COAL GAS ENGINES INTERNAL COMBUSTION FOR ELECTRICITY GENERATION HERSTMONCEUX MUSEUM LIME PARK EAST SUSSEX FIRST ONLY SURVIVING BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE WORLD HERITAGE SITE

GAS ENGINES, INTERNAL COMBUSTION

FOR ELECTRICITY GENERATION

Who made the gas engine used at Lime Park and who made the dynamo?

GAS ENGINE - Mounted on substantial concrete bases and secured by large steel bolts, this is a picture of a generator that did the rounds in Sussex, finally ending up powering a tram in Eastbourne in the 1960s, but not before being used to drive machinery for the Eastbourne Aviation Company between 1911 and 1924. This generator set is virtually identical to the one that was situated in Herstmonceux Museum around 1909, identified by the concrete base footprint. The pine match-boarding and electrical controls are also near identical in layout. This was because the electrical engineer who carried out the work was the same man: Charles William de Roemer.

For Charles, this generating room must have felt just like the one he'd installed where he lived at Lime Park, just on the outskirts of Herstmonceux village. The flywheel of the engine looks like a Crossley design but we are reliably informed that it is a National engine. We think though that the first dynamo on this site was an Edison-Hopkinson machine that may have been belt driven, after John Hopkinson and Thomas Edison. That said, the generator attached to the engine seen above is a Crompton dc machine of 110/220 votls. Charles de Roemer and/or the Baron Karl von Roemer, is known to have had an association with John Hopkinson and possibly his brother Charles Hopkinson. There are two large concrete bases at Herstmonceux Museum with flywheel troughs, meaning that there must have been two generating sets. The two bases are quite different in configuration and in different parts of the building complex.

INDUSTRIAL LAYOUT - This CAD drawing shows the layout of the generating installation in plan view. You can see how the whole unit was geared to generating and storing electricity in fairly large quantities. A 36 horsepower generator working at 75% overall efficiency (engine & generator losses) would produce 26.85 kilowatts of energy. If the engine was run from nine o'clock in the morning until five o'clock in the afternoon it would make 214.85kW of electricity. At £0.172 pence per unit today that would be worth £37 pounds a day. Charles de Roemer charged 1.5 old pennies per unit, so made £13.43 pounds a day, minus fuel, battery depreciation and labour costs. In those days you could buy a house for a few hundred pounds meaning that the enterprise was in theory quite profitable.

Today you could store 215kW in one Tesla truck battery. In 1909 you would need a whole room full of wet lead-acid batteries - and that is exactly what Charles had in situ according to Ronald Saunders, whose dad was one of the engineers who worked in Lime Park.

Literally hundreds of gas engines survive to this day, while the old buildings that house them are gone. Why? Because of the pressure for development and land prices. This is the unfortunate part of man's development. The good news is that there are many engineering enthusiasts who are willing to give their time to preserving and restoring the gas engines that propelled mankind into the age of electricity.

Herstmonceux Museum is unique in all the world, in that it survives while the engines are gone, in some kind of strange reversal of property development norms. For this reason it is all the more important that as much of the original building is treated to survive, while at the same time generating some kind of beneficial use to help pay for the upkeep of such a rare wooden building. On this front we are considering using Virtual Reality technology to digitally re-create what is missing for industrial archaeology enthusiasts. We would then have a virtual gas engine on permanent display in the premises and on the internet, such that millions of people around the world could visit this part of Sussex in the year 1909.

WHAT IS A GAS ENGINE?

A gas engine is an internal combustion engine which runs on a gas fuel, such as coal gas, producer gas, biogas, landfill gas or natural gas. In the UK, the term is unambiguous. In the US, due to the widespread use of "gas" as an abbreviation for gasoline, such an engine might also be called a gaseous-fueled engine or natural gas engine or spark ignited.

Generally the term gas engine refers to a heavy-duty industrial engine capable of running continuously at full load for periods approaching a high fraction of 8,760 hours per year, unlike a gasoline automobile engine, which is lightweight, high-revving and typically runs for no more than 4,000 hours in its entire life. Typical power ranges from 10 kW (13 hp) to 4,000 kW (5,364 hp).

