What was this for?(pics)

[Jes]

Came across this at work today. I'm doing some dryrot repair and prevention in an old building's basement.
http://home.earthlink.net/~jdrios/pump.jpg
http://home.earthlink.net/~jdrios/pump2.jpg
The electric motor said Westinghouse on it and "Induction motor type CS for elevator service" but looks like it was driving some sort of compressor...
http://home.earthlink.net/~jdrios/vulcan.jpg
...interesting old stuff.
Evil hallway...
http://home.earthlink.net/~jdrios/hallway.jpg
...I did not investigate what was behind the cobweb covered door at the end.

Jes

[Beezil]

no question about it....

that's a 1920's era spanking machine......

collectable.

[Jes]

Haha... :D

Found a little tidbit, Vulcan Iron Works of San Francisco made steam locomotives...
http://www.trainweb.org/gearedsteam/other/vulcan/main.htm

Jes

[GSequoia]

Dude! Too bad I live so far down south...I don't know what the hell that is..but it looks fun to explore!

[satan]

both the Vulcan and it's 2-cylinder companion look like compressors to me (the westing house looks to drive a 2" or 3" power takeoff belt)

[Rev Den]

Shop air.


Rev

[5-90]

Either that or a pump of some sort (REALLY old, tho, piston pumps have been out of use for years for anything other than CA.)

If you don't want to explore that door, I'll go! Where is it? Remember, I'm the same sort of guy that would like to spend a week or two crawling thru the tunnels under Alcatraz... I'm serious, tho, it would be interesting to see if that doorway leads anywhere. There are an awful lot of tunnels thru SF - ever go down alleys in Chinatown?

5-90

[Jes]

I'll post what's behind the evil door on Monday. :D

The compressors(or pumps?) hooked up to the aparatus that's on the wall behind them. Almost looks hydraulic. Whatever they are they're pretty old as this bulding looks 1890ish.

Jes

[Eagle]

How tall is the building? It may well be a compressor/pump for a very early hydraulic elevator. I didn't know they had them that long ago, but why not? Virtually all elevators under six or seven stories today are hydraulic.

[Matthew Currie]

How about refrigeration? Might the building have had a big walk-in cooler?

[5-90]

Sure you don't want someone else to do the job? I've not registered for De Anza yet, and I'm still looking for work, so I've got time... May have to hit you up for gas money, tho... ;)

5-90

[SeanP]

Sump pump for flood control of the basement?

[Jes]

Eagle, I was thinking the same thing as the building is only 3 or 4 stories. Only thing is, I didn't see any evidence of an elevator shaft. I'll have to snoop around more on Monday.
Sean, all sorts of old looking sump pumps around and several wells full of cristal clear water. Kinda sppoky in the dark with the sound of dripping water.

Jes

[Matthew Currie]

Looking at the bores of those pumps, the small fittings and the fact that they're pistons, my money is still on refrigeration, unless there was some need for large amounts of compressed air. That two-cylinder one on the right is made for relatively high pressure and low volume. Way too small for a water pump, but a little big for hydraulics.

[Beezil]

isn't that the basement from the scene in pulp fiction?

[Ed A. Stevens]

Is there any chance the building contained a refrigeration or cold storage plant? The setup looks like an old Ammonia refrigeration compressor plant (condenser heat exchanger on the wall, but it also could be a condensor drain trap for pneumatic air).

The other option is an early pneumatic air compressor.

Compressed air was used for many things in the late 1800's and early 1900's (controls and other actuation needs). In the taller buildings of the age they even used compressed air to lift water to the roof mounted pressure tanks with bubbler systems (much like a fish tank filter system). Pneumatic air was also used for early door lock systems, and to atomize coal dust in boilers.

The long flat belts driving these machines were notorious for reliability, but also for snagging anything nearby when they became frayed. One of my Great-grandfathers lost a forearm to a belt drive much like this during the construction of connector pump plants for the Owens Valley Aqueduct (California, 1918).

What building (address)? The company I work for has many refrigeration mechanics that collect and restore this type of equipment for the Pipefitters Union training center (provide a little history to education).

