Jump to content

Webb Patent Sewer Gas Destructor Lamps


RichardB

Recommended Posts

Extract :

In 1895 Joseph Edmund Webb of Birmingham patented his Sewer Gas Destructor lamp, and then went on to improve it over a number of years. It was invented to solve a problem- that gas built up in sewers, and quite apart from the danger to personnel that this represented, if not released elsewhere it tended to leak out and create unpleasant odours.

Webb's solution was to design a lamp that burnt the sewer gas along with ordinary gas in a very hot flame, in a gas mantle. Sewer gas tended to build up in pockets, usually at a high spot on the sewer run. Most cities had these lamps, but Sheffield had 84 of them installed between 1915 and 1935; more than any other British city. The reason for this simple- that the hilly terrain of Sheffield produced more gas pockets than anywhere else!

http://alancordwell.co.uk/misc/webb.html

http://alancordwell.co.uk/misc/documents/S...Gas%20Lamps.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewer_gas_destructor_lamp

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Extract :

In 1895 Joseph Edmund Webb of Birmingham patented his Sewer Gas Destructor lamp, and then went on to improve it over a number of years. It was invented to solve a problem- that gas built up in sewers, and quite apart from the danger to personnel that this represented, if not released elsewhere it tended to leak out and create unpleasant odours.

Webb's solution was to design a lamp that burnt the sewer gas along with ordinary gas in a very hot flame, in a gas mantle. Sewer gas tended to build up in pockets, usually at a high spot on the sewer run. Most cities had these lamps, but Sheffield had 84 of them installed between 1915 and 1935; more than any other British city. The reason for this simple- that the hilly terrain of Sheffield produced more gas pockets than anywhere else!

http://alancordwell.co.uk/misc/webb.html

http://alancordwell.co.uk/misc/documents/S...Gas%20Lamps.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewer_gas_destructor_lamp

Did you know there is still one of these burning at the top of Stewart rd in Sheffiled 11.

regards Pola

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did you know there is still one of these burning at the top of Stewart rd in Sheffiled 11.

regards Pola

Hi Pola

Got that one thanks.

Just up the page 2nd post

It could do with a coat of paint.

vox

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aaaargh - help!

I took this a couple of weeks ago and I can't remember where it is.

Any ideas?

Edit:-

Location - Park Lane

Thanks SteveHB

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a similar one halfway up Jenkin Road at Brightside which could do with capturing, if anyone is around there as it has been much vandalised and is in a sorry state.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aaaargh - help!

I took this a couple of weeks ago and I can't remember where it is. :o

Any ideas?

The answer is in Richard's links .. :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a similar one halfway up Jenkin Road at Brightside which could do with capturing, if anyone is around there as it has been much vandalised and is in a sorry state.

Here it is.

Google Street View

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My memory is brilliant. I remember perfectly now you've told me. he he

Thanks.

My memory is slightly less brilliant, I can't remember this thread at all and I started it !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's a decapitated sewer gas lamp at the highest point of Toftwood Road, Crookes, outside number 60.

I'm sure it still had it's super-structure intact when I lived near there in the eighties although I don't remember it being lit.

I do remember the School Road lamp being in full working order when I lived near that one in the seventies. There was something very evocative about the soft yellowish glow of a gas lamp and as young kids we used to lurk in the area of shadow around the base of an ordinary gas lamp and of course shin up the fluted columns which were slightly tapered. I was never brave enough to swing from the cross-arms which didn't look substantial enough to take my 5 stone weight. Nowadays I'd need a cherry-picker with a SWL of 5 tonnes.

HD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your post got me thinking Vox and I thought that there might be one on Stannington View Road. I Googled Streetviewed my way along from Crookes and right at the top of the road after it bends around by ninety degrees and meets Mulehouse Road, there it is.

Looking at the position of it right by the back entrance to the Crookes Cemetery, it probably serves the sewers in both of the roads.

Still not found one on Duncan Road but I'll keep looking.

HD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's a decapitated sewer gas lamp at the highest point of Toftwood Road, Crookes, outside number 60.

I'm sure it still had it's super-structure intact when I lived near there in the eighties although I don't remember it being lit.

I do remember the School Road lamp being in full working order when I lived near that one in the seventies. There was something very evocative about the soft yellowish glow of a gas lamp and as young kids we used to lurk in the area of shadow around the base of an ordinary gas lamp and of course shin up the fluted columns which were slightly tapered. I was never brave enough to swing from the cross-arms which didn't look substantial enough to take my 5 stone weight. Nowadays I'd need a cherry-picker with a SWL of 5 tonnes.

HD

If you decapitate a sewer gas lamp wouldn't that result in an uncontrolled release of the sewer gas into the air :huh:

Surely to do this the lamp base would have to be capped <_<

I don't think a CORGI registered gas engineer would pass it as safe otherwise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you decapitate a sewer gas lamp wouldn't that result in an uncontrolled release of the sewer gas into the air :huh:

Surely to do this the lamp base would have to be capped <_<

I don't think a CORGI registered gas engineer would pass it as safe otherwise.

Shouldn't we all be walking about with corks stuck up our backsides then lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shouldn't we all be walking about with corks stuck up our backsides then lol

Sewer gas, like the Natural Gas (still called North Sea Gas by old blokes like me) is mainly methane.

Apart from the fact that it is flammable and forms explosive mixtures with air the main concern, even with very small leaks, is that methane is a greenhouse gas and causes global warming.

Carbon Dioxide normally takes the rap for Global warming because we release it into the air and much, much larger quantities.

However, weight for weight Methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, so any leak is to be avoided.

Further, and contrary to popular belief, methane is almost odourless and any smell it does have is "oily" (petrol like) rather than anal (unpleasant).

Cows produce a lot of methane and have been sited as a cause of global warming so perhaps they do need a cork up their bums.

But growing rice and decaying plants in marshes also produce a lot which goes directly into the air so we can't really win on this one. Marsh Gas is Methane.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The gas lamps were designed to ventilate the sewers in the days when most houses were connected to the sewers by way of a "intercepting trap". This was located in a man-hole just inside the property boundary and was a source of constant trouble. Later on houses were connected directly to the main sewer with one sewer connection serving a number of houses and the sewer is ventilated via all the house "stench pipes" (soil pipes) which are open at the top. Atmospheric pressure variations cause a draught through the sewers. The bit of methane escaping from an un-capped gas lamp would be tiny compared to that ventilating from soil pipes at every house. I presume the gas supply to the lamps would have been disconnected when the gas mains were replaced for natural gas.

HD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...