Externally, one could be forgiven for confusing steam engines, with diesel or gas engines - because they were all large machines, with large open flywheels and mostly horizontal cylinders. Of course this changed as vertical engines came to dominate the market.

There are several concrete mounts at Herstmonceux Museum. Leading us to believe that there may have been a steam engine at one point in time, or maybe a diesel engine. This is in addition to the two mounts that have deep flywheel troughs. The only way to be sure would be for an expert with a good reference archive, to measure the mounts to match them up with the appropriate engine. Fortunately, we do have CAD drawings of the installation that were produced from accurate measurements taken in 1998, before the ground works were covered over to protect them.

Where other gas engines are mounted on raised brick or concrete plinths, the mountings at Herstmonceux are set into the ground, with the flywheel running below ground level in a semi-circular concrete trough. The remaining floor area is covered with large concrete (sharp sand) slabs.

CROSSLEY BROTHERS - This is a fine example of one of the single cylinder Crossley gas engines, featuring sturdy castings, mounted on a tiled plinth.

GAS ENGINE HISTORY

LENOIR

There were many experiments with gas engines in the 19th century but the first practical gas-fuelled internal combustion engine was built by the Belgian engineer Étienne Lenoir in 1860. However, the Lenoir engine suffered from a low power output and high fuel consumption.

OTTO and LANGEN

His work was further researched and improved by a German engineer Nikolaus August Otto, who was later to invent the first 4-stroke engine to efficiently burn fuel directly in a piston chamber. In August 1864 Otto met Eugen Langen who, being technically trained, glimpsed the potential of Otto's development, and one month after the meeting, founded the first engine factory in the world, NA Otto & Cie, in Cologne. In 1867 Otto patented his improved design and it was awarded the Grand Prize at the 1867 Paris World Exhibition. This atmospheric engine worked by drawing a mixture of gas and air into a vertical cylinder. When the piston has risen about eight inches, the gas and air mixture is ignited by a small pilot flame burning outside, which forces the piston (which is connected to a toothed rack) upwards, creating a partial vacuum beneath it. No work is done on the upward stroke. The work is done when the piston and toothed rack descend under the effects of atmospheric pressure and their own weight, turning the main shaft and flywheels as they fall. Its advantage over the existing steam engine was its ability to be started and stopped on demand, making it ideal for intermittent work such as barge loading or unloading.

SEE THE LIGHT - The incentive to generate electricity was driven by the desire to replace gas lighting with something safer and more convenient. Gas lighting replaced candles in the evolution of domestic lighting, but still required the gas to be lit manually. This was a great improvement on candles, but imagine seeing a light bulb for the first time. No messy matches and no risk of explosions. It's a bit like comparing incandescent bulbs to LEDs. Modern lighting using light emitting diodes is up to 10 times more efficient than some of the best filament bulbs. Almost all the lighting at Herstmonceux Museum is now LED, even the external security lamps.

BELT DRIVE - We found part of a belt drive pulley from a generating set on site at Herstmonceux Museum, very much like the one seen on the left of this unidentified machine. This find tends to support the theory that the second generating mount was used to drive a generator like the one above via a belt.

FOUR STROKE ENGINE

The atmospheric gas engine was in turn replaced by Otto's four-stroke engine. The changeover to four-stroke engines was remarkably rapid, with the last atmospheric engines being made in 1877. Liquid-fuelled engines soon followed using diesel (around 1898) or gasoline (petrol) (around 1900).

CROSSLEY

The best-known builder of gas engines in the UK was Crossley of Manchester, who in 1869 acquired the UK and world (except German) rights to the patents of Otto and Langden for the new gas-fuelled atmospheric engine. In 1876 they acquired the rights to the more efficient Otto four-stroke cycle engine.

TANGYE - This is a steam engine from Tangye, a company that also manufactured gas engines. Once again, the general configuration is near identical to a gas or steam engine, to the untrained eye.

