Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 20 March 2014

“Technical Memories (Part 76) – Goulding’s Heritage”

Picking up from last week’s column, in 1872 a change took place when the Goulding business became a limited company with a capital of £150,000. The first Board of Directors was composed of William Goulding, Chairman, H M Goulding, B Haughton, N D Murphy MP, and J S Smithson. The prospectus of the new company referred to 500 duly appointed agents in the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Russia and America. It was reported that Gouldings were the first firm to ship a cargo of manures into the United States, and in addition to the countries referred to above, an extensive export trade was carried on with Norway and Natal in South Africa. A special manure was supplied to the latter for the sugar cane crop. The year 1872 was also noteworthy in that a further factory was opened at Singland in Limerick, where a 20-year lease was taken on the premises.

In the manufacture of superphostate, the use of mineral phosphates steadily replaced bones. At what date Gouldings first used the mineral phosphate is unknown, but in 1873, the company purchased phosphate beds in France. These deposits, belonging to a group known as Quercy phosphates, were situated near Cahora in the French Department of Lot. The material varied widely in quality and was difficult to mine. The Goulding Phosphate Company Ltd was formed to operate the mines. In 1876 this company leased a mill at Mercuès in the vicinity of the phosphate deposits and a works was in operation at Laberaudie in the same district. Operations were continued until 1880 when Gouldings ceded their rights to a French firm.

In 1874, a cargo of rock phosphate was imported from Pernambuco in Brazil, and in subsequent years this raw material was obtained from a variety of sources. In addition to the French phostate referred to, there was Estramadure phosphate from Spain, Sombrero phosphate from the West Indies, phosphates from Norway, Canada, Belgium and Russia. American phosphate from South Carolina was in use and in later years, particularly when a Florida factory was opened, the American material was used extensively.

Another new works was started in 1878 at Gracedieu, Waterford and in 1884, new works were commenced on Bressay one of the islands in the Shetland group.  In the same year 1884, William Goulding died at the age of 67, having spent half a lifetime in the fertiliser business. From small beginnings, he rapidly built up and expanded the company until at the time of his death it consisted of five factories and was one of the largest concerns within Britain and Ireland. Seven years previous to this, Humphrey Manders had died at the age of 57. Following William Goulding’s death, his son, William Joshua Goulding, was appointed Chairman of the Company.

In 1902, sales of manures by the Goulding group had reached 119,337 tons and the building of a new factory at Newrath, Waterford was commenced. This now gave the company six factories in Ireland, situated at Londonderry and Belfast in the north, two at Dublin in the east, and at Waterford and Cork in the south, this making distribution to any part of the country an easy matter.  Phosphates from North Africa began to replace material from other sources and eventually North Africa became the sole supply. During the next twenty years, output from these factories was gradually increased by improved processes and extensions to the factories. In 1919 a controlling interest was purchased in two further companies, namely the Drogheda Chemical Manure Company Ltd. and the Dublin and Wicklow Manure Company.

From 1920 to the commencement of World War II, production of fertilisers showed a steady increase from the factories in operation and the total deliveries rose to 178,000 tons. The company also went through two chairmanships, Sir William Joshua Goulding and his son Sir Lingard Amphlett Goulding. On Lingard’s death in 1935, Sir Basil Goulding took over as Chairman.

The World War II years coincided with a serious reduction in trade brought about by difficulties of obtaining shipping for imports of raw materials, but after the end of the of the war, production rose to surpass the pre-war level in a most spectacular manner. The post-war years were a time of immense activity, many items of plant were in a state of disrepair and other items were becoming obsolete. As a result all the factories witnessed extensive replacement of old equipment with modern machinery and methods of manufacture.

By 1956, due to the increasing demands on the Glen Factory, the first steps were taken towards the construction of a new factory on a 17-acre compound on the deep water site at the Marina, Cork on which the company had had an option for some years. The Irish Times for 29 March 1958 records that work began on the preparation of the Cork site at the Marina and the piling in October, 1955. There were 303 piles driven and the contractors started work in February, 1956. In all, 16,500 cubic yards of concrete were used in the construction of the factory, 291 tons of reinforced steel and 700 tons of steelwork.

To be continued…

Caption:

733a. Gouldings, Centre Park Road, Marina, 1958 (source: The Irish Times, 29 March 1958)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 13 March 2014

“Technical Memories (Part 75) – Outputs and Targets”

The day before Verolme Dockyard was officially opened on 15 October 1960, the two and half million pounds factory of Messrs. Goulding Fertilisers Ltd at the Marina, Cork, was opened. Again Seán Lemass did the honours in the presence of a large and distinguished audience. In his speech, recorded in the Cork Examiner, he highlighted Ireland’s work in seeking out new export markets; “In the struggle for export markets everything, which makes for great output at lower costs, is vital and all the available evidence supports the view that greater use of fertilisers and lime is essential for the realisation of high production targets”.

The new factory was another milestone in Cork’s ever-widening industrial progress. It completed the final stages of an ambitious project conceived by the company some years previously for the creation in the Southern region of a modern fertiliser plant. The first stage for the compounding of fertilisers in powder and granular form was completed in 1958. The opening of the factory in 1960 marked the second and final stage, and its purpose was to produce single superphosphate in largely increased quantities and also for the first time in the country, triple superphosphates together with the large amounts of sulphuric acid required for both projects. The Marina plant was planned with an eye to the future, for it had been so designed that large-scale additions could be made conveniently in spaces reserved for them whenever the need arose.

