Page:Walker (1888) The Severn Tunnel.djvu/98

Rh the working-barrel, and driving out the large piece spoken of before; and the pump was a wreck. All these matters were, of course, carefully inquired into on the spot by Sir John Hawkshaw and his assistants; and, seeing at once that the accident was the result of a defect in the pump which they had undertaken to furnish to me for the work, he ordered the broken parts to be replaced by others.

The large pump was all taken out of the shaft by July 15. To appreciate the labour entailed, it must be understood that the pump-rods alone were balks of timber 45 feet long and 15 inches square, with heavy iron mountings; then the rising-main, consisting of 9-feet lengths of 40-inch wrought-iron pipes, had all to be lifted out again, unjointed and laid on one side, before we could get to the very bottom pieces which were broken.

New four-beat valves were ordered by the Great Western Railway Company from Messrs. Harvey and Co., of Hayle, with a new valve-piece and working-barrel; and a new suction-piece or wind-bore, made oval instead of round, so that it might be lowered in the space between the lining of the shaft and the projecting flange of the pipe on which the girder rested. In ordering these care was taken to see that the bottom valve had a good level seating in the valve-case, and that the pump-rods were properly attached to the bottom of the bucket. The makers were pressed to use all despatch in furnishing the new work, and by dint of great