View of N end of works, including carbon plant and offices. The power station is at the back of the works. Copy of 35 mm colour transparency.

Description View of N end of works, including carbon plant and offices. The power station is at the back of the works. Copy of 35 mm colour transparency.

Date 1976

Collection Papers of Professor John R Hume, economic and industrial historian, Glasgow, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 867669

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content Aluminium smelting works, Kinlochleven, Argyll The Kinlochleven Aluminium Works was the second works built by the British Aluminium Company Ltd, in 1905-09 to use the Heroult process for making aluminium by electrolysing a solution of alumina in aluminium fluoride (cryolite). Hydro-electricity was the only economic source of power on the scale needed. The works shown from the south east, in 1976. The sheds housing the electrolytic cells are to the right of the chimney, and the power station is at the rear. The tall building with the round-headed openings was built to make the carbon electrodes used in the electrolytic cells. The power station at Kinlochleven, which drew its water from the Blackwater Dam, produced electricity at low voltage, and with a high amperage, as required by the Heroult cells. Since the closure of the works, power generated at Kinlochleven has been transferred to the Lochaber works by the grid. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/867669

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap