W.M. Sharf Pat. Jan.11.1910 Coal Ash Carousel Pit for Boiler Operations

Steve_118

Perhaps some of you have seen a carousel coal ash collection system for a boiler installation before. I had not. This 12 removable bin device is still in place in Yankton SD, old riverboat town that was the capital of Dakota Territory. Of course those boats were no doubt done when this was installed. The perimeter housing is largely intact. The central post axle and hub bearing at the base seem ok, the assembly would probably rotate freely if some of the bins with deteriorated bottoms were removed. I can only imagine learning the time between rotation intervals based on use, weather, etc. 180 degree rotation for balance.... would you have waited for all 12 bins to be full before hauling them up and out of the basement? What kind of basin cleaning maintenance would be required? The ArcoWand central vacuum cleaning system with electric motor rotary screw pump is within 6 feet of the carousel. Every turn in the vacuum piping is accomplished with a 1 1/2" drainage pattern cast iron wye and 45, steel pipe of course. Thing actually runs via open blade throw switch! High tech of day? I truly would like to have experienced for a short while what it was like to heat this home and manage the operation of whatever hot water boiler it then had. Short while. No doubt this post belongs in a better place on this site, my apologies to anyone it may bother.

ch4man

so thats what the inards look like.
this is one i found a month or two ago

Steve_118

So you could apparently choose how many bins were in the carousel, makes you wonder how few or many.

MommaZ

I am quite sure this is what is in the basement of our house. We have been wondering for years. It has six segments. I got to this page by entering the patent date but I can find no other information.

Voyager

The cleverness of our ancestors continually amazes me.

Grallert

So I'm curious. Where would the boiler or furnace be located in relation to the ash pit? Nearby no doubt? Not on.top though I guess. Would you sweep or push the ash into the pit?

Solid_Fuel_Man

So this is just for ash storage? Once all the bins are full, you would have to either remove them and dump, or shovel them out?

I know from those who burn coal that the volume of ash is huge!

unclejohn

I guess it turned a daily or weekly routine into a weekly or monthly routine.

ethicalpaul

Maybe your coal service would come and empty them, and they and you would rather they come less often.

scott w.

Not sure the size and weight of the bins when full of ash but they look awfully heavy and awkward for one or two people to lift up out from under the basement floor. Am thinking there has to be another piece of equipment that went along with this system that would lift those bins out of the carousel. I am I correct someone would shovel the ash in the bins or was there some type of mechanical feeder?

TAG

Back in the late 70's while in college (Philadelphia main line) I was a "house sitter" . I had a couple of them -- biggest was one owned by the granddaughter of old coal/oil money. The original steam plant had a floor bin contraptions to clean out the boilers. The space for the coal was huge -- big screw contraption to feed the beast ... full time staff that lived in the building. All natural gas by the time I came around. The dust must have been everywhere --- with 60 acres they had the luxury of space and it's own driveway. The ash eventually went to a lower level.

I wonder if the bin was to insure the ash was no longer hot and not a fire hazard? Since it had many spaces -- it would take time before one space made it around and dumped it to the next level for removal.

Oil must have taken over after WW1 -- Another was one of the first developments in Gladwyne PA (3 houses) .... about 10 acres each .. the one I watched had 35 odd rooms. Huge oil boilers still in the boiler rooms. Again -- replaced with natural gas.

mhodgres

I'm awfully late to this discussion. Our home was built in 1920 in an urban area. We moved in 2014 and I always wondered what was under the odd-shaped access cover which didn't interest our pre-closing home 'inspector' at all. Noticed a bit of condensation near the access on a plastic tub one day and opened it up to find a perfectly still and full round pool of water! No one locally seemed to know what it was and fearing it could devalue the house or be required to remove I quit asking around. There seemed to be a slight 'oil' feel to the water so one guess was a separation system to keep oil from an oil fired boiler from mixing into the city water? Rain water was slowly filling the basin as the subfloor tiles were in poor shape. It lived its second life as a catchment I guess!

Finally had to dig up the floor for storm water drainage purposes and was able to decipher the markings on what I thought were a floor drain…this led me to this page. How interesting! I can't imagine that the original boiler used coal for too many years. Where did they get rid of all that ash here in the city?

Our round basin perimeter (cast iron) is in good shape but the baskets have all pretty much crumbled. Not sure what they were made of? The crank circle with the numbered markings was replaced with a simple drain cap at some point but the spindle workings and basket supports are still in place and finally visible.

Will be filling this basin in with clay/earth and broken concrete and stone over perforated drain pipe with sock filter then cement. One less of these in this world!

reggi

In case anyone is interested in Mr SHARPS patent…

Having .pdf issues.. will try pics

@Erin Holohan Haskell

Tried adding a .pdf and got a network error using the paperclip "attach" .. used the picture import and got these stretched pics when I posted.. preview looks good 🤷‍♂️