TANGYE

There were several other firms based in the Manchester area as well. Tangye Ltd., of Smethwick, near Birmingham, sold its first gas engine, a 1 nominal horsepower two-cycle type, in 1881, and in 1890 the firm commenced manufacture of the four-cycle gas engine.

ANSON MUSEUM - This is a photograph of a National gas engine that was made close to the Anson Museum at Ashton Under Lyne.

NATIONAL GAS ENGINE HISTORY

In 1889, The National Gas & Oil Engine Company, Ltd., was founded by Mr H. N. Bickerton who after being in business for some time as an engineer, ventured into the realms of horizontal gas engine manufacture. For this purpose he tool over a works in Wellington Road formerly occupied by Isaac Watt Boulton to build locomotives. Export trade commenced in 1894, when the first gas engine was delivered to France.

As the years went by, extensions were put in hand at Wellington Rd. Offices were built and new bays erected. These included an Iron Foundry, Drawing Office, Pattern Shop, Shipping Departments etc.

By 1908, the demand for small horizontal gas engines was diminishing rapidly, ironically, due to competition from the electric motor and in that year, work was commenced on building a new block of bays at the west end of the works for the manufacture of vertical tandem gas engines up to units of 2,000 b.h.p. with 12 cylinders having a bore and stroke of 26in x 24in. Many installations of 10,000 b.h.p. or more were laid down at collieries, iron and steel works etc., for running on blast furnace and coke oven gases. This new section of the works was equipped with special machines for carrying out this operation.

In 1914, National installed the first sewage gas engine at the Birmingham, Tame and Rea Drainage Board's works, and from that date supplied more sewage engines in the British Empire than any other firm.

During the 1914-1918 war the Company undertook the building of Y-type 12 cylinder engines for high-speed naval craft. In addition a great number of engines were supplied to various factories sponsored by the Ministry of Supply.

National gas engine

NATIONAL - This is a drawing of a 36hp ordinary gas engine from 1905. The engines were designed originally to run on town gas and a later development was the gas producer plant using anthracite, coke and waste fuels such as wood, cotton seed etc. The introduction of the gas plant increased enormously the demand for gas engines, as they not only proved to be the most economical power available at the time but combined engines and gas plants could be installed anywhere in the world where solid fuel was available from which the gas could be extracted. In the early part of the century, many hundreds of gas producer plants and engines were shipped to all parts of the world. In the year 1906, a new type National gas producer was exhibited at the Royal Agricultural Show, Derby, and was awarded the gold medal.

With the advent of the compression ignition engine the National Compnay developed this branch of the business. Previously , oil engines had been confined to the hot-bulb or hot-spot type and they now embarked on the compression ignition types, beginning with horizontal engines. Very quickly, a large order book was built up for these units. Concurrently, the vertical engine department developed vertical engines with up to 17in diameter cylinders by 21 in stroke. These were subsequently extended to give outputs up to 2,000 b.h.p. utilising turbo-pressure-chargers.

Although the compression ignition engine gradually replaced the gas engine, National were still the leading manufacturers of gas engines for special purposes such as oil fields and sewage works where natural and sludge gas were available.

In 1938, the National Company produced the first dual-fuel engine capable of running on either oil or gas or a combination of both. Many engines of this type were supplied and a typical example is the Rickmansworth works of the Colne Valley Sewage Board where there are six dual-fuel engines, each developing 1,000 b.h.p. when pressure charged on oil fuel and 660 b.h.p. when using gas.

NATIONAL - This is a picture of a vertical three cylinder gas engine that produced 120 bhp at 400 rpm driving an inline DC generator.

During the 1939-1945 war, the National Company supplied vast numbers of engines to Government requirements. In addition, contracts were undertaken for the manufacture of jigs for the Manchester and Lancaster bombers, hydraulic recuperators for 25 pounder guns, and groups of machines were laid down for the manufacture of blade adaptors for the Rotol variable pitch propellor and also for machining propellor hubs.

In 1946, the task of reverting to normal business conditions resulted in a works reorganisation and the obsolescence of such machinery as had been installed especially for war work. A great many orders flowed in for both horizontal and vertical engines and production was speeded up to cope with this demand.

