Volume Six - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - Select Aspects - The Pumping Engine House . . .

The article about the facilities at the Penarth Dock and Ely Tidal Harbour appeared in a book published in Cardiff by the Western Mail of St. Mary Street during 1896. The article was written by Samuel Thomas, our esteemed Dockmaster, but the book, 'Cardiff : an Illustrated Handbook' [247] was edited by John Ballinger. The entire article is at Vol. 10, Chapt. 7. Within this article Samuel describes the pumping engines as follows :

'For the purpose of maintaining the water in dock to any required height, two centrifugal pumps have been erected ; the pumps are 6 feet in diameter and are worked by two single cylinder horizontal steam engines 20 inches in diameter and 22 inches stroke. Steam is supplied by four locomotive boilers working at 100 lbs. pressure. These pumps are equal to pumping 2,000,000 gallons of water per hour into the dock.'

An illustration of a horizontally orientated pumping engine showing the steam engine and and a centrifugal pump in this case a 'L' model intended for low lifts of up to 15 feet whereas at Penarth Dock the 'M' model specified was capable of a lift of 30 feet. [726] [728] [MERL Ref : TR SCM P2/B23]

I note a minor discrepancy between the article text and that of the order book entry previously illustrated in that the order book entry specifies 20 x 20 (bore x stroke) whereas Samuel Thomas states in his article that they are '20 inches in diameter and 22 inches stroke'.