Topics Technology & Engineering

Benjamin Henry Latrobe, portrait by Filippo Costaggini, 1880

Centre Square Water Works, Latrobe Plans, 1799

The Centre Square Works, 1801

The Water Works of the City of Philadelphia. The Story of their Development and Engineering Specifications.

Oak Lane Reservoir pipeline, 1904

The Water and Drainage History of Philadelphia: A seven-part course

Diagram showing the Philadelphia Water Department's water treatment process

PWD Drinking Water Treatment diagram

Frederick Graff’s drawing of the 1815 steam engine, adapted from a design by Englishmen Matthew Boulton and James Watt, shows the engine from the north, with Faire Mount and the reservoirs to the left of the drawing and the river to the right. The 1815 engine sat on the south side of the Engine House and was thus called the South Engine. As Graff indicated in his drawing, the Engine House was essentially open from river level to the roof in order to accommodate the massive beam and fly wheel of the two engines. While Graff showed the crank attached to the axle of the fly wheel, he left the crank shaft and the pump out of the drawing. The North Engine, designed and built in 1816 by Philadelphian Oliver Evans, advanced steam engines’ operating pressures from 2 pounds per square inch (psi) to 200 psi, a significant technological achievement.

Steam engine drawing, Frederick Graff Sr., 1815

DeLaval Beauty Shots 6

Electric Pump Installations at Lardner’s Point Pumping Station

Engine House of the Belmont Works, R. Newell photo (2004.057.0074.001)

Engine House, Belmont Works

New Mill House at Fairmount (2008.001.0046)

New Mill House at Fairmount

Jonval Turbines at New Mill House, 1870