In 1949, the Company became associated with the Brush Group. New methods of manufacture on high output lines resulted in a remarkable increase in the production of both horizontal and vertical engines.

In 1952, the policy of the Company, following the trend of world requirements, was to concentrate on vertical engine production and industrial units from 62 to 2,000 b.h.p., marine auxiliary units from 41kW to 1390 kW and marine propulsion units from 77 to 1,880 b.h.p. were constructed.

CROSSLEY - This is a drawing of another single cylinder Crossley gas engine, featuring a dynamo that is directly driven from the crankshaft.

STOCKPORT - Single cylinder gas engine with twin flywheels, where a belt is used to drive a dynamo.

TECHNICAL

A gas engine differs from a petrol engine in the way the fuel and air are mixed. A petrol engine uses a carburetor or fuel injection system to vaporize the liquid fuel and turn it into a pseudo gas, but a gas engine often uses a venturi system to introduce gas into the air flow. Early gas engines used a three-valve system, with separate inlet valves for air and gas.

The weak point of a gas engine compared to a diesel engine is the exhaust valves, since the gas engine exhaust gases are much hotter for a given output, and this limits the power output. Thus a diesel engine from a given manufacturer will usually have a higher maximum output than the same engine block size in the gas engine version. The diesel engine will generally have three different ratings - Standby, Prime, and Continuous, (UK, 1-hour rating, 12-hour rating and continuous rating) whereas the gas engine will generally only have a Continuous rating, which will be less than the Diesel Continuous rating.

Gas engines that run on natural gas typically have a thermal efficiency between 35-45% (LCV basis). The best engines can achieve a thermal efficiency of slightly more than 48% (LCV basis). These gas engines are usually medium speed engines Bergen Engines Fuel energy arises at the output shaft, the remainder appears as waste heat. Large engines are more efficient than small engines. Gas engines running on biogas typically have a slightly lower efficiency (~1-2%) and syngas reduces the efficiency further still. GE Jenbacher's recent J624 engine is the world's first 24-cylinder gas engine with high efficiency running on methane.

When considering engine efficiency one should consider whether this is based on the lower heating value (LCV) or higher heating value (HCV) of the gas. Engine manufacturers will typically quote efficiencies based on the lower heating value of the gas, i.e. the efficiency after energy has been taken to evaporate the intrinsic moisture within the gas itself. Gas distribution networks will typically charge based upon the higher heating value of the gas (i.e. total energy content). A quoted engine efficiency based on LCV might be say 44% whereas the same engine might have an HCV of 39.6% based on HCV on natural gas. It is also important to ensure that efficiency comparisons are on a like for like basis. for example some manufactures have mechanically driven pumps whereas other use electrically driven pumps to drive engine cooling water, and the electrical usage can sometimes be ignored giving a falsely high apparent efficiency compared to the direct drive engines.

PYROLYSIS CHAMBER - This steel cylinder was unearthed in the summer of 2016. Unfortunately, it had been flattened and was badly corroded, but the timber mounts that were in turn set in cement on a concrete base, were reasonably well preserved. We also found the unique concrete mounts for this cylinder, that were cast in segments. You can see the segmented base in the right hand picture below, under the cylinder on the far right.

COAL ON SITE - When excavating on an important historic site like this, you must document all of the finds, no matter how seemingly irrelevant. You won't be surprised to learn that we found a large amount of high quality coal under the grass/soil surface when digging about.

SEEBOARD MAGAZINE - The October edition of 1970 contains some useful information about where, how and who was responsible for laying electricity mains cables in the Weald area of East Sussex, including mention of Rudyard Kipling and Batemans. R. F. Couchman, the former District Engineer is not quite right about the generating facilities, but appears to be confirming that the second generator mount, the smaller one in the north-eastern range, was an oil engine. Indeed there were two generating mounts, one very large with piping for a gas supply and all the associated bits and bobs, while the other had a smaller flywheel trough and was belt, rather than direct shaft drive. Mr Couchman ignores the fact that there were two engine mountings, separated by dividing (or partition) walls between the building ranges. The Crompton 250kVA generator above was powered by a town gas engines. It was a single phase set operating at 240 volts. These were the pioneering days of electricity generation in the Weald and Tunbridge Wells districts.

