the end of the gas producers next to Artillery road. The idea was that coal would be delivered in wagons by rail and poured down the chute directly into the gas producers. At this time seven out of the nineteen boilers had been installed in the basement of the engine houses, and three more were nearly complete. The progress of the plans had been delayed somewhat as permission to commence the laying of the mains in the streets was only given by the council on 24th Dec 1887. However work is said to have commenced in laying the pipes the next day. Can’t see workman starting work on Christmas Day in the 21st century. By the time of this report one length of 500yds of 24inch pipe had been laid and fully tested at 90 psi., though the working pressure would only be 50 psi. It was noted that there was a figure of £13,000 due in calls of arrears (where shares have been purchased, but money not paid for them on time).

Fig.1.map c 1889 Birmingham Compressed Air Power Co works

 

[mikejee]

2. Start of Service.

By May 1888 pipe had been laid down Garrison Lane and much of Great Barr St, Palmer St, Glover St and New Bond St. This enabled there to be on 17th May 1888 the first practical demonstration of the use of the compressed gas from the mains . It was carried out by Piercy & Co at 36 Great Barr St. The building was the premises of Matthew Hart & Son, tinware manufacturers, but space was hired by Piercy & Co. The main steam engines were not quite ready for work, so a small auxiliary engine and compressor at the central station was used to provide the power for the demonstration. This involved using compressed air from the mains to power a 3 horse power horizontal engine and two vertical steam engines (one of 2 horse power, one of 1 horse power), each having had slight modification to allow the use of compressed air rather than steam, It was noted that no excess heat was evolved, unlike when steam was used, and that the discharged air helped to ventilate the room. Also demonstrated was a pneumatic chisel for use in (say) stone carving
By 24th August 1.5 miles of main had been laid and tested and a further half mile completed and waiting to be tested. As I understand it, the mains then constructed were those marked in red on the map (Fig.2) and the company was ready to start a drive for customers, though it was claimed that a few firms were already using the service. I cannot find reference as to where the later lengths of mains went. The position of the firm's plant is marked in green, It had been decided that at that time only three steam engines would be installed, though four engine houses had been built. Problems between contractors and subcontractors in the laying of the mains were claimed to have been satisfactorily settled. The scheme was very new and people did not know what to expect. The company was very quick in November to emphasise that a reported “explosion” of one of their mains in Rea St while being tested was only the bursting of a temporary gland installed during testing of the pipe, and could not occur during normal working. Whether this was any consolation to Mr Samuel Messenger, who received a fractured skull after being hit by a piece of cast iron pipe is unknown.

Fig.2. Map of some of the pipes from the birmingham compressed air Power company's works

 

[mikejee]

3. Operation and End

The half yearly report on 2rd Aug.1889 reported that all three steam engines were now complete and were operating alternately to provide an experimental supply of air to customers. It was reported that the working of the engines, gas producers, boilers and water cooling arrangements (i.e. virtually the whole of the production side at the central station) had failed to come up to expectations.. It was stated that improvements would be made to these “without interfering with the delivery of the air power which might be required”. This does not give the impression that there were many permanent customers, though it was stated that a regular supply to 14 consumers had started on 1st July... By this time 4.5 miles of mains had been laid, so approximately a further 2.5 miles over that shown on the map in Fig. 2 was available. Further extension would not be made until it was determined in which direction they would be required. A further 23 companies were interested in using the service, but most had postponed definite agreement until an efficient meter for measuring the supply was developed. Those customers already being served were being charged on their normal steam power requirements, presumably assuming that these did not change. This would scarcely seem to be satisfactory to either party! One can sympathise with problems with getting the engines , compressors , mains etc working properly, but I would have thought checking that a satisfactory meter would have been thought a necessity , and that it would have been perfectly possible to check and develop one without any of the other hardware being in place. Because of the meter problem it was impossible to estimate accurately income or profits for the company, though it was stated that at present income was running at the equivalent of £1800/ annum, and that, when the output of two of the engines could be fully utilised, then a modest profit should be obtained. It was perhaps an ominous potent that the directors agreed to reduce their fees from £1200, which had originally been agreed, to £900.
An interesting aside was a list of the 13 users of the service at this time. They were: a wiredrawer, bedstead manufacturer, four engineers, machinists or ironfounders, a medieval brassworker, a metal tube manufacturer, a brassworker, a gimlet manufacturer, a shovel maker, a glass decorator and a tallow-melter
By 1stMarch 1890, the meter problem still had not been solved, though a new type had been made which only required “a more accurate connection of the recording mechanism”. Despite the necessity of , in effect, guessing the consumption by firms, the number of customers had increased to 30, and about half the available power had been taken up (that is half of the output of two engines, as one would always normally be held in reserve).. Expenditure for the half year was £2366.3s.8d with a loss of
£1468.18s.4d. One member pointed out that wages, salaries and directors’ fees totalled £1240 against trading receipts of £755, but the Chairman was upbeat, if somewhat pleading in his explanations. Mr Powell’s suggestion that the directors might forgoe fees entirely until the company was in profit, and, in a bit of a brush-off, it was stated that this might be considered. Mr. Powell dissented from approval of the report. Whether they did condescend to forgo their fees is not known, but in Dec.1891 application for a winding-up order was made for the company.
It does seem that not enough care was taken by the promoters in preparation for the scheme, in particular with regard to meters, but apparently the real problem was leakage, in that after a time 70-80% of the power was lost to leakage. Therefore from a supposed delivery at 45 psi the actual delivery pressure ended up at about 20 psi. This, together with high fuel costs and delays in implementing the scheme, caused its downfall. Final liquidation occurred in 1892. There was a surplus of over £4000 after creditors had been paid, though the investors did not get all their money back, the deficiency being £119,156.10s.6d.
In June 1892 the Birmingham Public Works Committee sanctioned the removal of the pipework, subject to the deposit by the company of a sum to cover the cost of repair of the roads. I would think it unlikely that they got their money, and, anyway, it would seem unusual to remove pipework, thus disrupting traffic, unless it was being replaced or in conjunction with other works. Thus there is likely to still be bits of 24 inch cast iron pipe in places in Birmingham. Would look nice in your garden Lyn, but you would need a crane !

 

[John71]

A big thank you to Mikejee for this excellent research and article. Carrs Paints moved to the site occupied by the above company in1910. I joined Carrs Paints in the mid 60's and was told it had once been a compressed air factory which I found very puzzling. Some of the old air distribution pipes were still there, half buried and the furnaces for the steam production to drive the engines that compressed the air were still there. There was also a tall chimney that was also a hangover from the compressed air factory. Although Carrs made their own resins I don't recall the chimney being connected to the resin plant.
Thanks again for the article, it answered my questions about why you would make compressed air that I had puzzled over for years whenever I thought about my early days at Carrs Paints.

 

[badpenny]

I would imagine a compressed air network would be a rather rare beast, most companies now have self contained systems.