ASHBURTON GAS WORKS.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1632, 14 May 1879, Page 3

ASHBURTON GAS WORKS.

Afior five months’ labor them works am approaching completion, and the in'*ins have been laid along Fast street p'st tho Somerset Hotel, 'j ha necessary plant has arrive.] in l.ytbdt at, and hef ro the date of the first illumination nearly JfhibOo will have been expended. The works are situated on the N.K town belt, and have been ao planned that there will he room for extension, and kiidea this the whole of the

| rontngo will bo available for warehouses and mills. As it is close to the railway it will, in all probability, bo shortly connected by a siding. The gas holder is of considerable size, and will show a capacity of 20,000 cubic feet of gas. The tank of the holder is built of concrete, backed up with pudd ed clay, and its dimensions am I‘2ft.. diameter by a depth of IGft. Gin , while the walls are 20iu. at the bottom, reducing to loin, at the top. iho bolder itself, which is apart of the English order, is 40ft. diameter by IGft. high, and will be supported on six columns, w T ith the necessary pulleys, &c., and the columns’ security has been provided for by bolting them to the concrete with 4ft long bolts, with bottom plates. Other component parts of the works will be found in four purifiers, a condenser, a scrubber, and a hydraulic main, with all the appliances, which have been purchased from the Gas Company at Christchurch. 'J he purifiers are already in their places at the works The large meter with the main, and the supply of small meters, which also formed part of the company’s plant importation, are now at Lyttelton. Part of the largo mains, as we have already stated, have been laid in the town, and tire sizes have been thus apportioned—From the works to the corner of Havelock street, Gin pipes; thence to Tailored street with Sin mains, while 4in piping will continue on as far as the Ashburton Hotel, by the river. I)f course the cross streets have not been forgotten, and wherever it may be deemed necessary to run a main up one of these din piping will bo made use of. The total length of main piping ordered from England reaches three and a half miles, and that, wo should fancy, will be sufficient for a considerable length of time.

The works arc of concrete, and may be divided into five sections, namely, the retort house, coal store, purifying house, meter room, and offices. In the retort house is room for tbirtyono 9ft retorts, bat at present only six 7ft retorts arc to bo fixed. The chimney stalk, which is to be 48ft high, will bo complc ed in a week or two One of Messrs Fried lander's Althouse windmills has been erected to ensure a good snpplyof water, and a concrete tank 10ft deep with a diameter of 18ft lias been provided for the recepdon of the tar. A dwelling-house containing five rooms has been erected for Mr L ivis Causey, the manager, who has been employed in superintending the erection of the works. Mr Cleminsbaw, of Christchurch, is the company’s engineer.