Cincinnati Water Works

Old River  Station

(Richard Miller Plant)

 

The four engines are housed in the handsome circular engine house. The smaller buiding to the right was the workshop and the former boiler house lies off the picture to the right.

                                                                          click on pictures to view larger image 

 

Despite its modest appearance this handsome building houses four enormous steam pumping engines. They are inverted vertical triple expansion engines built by the R. D. Wood Co., Camden Iron Works between 1898 and 1907 and extend well below ground level in an 85 foot  deep pump pit. From pump base to the apex of the engines is 115 feet, well exceeding the  62 feet of the giant triple expansion engines at Kempton Park Pumping Station in the United Kingdom. Cylinder diameters are 29"+54"+82" x 8' stroke. The engines worked until 1964 pumping 30mgpd (US gallons) at around 15rpm.They were replaced by four 15mgd vertical electric pumps but these have now, in their turn, been replaced by more modern units.

             Doors in the blue crane support column gave access to hatches into the standpipe. A brass(!) ladder in the pipe goes down 138 feet to the supply tunnel. The four engines were arranged symmetrically in the house.  Each engine had its own gauge panel with the builders plate mounted in the centre.

View from the door showing two engines and the            Side view of engine                The gauge panel and builders plate

 crane support column in the centre of the building.

 

                 

 A side view of an engine                              View showing the 32 foot dia flywheels                 Another shot of the flywheels

 

                The brass oilers were all robbed out when the engines were scheduled for demolition in the 70s. Fortunately this never came about.

      Connecting rod and crank from above        A massive crosshead.      Eccentrics operating the valve gear.

 

        There are six working levels on these engines.      

 Spiral staircases access the pump levels.      One of the giant pumps.         Looking up from the pump base. 

  The crane track is on the outer wall of the engine house. The crane itself was used to dismantle the engines for maintenance and repairs. I think this is the bevel gear drive for the eccentric drive shaft.  This might be the lower end of the vertical shaft driving the eccentric drive shaft. If so it should be viewed at right angles to the page! Sorry.

The 30 ton crane rotated on a circular track.          Engine detail                                       Further detail.

 

    Two pumps and engines can be seen with the roof of the engine house way up there.

 Looking up the outside of the standpipe.

 

The boiler house smokestack, formerly 150 feet high, has been capped off at 50 feet.

The old boiler house is now a store. The workshop

lies to the left between the engine house and the boilers.

 

The photographs were taken by Mark Cole a former employee at the station and have been made available by the kindness of Rick Montague, another former employee. We are indebted to them both and also to the management of the station who have maintained these historic machines in such excellent condition.

There are some excellent black&white photographs of the station and engines on the HAER website. To view them click HERE  then search all collections for "River Pumping Station". There are many more excellent photos of stationary steam engines on the HAER website a fair number of these are still in existence.

 

Page 2 The ASME Visit

 

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