COAL GAS

Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous fuels produced for sale to consumers and municipalities.

Coal gas contains a variety of calorific gases including hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane and volatile hydrocarbons together with small quantities of non-calorific gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen.

Prior to the development of natural gas supply and transmission—during the 1940s and 1950s in the United States and during the late 1960s and 1970s in Great Britain - virtually all gas for fuel and lighting was manufactured from coal. Town gas was supplied to households via municipally-owned piped distribution systems.

Originally created as a by-product of the coking process, its use developed during the 19th and early 20th centuries tracking the industrial revolution and urbanization.

DR. JOHN HOPKINSON - was the eldest son of Alderman John Hopkinson, formerly Mayor of Manchester, he was born in that city on 27th July 1849. His school days were spent at Lindow Grove School near Manchester, and Queenwood College, Hampshire.

In 1867 he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, being elected to the first foundation scholarship of the year; he had a distinguished academical career, obtaining the Sheepshanks astronomical scholarship, and graduating as senior wrangler and first Smith's prizeman in the mathematical tripos of 1871. After taking the scholarship in mathematics and natural philosophy at the bachelor of science degree, he graduated as doctor of science in pure and applied mathematics in the University of London. He was also one of the first of the Whitworth scholars.

Because of his work on electric lighting, batteries and generating, and his association with the Edison lighting company, later Edison-Swan, Dr Hopkinson is thought to have known and worked with Charles de Roemer as well as Thomas Edison.

DESTRUCTIVE DISTILLATION

Destructive distillation is the chemical process involving the decomposition of feedstock by heating it to a high temperature; the term generally applies to processing of organic material in the absence of air or in the presence of limited amounts of oxygen or other reagents, catalysts, or solvents, such as steam or phenols. It is an application of pyrolysis. The process breaks up or 'cracks' large molecules. Coke, coal gas, gas carbon, coal tar, Buckminsterfullerene, ammonia liquor, and "coal oil" historically, are examples of commercial products of the destructive distillation of coal.

Destructive distillation of any particular inorganic feedstock produces only a small range of products as a rule, but destructive distillation of organic materials commonly produces very many compounds, often hundreds, though not all chemical products of any particular process are of commercial importance. The distilled molecules are generally smaller and more volatile than the feedstock molecules, but some reactions polymerise or condense small molecules into larger molecules, including heat-stable tarry substances and chars. Cracking into liquid and volatile compounds, and polymerisation or the formation of chars and solids may all occur in the same process, and any class of the products might be of commercial interest.

Currently the major industrial application of destructive distillation is to coal.

Historically the process of destructive distillation and other forms of pyrolysis led to the discovery of many chemical compounds or elucidation of their structures before contemporary organic chemists had developed the processes to synthesize or specifically investigate the parent molecules.

ANSON ENGINE MUSEUM

Anson Engine Museum
Anson Road
Poynton
Cheshire
SK12 1TD UK

Tel: 01625 874 426

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Email: enquiry@enginemuseum.org

DONATIONS

The Anson Museum is a registered charity and does not receive any central funding to help them to run the museum. Grants for certain projects have been received but to date most of the work has been carried out and funded by the volunteers, Friends of the museum and visitors. Registered Charity No518587, governed by the Anson Museum Trust Ltd, Registered in England No 210169. Supported by the IMechE and IDGTE. Member of Association of Independent Museums, Cheshire's Peaks and Plains Tourism Association and Marketing Cheshire.

It is difficult for any museum to fund everything they are trying to do and to cover the cost of recovering, removing and transporting engines when they are offered. Please help these organizations if you can.

