Municipal gasworks in
Pozna?
that produced coal gas between 1856 and 1973. Currently used for distribution of
natural gas
.
Disused gasworks that has become a
public park
located at
47°38′43″N
122°20′05″W
/
47.64528°N 122.33472°W
/
47.64528; -122.33472
in
Seattle, Washington
.
A
gasworks
or
gas house
is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the
developed world
by the use of
natural gas
, though they are still used for storage space.
Early gasworks
[
edit
]
Coal gas
was introduced to
Great Britain
in the 1790s as an
illuminating gas
by the
Scottish
inventor
William Murdoch
.
[1]
Early gasworks were usually located beside a
river
or
canal
so that
coal
could be brought in by
barge
. Transport was later shifted to
railways
and many gasworks had internal railway systems with their own locomotives.
Early gasworks were built for factories in the Industrial Revolution from about 1805 as a light source and for industrial processes requiring gas, and for lighting in country houses from about 1845. Country house gas works are extant at
Culzean Castle
in Scotland and
Owlpen
in
Gloucestershire
.
Equipment
[
edit
]
A gasworks was divided into several sections for the production, purification and storage of gas.
Retort house
[
edit
]
Retort house at the
Launceston Gasworks
, Launceston, Tasmania.
This contained the
retorts
in which coal was heated to generate the gas. The crude gas was siphoned off and passed on to the
condenser
. The waste product left in the retort was
coke
. In many cases the coke was then burned to heat the retorts or sold as smokeless fuel.
Condenser
[
edit
]
This consisted of a bank of air-cooled gas pipes over a water-filled sump. Its purpose was to remove
tar
from the gas by
condensing
it out as the gas was cooled. Occasionally the condenser pipes were contained in a water tank similar to a boiler but operated in the same manner as the air-cooled variant. The tar produced was then held in a tar well/tank which was also used to store
liquor
.
Exhauster
[
edit
]
An impeller or pump was used to increase the gas pressure before scrubbing. Exhausters were optional components and could be placed anywhere along the purifying process but were most often placed after the condensers and immediately before the gas entered the gas holders.
Scrubber
[
edit
]
A sealed tank containing water through which the gas was bubbled. This removed
ammonia
and
ammonium
compounds. The water often contained dissolved lime to aid the removal of ammonia. The water left behind was known as
ammonical liquor
. Other versions used consisted of a tower, packed with coke, down which water was trickled.
Purifier
[
edit
]
Also known as an Iron Sponge, this removed
hydrogen sulfide
from the gas by passing it over wooden trays containing moist
ferric oxide
. The gas then passed on to the gasholder and the
iron sulfide
was sold to extract the sulfur. Waste from this process often gave rise to
blue billy
, a
ferrocyanide
contaminant in the land which causes problems when trying to redevelop an old gasworks site.
Benzole plant
[
edit
]
Often only used at large gasworks sites, a
benzole
plant consisted of a series of vertical tanks containing petroleum oil through which the gas was bubbled. The purpose of a benzole plant was to extract benzole from the gas. The benzole dissolved into the petroleum oil was run through a steam separating plant to be sold separately.
Gasholder
[
edit
]
Gas-holders, Reading
The
gas holder
or gasometer was a tank used for storage of the gas and to maintain even pressure in distribution pipes. The gas holder usually consisted of an upturned steel bell contained within a large frame that guided it as it rose and fell depending on the amount of gas it contained.
[2]
By-products
[
edit
]
The by-products of gas-making, such as
coke
,
coal tar
,
ammonia
and
sulfur
had many uses. For details, see
coal gas
.
British gasworks today
[
edit
]
Coal gas is no longer made in the UK but many gasworks sites are still used for storage and metering of
natural gas
and some of the old
gasometers
are still in use.
Fakenham
gasworks dating from 1846 is the only complete, non-operational gasworks remaining in England. Other examples exist at
Biggar
in
Scotland
and
Carrickfergus
in
Northern Ireland
.
Photos of Fakenham Gas Works
Gasworks in popular culture
[
edit
]
Gasworks were noted for their foul smell and generally located in the poorest metropolitan areas. Cultural remnants of gasworks include many streets named Gas Street or Gas Avenue and groups or gangs known as
Gas House Gang
, such as the
1934 St. Louis Cardinals
baseball team. The 1946 film
Gas House Kids
features children from New York's
Gas House District
taking on a gang, and spawned two sequels.
Ewan McColl
's 1968 song "
Dirty Old Town
" (about his home town of
Salford
) famously begins "Found my love by the gaswork
croft
…" (in cover versions often "I met my love by the gasworks wall…")
[3]
Fans of
Bristol Rovers F.C.
in south west England are known as ‘Gas-Heads’ due to the proximity of gasometers near to their original ground at Eastville in Bristol. Bristol Rovers F.C. is also known as ‘The Gas’.
