Glasgow, 280 George Street, Inland Revenue Office
Hydraulic Ram (19th Century)(Possible), Law Court (19th Century), Office (19th Century)
Site Name Glasgow, 280 George Street, Inland Revenue Office
Classification Hydraulic Ram (19th Century)(Possible), Law Court (19th Century), Office (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) 24 North Frederick Street; Civil Court House; Income Tax Office; Hydraulic Valve
Canmore ID 144656
Site Number NS56NE 808
NGR NS 59373 65449
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/144656
- Council Glasgow, City Of
- Parish Glasgow (City Of Glasgow)
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District City Of Glasgow
- Former County Lanarkshire
Field Visit (21 February 2022)
This hydraulic control valve was discovered during building works in early February 2022 in the basement of the former Inland Revenue Office at 280 George Street, Glasgow when the back wall of a compartment housing the valve was demolished. This valve would have served as an auxiliary mechanism for hydraulic power run from the water mains and it would have operated machinery (usually lift mechanisms) within the building. It is known as a 'rack slide valve' and was employed where low pressure was required.
The valve was 2.5m in height to top of the rope wheel (ceiling height 3.2m). The original access to the valve was bricked up and probably filled with loose rubble. This blocked up area had not been demolished by the contractors on the date of visit.
G. Croydon Marks (1900)
Visited by Survey and Recording, Heritage, HES (M McDonald), 4 February 2022 and pers. comm. M. Watson (HES), 6 February 2022.
Notes on hydraulic artefact, George Street, Frederick Street, Glasgow
"It’s a piston valve and features in chapter viii which precedes chapter ix on Platform Lifts in “Hydraulic Power Engineering” by G Croydon Marks (1900). Fig 71 shows a rack and pinion, enclosed unlike the one in Glasgow, and F is the rope wheel that could be activated from the lift. But in Glasgow it looks more like a flat belt was wound around it: either going to the lift (or other device) or to release the pressurised water with some kind of mechanical (steam engine?) assistance.
It may incorporate a “Shock valve” if there is a spring inside (figs 167-9) - a spring loaded safety valve to reduce excess pressure from the high pressure main, and divert water elsewhere. As you say the jigger will have been alongside the lift cage, and would contain the ram, if the ram was not actually below the lift cage (which people preferred psychologically)."
Correspondence between Miriam McDonald, HES Survey and Recording section and Mark Watson, HES, 31 January 2022