MAIN ATTRACTIONS

Here are the top 10 things you can see at the Anson Museum:

1. Video clips as you enter museum – history & context, also see our Awards

2. Steam engine section in Memorial Building

3. Rare, iconic engines from the National Collection

4. Largest running Crossley Atmospheric engine ever made

5. Mirrlees No 1 – 1st diesel engine built in UK

6. Gardner 4T5 always a crowd pleaser

7. Furnival engine running printing press and National engine running a typical workshop

8. Giant model of Poynton c1900 showing collieries around the area

9. Exhibition area – changes annually, currently Mirrlees memorabilia

10. Craft area monthly demonstrations of Bodging and Blacksmith work

We hope you enjoy your short visit and next time you might want to leave a little longer to enjoy everything we have to offer.

GAS ENGINE MAGAZINE

Gas Engine Magazine
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Gas Engine Magazine is your best source for tractor and stationary gas engine information. Subscribe and connect with more than 23,000 other gas engine collectors and build your knowledge, share your passion and search for parts, in the publication written by and for gas engine enthusiasts! Gas Engine Magazine brings you: restoration stories, company histories, and technical advice. Plus our Flywheel Forum column helps answer your engine inquiries!

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1503 SW 42nd Street
Topeka, Kansas 66609
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Tel: 1-800-888-9098

FLAME IGNITION - A Historical Account of Flame Ignition in the Internal Combustion Engine by Wayne S. Grenning. Flame IgnitionThis book is a scholarly work describing flame ignition as applied to reciprocating engines, from early experiments to later successes such as the Deutz and Crossley versions of the four stroke cycle perfected by Otto in 1876. Wayne discusses problems encountered by the early entrants into the gas engine industry, highlighting solutions discovered by the various players. He also goes into more arcane subjects like the constant pressure cycle introduced by Brayton that survives today in the gas turbine engine, to a look at toy non-compression engines produced during the same early days as their full size brethren. In eight chapters, Wayne shows details of engines built by Clerk, Sombart, Forest and others, gives technical details on the construction and operating features unique to flame ignition engines, and highlights the struggles other manufacturers endured to avoid infringing the Otto patents. The section on the four-stroke-cycle engines is by itself over 300 pages long, covering 30 different companies. It has 67 pages describing the activities of Crossley Brothers in Manchester, England and another 53 pages dedicated to Gasmotoren Fabrik Deutz from Cologne, Germany.

Regular hard bound edition, 875 pages, $79.95 + shipping and handling. Special leather bound edition, $149.95 + shipping and handling. Limited printing. The book is printed in color on semi-gloss paper for enhanced picture reproduction. Book size is 8½ x 11 inches with dust jacket

COOLSPRING POWER MUSEUM

For more than 25 years, the Coolspring Power Museum in Coolspring, Pa., has been recognized as housing the world's finest collection of early and historically significant internal combustion engines. Designated a Mechanical Engineering Heritage Collection by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the museum boasts a collection of more than 250 engines in 20 buildings.

Coolspring Power Museum presents an illuminating history of the evolution of internal combustion engine technology that put an end to the steam powered era. The museum's collection includes over 275 stationary engines housed in more than 20 display buildings.

Stationary gas hit and miss engines, throttle governed engines, flame ignition engines, hot tube ignition engines, and hot air engines are all among the permanent exhibits at the Coolspring Power Museum in Coolspring, Pennsylvania. Engines in the museum's collection range in size from fractional horsepower up to 600 horsepower.

Coolspring Power Museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation founded in 1985.

Coolspring Power Museum

179 Coolspring Rd
Coolspring
Pennsylvania 15730
USA

Phone: +1 814-849-6883

Coolspring power museum

ABOUT COOLSPRING

Coolspring, Pennsylvania, is a quiet little village located just off State Route 36, about halfway between Brookville and Punxsutawney, in rural Oliver Township. Nestled among hills on all sides, it is in the wide, fertile valley of Little Sandy Creek, with smaller Lick Run converging from the north. As of October 2015, it still has two active stores.

Kate Scott, in her History of Jefferson County of 1888 tells that Oliver Township was created from Perry Township and organized in 1851. Both were named from the great naval hero of the Battle of Lake Erie, Oliver Hazard Perry.

