Getting Westinghoused Part II (Westinghouse, Hamilton)
The Westinghouse boiler house for what it lacks in size certainly more then makes up with its contents. The boiler house dating from 1923 will remain in its entirety to function as a working museum to be utilized by engineering students and will also be open to the public once the research facility is completed on the property. Although the rest of the buildings have all been torn down except for one which still belongs to a different owner, this one will remain full intact unlike other historical properties in Hamilton which have been gutted out for further redevelopment.
The boiler house had a simple function and that was to send steam to the rest of the plant (which no longer exists) via a tunnel network. Originally coal fired, it was later converted to gas and also became automated throwing the 30 or so men out of work as they became redundant. Gas was cleaner and provided more heat and this small plant provided steam to the over 1 million square feet of the Westinghouse plant. There are several useful videos linked below which walk you through sections of the plant with former engineers explaining in more detail how different sections of plant work together if your interested in more information.
Westinghouse Part 1, 2 and 3 from the upcoming film, Industria.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 11:43 am and is filed under Heavy Industry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.