Glenside Hospital - power house

Image: © Chris Allen Taken: 4 Jul 1987

This is now part of the University of the West of England but when I took this it was still a working hospital with Lancashire boilers and a pair of high speed steam engines that were out of use but still in the power house. I believe the engines are still there but one at least is part dismantled. This is Belliss & Morcom No. 11381. A C-type inverted vertical compound (enclosed) engine built in 1960. This was rated at 98 brake horsepower at 600 rpm. It is coupled to a Lancashire Dynamo and Crypto alternator. On the extreme left is the small exciter that produces direct current for energising the electromagnets for the field. In this case the field is on the rotor and the generated alternating current is picked up from the stator (the opposite of the school experiment with a paper clip and magnet). Although a little rough around the edges, I still find this a very pleasing looking set up and the cream paint is quite an unusual choice of colour.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0