[Hunter-Lynchburg,Va]

Originally posted by Beezil
isn't that the basement from the scene in pulp fiction?

i thought that was your basement in pulp fiction


Hunter

[mil thornton (GRNT)]

Jes,
Can you find out what the building was used for. It looks like a steamer that drove a belt to the Elec to create elec for the building.
You see alot of that type of config in the old mining camps in Colo. Calif. and Nevada.
I do like the other theories on what it is.
Finding out what the building was used for might give the answer.
Really like seeing complete machinary like that. It really says something about our technology today and how advanced we have become in such a short time.
Have fun exploring.
GRNT

[Kejtar]

OK.. now I'm interested as well..... let us know how long should we wait till we should report you missing after you go through that door :)

Kejtar

[RichP]

Looks like the cellar of the charter school I networked in philly this past summer, only cleaner....
Keep your eyes open, the chinese built extensive underground tunnel systems in most major cities back in the `1800's to keep them out of sight and trouble. Some need air supplies and such to get new air in. Also look for fancy glass sidewalks, they used them for light by casting in prism windows. The tunnels were later used by hooch sellers and gangsters during prohibition.

[Jes]

Well, it's gonna take a skeleton key and some PB Blaster to get that door open. ;)
I peeked in a crack with a light and it looks like a small concrete walled room in there.
Next time I see the building manager I'll see if she knows anything about the old equipment.

Jes

[Jes]

Well got the door open with the help of Dr. Sawzall and found an old stairwell that I assume provided access to the basement from the back of the property.
http://home.earthlink.net/~jdrios/stairs.jpg
I took some pictures of the valves on the piping for the old equipment. This one is at the end of the big 8" pipe/tank, it has a sight tube(made of glass) with what appears to be oil in the bottom...
http://home.earthlink.net/~jdrios/valves.jpg
These were on the ceiling and there were several other banks of valves in the area...
http://home.earthlink.net/~jdrios/valves2.jpg
The building manager was pretty clueless in what the bulding was used for in the past but did go on to say that alledgedly a lot of illegal gambling took place at the site during prohibition times. Wheather that's true or not I have no idea.
One thing for cirtain is that most private dwellings built in the late 1800s and early 1900s(here in S.F.) had brick foundations. This building has a very old(judging by the deterioration) concrete foundation which probably means it was a building that housed a comercial enterprise.

Jes

[5-90]

Bummer - here I was hoping to play "tunnel rat" for a while!

This just get more curious as you get into it. Anyone care to venture a guess as to how common it was to use a piston pump for fluid power, vice a vane pump? It seems to me that a piston pump in a fluid power application would be rather inefficient, as well as potentially destructive to the system...

5-90

[satan]

interesting note on the compressor -- the "Vulcan Iron Works" in San Francisco (as labeled in the photo) was financially troubled in 1871 -- the factory used to be at "First and Mellus", if that makes any sense - founded by a guy named "George Gordon" (sounds like my kinda guy -- got married to an alcoholic, "Elizabeth" who died from hepatitus

The factory was listed as "destroyed" in the 1906 fires, with a different address "Kearny and Francisco Street" (seems that I have data supporting a steam engine/pump from the bottom of Telegraph hill there... must'a reopend afterwards - then it all gets cloudy -- branches and all that...

Can't find specific reference to a "Number 44, Class H Comressor"

But I'm still guessing that it's an air compressor used to control stuff (like the steam-heat system's valves (maybe) in the newer pics....

[Jes]

Very interesting satan. Where did you find that info? I did a Google search briefly and didn't find a whole lot.

Jes

[satan]

<evil_echo> Bwhahaha -- satan knows all..! </evil_echo>

Theres a distant relative of the Vulcan Iron Works out here -- they were big into locomotives (and steam pumps) for the mining industry out here -- a little looking came up with that stuff -- Since the "GayBay" is well documented and very well represented on linke and in historical texts I figured that something'd come up --

If you wanna dig there's a few schools that specialize in that kinda stuff (Fort Lewis College here in CO has an extensive collection of old plant-equipment, and the mininging technology museum in Colorado Springs may be able to help as well.)

I'd wager that with a few names (my previous post) , your photos, and knowledge of your city you'd be better able to find more on that pump than I was...

.. I'm still imagining that the continuous service Westinghouse motor should have some sort of a "frame" designation on it - that'd help you pound-down a time frame.