Railway gasworks
[
edit
]
Eveleigh gasworks
Gas was used for many years to illuminate the interior of railway carriages. The
New South Wales Government Railways
manufactured its own oil-gas for this purpose, together with reticulated coal-gas to railway stations and associated infrastructure. Such works were established at the
Macdonaldtown Carriage Sheds
,
Newcastle
,
Bathurst
,
Junee
and
Werris Creek
. These plants followed on from the works of a private supplier which the railway took over in 1884.
Gas was also transported in special travelling gas reservoir wagons from the gasworks to stationary reservoirs located at a number of country stations where carriage reservoirs were replenished.
With the spreading conversion to electric power for lighting buildings and carriages during the 1920s and 1930s, the railway gasworks were progressively decommissioned.
[4]
Gasworks being operated as industrial museums
[
edit
]
Gasworks Brisbane, Australia
[
edit
]
The
Gasworks Newstead
site in
Brisbane
Australia has been a stalwart of the river’s edge since its development in 1863. By 1890, the works were supplying gas to Brisbane streets from Toowong to Hamilton
[5]
: 7
and over the next 100 years, it would grow to supply Brisbane city with the latest in gas technology until it was decommissioned in 1996.
In March 1866, the
Queensland Defence Force
placed an official request for town gas connection, evidence of the vital role the gasworks played in the economic development of colonial Brisbane.
[6]
: 9
In fact, the gasworks were considered to be of such importance, that during World War II, genuine fears of attack from Japanese air raids motivated the installation of anti aircraft guns which vigilantly watched over the plant and its employees throughout the war.
[6]
: 10
The site itself has been synonymous with economic growth and benefit to Brisbane and Queensland with the success of the gasworks facilitating further development of the Newstead/Teneriffe area to include the James Hardie
fibro-cement
manufacturing plant, Shell Oil plant, Brisbane Water and Sewerage Depot and even the “Brisbane Gas Company Cookery School” which operated in the 1940s. In 1954, a carbonizing plant was built, giving Brisbane the "most modern gas producing plant in Australia",
[6]
: 10
consuming 100 tonnes of coal every eight hours.
During its golden years in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the site also played a vital role in providing employment to
aboriginal Australians
and many migrant workers arriving there from Europe after the second World War.
The fine tradition of the Brisbane Gasworks economic and employment-based successes will not be lost or forgotten with the Teneriffe Gasworks Village Development paying homage to the sites history and integrity in its pending urban development.
The gasholder structure at this site is set to become a hub of a new property development on the site ? keeping the structural integrity of the pig iron structure. It will be a true reflection of urban renewal embracing its industrial past.
[5]
[6]
Dunedin Gasworks Museum
[
edit
]
Located in
South Dunedin
,
New Zealand
, the
Dunedin Gasworks Museum
consists of a conserved engine house featuring a working boiler house, fitting shop and collection of five stationary steam engines. There are also displays of domestic and industrial gas appliances.
Technopolis (Gazi)
[
edit
]
Located in
Athens, Greece
Technopolis (Gazi)
is a gasworks converted to an exhibition space.
The Gas Museum, Leicester
[
edit
]
The
Gas Museum
in Leicester, UK is operated by
The National Gas Museum Trust
.
Gas Works Park
[
edit
]
Gas Works Park
is a public park in
Seattle, Washington
.
Warsaw Gasworks Museum
[
edit
]
The
Warsaw Gasworks Museum
is a museum in
Warsaw, Poland
.
Museo dell'Acqua e del Gas
[
edit
]
The
Museo dell'Acqua e del Gas
is a museum in Genoa, Italy.
It is located in the industrial area of the
IREN
Archived
14 December 2021 at the
Wayback Machine
company, an Italian multi-utility, where
coal gas
has been produced till 1972.
The small Museum, managed by
Fondazione AMGA
, hosts a rich collection of industrial finds, related to water and gas works history.
Hasdanpa?a Gasworks
[
edit
]
Hasanpa?a Gasworks
a 1892-built gasworks in
Istanbul
, Turkey, which was redeveloped into a museum in 2021.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Gasworks
.
- ^
"Murdock, William"
.
World Book Advanced
. World Book. 2024
. Retrieved
12 March
2024
.
- ^
"GANSG - Gas Works"
.
www.igg.org.uk
.
- ^
"Dirty Old Town -- Ewan macCollmasterpiece"
.
Irish Music Daily
.
- ^
A Brief History of NSW Railway Gasworks
Longworth, Jim
Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin
, June, 2003 pp203-213
- ^
a
b
Hackner, D., Ed. (1996).
A Look Back In Time: A History of Bowen Hills - Newstead & the Creek.
Bowen Hills, Brisbane,
Queensland Women's Historical Association
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Lambert, J. T. (1996).
A Commemoration of the Closure of the Newstead Gas Plant.
6 September 1996. Brisbane,
Boral
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