The first settler to the area was Reuben Hickox who arrived in 1822. By 1833, Alexander McKinstry moved to Cool Spring. He bought a very large tract of land from the Holland Land Company and then sold farms to later arrivals. Indeed, my home was built by the McKinstrys. Alexander built his home at the southern end of town and it still is in the McKinstry family. About 1868, Thompson A. McKinstry, Alexander's son, built a modern steam powered mill on Little Sandy Creek, just east of the present bridge. This mill burned down in 1913. Fortunately, the fire did not spread but the mill was lost. Some of the huge foundation stones of the mill are still evident in that area.

The first store in Cool Spring was opened by James Gray in 1836 and it had the first post office in Oliver Township. He also opened a sawmill on Kellar's Run, two miles distant and about halfway between Coolspring and Sprankle Mills. There he found an exceptionally cold spring that became the name of his early post office. Sadly, modern construction has destroyed the spring.

The two-word name "Cool Spring" continued until 1896 when the village legally changed it to the present "Coolspring." However, Caldwell's Atlas of 1878 refers to the town as McKinstryville. Coolspring retained its post office, located inside the Coolspring General Store and bearing the ZIP code of 15730, until mid-2015.

RUSTON - This is not a gas engine, it is powered by oil, but the general configuration is such that the casual observer might think it is steam or gas powered. In the case of the generating buildings at Herstmonceux, the gas producing plant was often confused with steam production - especially as coal was in the frame, and is usually associated with locomotive steam engines and water boilers.

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http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/National_Gas_Engine_Co

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COAL BANK - You cannot see the coal bunkers in this picture because they are built into the bank. One range of the extant buildings was removed in 1936 to allow the transport of the largest gas engine. It was the intention of Charles de Roemer to put the unit back but then fate intervened and the Weald Supply Company came along to spike his guns. Just as Charles was about to repair the section to the rear, along came World War Two, when he temporarily clad the remaining units in corrugated iron to make a hospital for wounded airmen. Lime Park Heritage Trust are looking at ways getting the archaeology more intact so that visitors to the site can see what it looked like in 1909 - or get a better impression of the full size of the installation.

BUNKER REPAIRS - The front wall of this coal bunker had been pushed over by rogue sycamore trees. We used the original bricks wherever possible, cleaned and jet washed. This face was rendered and will be again given sufficient funds for restoration. The rubble had become overgrown with grass and the empty bunkers a dumping ground for hardcore that is now being usefully employed as the underpinning for a concrete lid to help preserve the feature for generations to come. This picture is Copyright © Lime Park Heritage Trust December 2016. You will need the permission of the Trust to reproduce this picture except for private study or educational use by teachers for their students.

WWII AIR RAID SHELTER - This World War Two bomb proof air raid shelter is built in line with the coal bunker that it was derived from, being divided up into sections internally. It is reasonable to assume that before 1936 this brick built range was all one coal storage facility because what is now the air raid shelter is directly opposite the gas conversion heater. In days gone by the courtyard is most likely to have been a hall or covered way. This picture is Copyright © Lime Park Heritage Trust 18 December 2016. You will need the permission of the Trust to reproduce this picture except for private study or educational use by teachers for their students.

HERITAGE INDEX A - Z

AIR RAID SHELTER

AVIATION - EASTBOURNE

BARCLAYS BANKING LET DOWN - MISSING ACCOUNT MONEY

BARON CARL VON ROEMER & CHARLES de ROEMER

CAMPBELL HALL - BLUEBIRD ELECTRIC CARS

COAL BUNKER

GAS ENGINES - COAL CONVERSION, INTERNAL COMBUSTION

HX FIRE STATION

HX MUSEUM

HX SCIENCE EXHIBITS

OBSERVATORY - HERSTMONCEUX CASTLE

SX MUSEUMS

PLANNING APP JAN 2015

RAF BEACHY HEAD

RAF HERSTMONCEUX

RAF HERSTMONCEUX & WARTLING

SOLAR LADY - STATUE

WORLD ELECTRIFICATION HISTORY

WWII BOMB PROOF SHELTER

GOOGLE MAPS - The detail is not that great and the situation on the land is significantly changed in that the site has undergone a massive clean up. You cannot see the coal bunkers in this picture, but they are to the rear of the main buildings.