When the Taoiseach arrived at the new factory, he was met by Sir Basil Goulding, who presented him with a symbolic key and invited him to unlock the gates and declare the factory opened. The Goulding family had deep commercial roots in Cork and this is outlined in the special supplement in the Cork Examiner. William Goulding was born in 1817, the first son of Joshua Goulding, of Birr in King’s County, and Sarah, née Manders, of Blackpool, in Cork. Three years later, a second son, Humphrey Manders Goulding, was born. When Joshua Goulding died in 1829, it is thought that the family moved to Cork. Certainly by 1842 William Goulding was living in the city and carrying on the business of an oil and colour merchant at 22 Maylor Street. In the following year, this business was transferred to 108 Patrick’s Street, premises which were occupied by the firm for many years and now the site of the site of the Savoy Cinema. The title W and H M Goulding came into being in 1846 when Humphreys Manders Goulding joined his elder brother in the business at the age of 26.

An early interest in agricultural materials was shown by the sale of Goulding’s Anti-smut Composition for seed wheat, which appeared on the market in 1844. The firm became agents for patent sheep and cattle dressings in 1854, and in the same year sold fertilisers produced by the British Economical Manure Company. The year also marked the beginning of Goulding’s interest in superphosphate manufacture. A small tonnage of superphostate was thus produced in their premises available at St Patrick Street and Nelson Place (now Emmett Place) and would have been inadequate and unsuitable for large scale manufacture. The results of these pilot-plant experiments must, however have been sufficiently encouraging to warrant bigger operations, for the Goulding Brothers procured additional premises for superphostate production in the following year, 1856. During 1855 and 1856, the premises of the Glen Distillery at Blackpool, in Cork, came on the market. This property comprised mills, kilns, stores, chimneys, spacious yards and various items of machinery and plant, and it was this property which, the Goulding brothers obtained for their manure works.

Superphostate manufacture at this time involved treating ground bones with sulphuric acid, the reaction being carried out in wooden tubs, cast-iron horse troughs, or even on the bare ground. The resulting material was removed to stores and allowed to dry out. All operations were by hand, and output was necessarily small. For example the total sales for the season 1860/ 61 season were no more than the 1960 production of superphosphate from one works for one week.

While bones were available locally, sulphuric acid had to be imported during the early years. The purchase of acid from outside sources was a serious drawback to the early development of the business. To remedy the situation, an acid plant, was built in 1860 and had been extended to five chambers by 1868. The sulphuric acid was produced from sulphur initially, but pyrites were also used at an early stage, and certainly not later than 1864. The pyrites could be purchased for £1/5 per ton and was readily available from the Avoca mines in Co Wicklow, while sulphur cost £7 per ton. In 1861, following the introduction of the acid plant, five special manures were offered in addition to superphostate. During the period 1861 to 1888 delivery of manures from Cork rose from 857 tons to 7,139 tons, and the demand was so great that it was considered to open a new factory. Dublin was selected as the location for this new works as it had good port facilities and was well placed for the delivery of manures.

To be continued…

Caption:

732a. Cork Docklands, 1949 (source: Cork City Library)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 30 January 2014

“Technical Memories (Part 69) – A Sphere of National Life”

“Built to the design and specifications prepared by the Electricity Supply Board’s own engineering staff, the Marina Station is one of the most up-to-date of its kind in Europe. This station is yet another link in the ESB plan to double the present output of electricity by 1961. The everyday demands for electricity in every sphere of our national life show such a tremendous increase that this programme is essential if electrical self sufficiency is to be maintained (Editorial, Irish Independent, 7 October 1954)”.

Following on from introducing the Marina ESB station last week, the local press wrote of the plant as one of the most up-to in terms of using modern scientific breakthroughs and technology. When oil as a fuel was used it was fed from the tanker on the adjacent quay through an oil pipe line to the 4,500 ton oil tanks located on the far side of Centre Park Road. A pump house beside these tanks pumped to the boilers as required. Heavy fuel oil was used as to make it free-flowing enough for pumping it to be steam heated. Hot air was blown through a rotary air heater; the oil was atomised by steam and injected into the boilers. The jet of oil was burned in suspension in the same way as the pulverised coal.

Cooling water for condensing the steam was drawn from the River lee, and was circulated by four pumps capable of handling 54,000 gallons of water a minute. It was essential that the tubes carrying the cooling water be maintained absolutely free and unclogged. As river water was being used, a special screening and chlorination plant was installed to remove impurities from the water before it entered the tubes. Water for the boilers was provided from the Cork City water supply, and a 21,000 gallon storage tank was used to maintain supply.

Care was taken to avoid the dissemination of undesirable material from the 220-ft high chimney which served the station. Incorporated in the system was a grit collector where the grit in the gases was removed. Ash particles which fell to the bottom of the boiler were collected and sluiced out daily to a piece of adjoining waste land. This waste land set aside for ash disposal took in an area of 18 acres, and if the station were to operate on coal all the time, it could have filled up in nine years. A special testing station was established on the hill at Montenotte across the River Lee to check the deposits before the station was in operation and to ensure that no damage was caused to residents in the area.

The blessing ceremony was performed by Bishop Lucey on 22 September 1955 and was recorded by the Cork Examiner the day after. Owing to the disposition of the Minister for Industry and Commerce, William Norton, the opening ceremony was performed by his Parliamentary Secretary P J Crotty, Mr Crotty opened the outer door of the main block with a gold key and later cut a tape in the turbine room to signify that the station was now well and truly in official commission. The scissors was presented to Mr Crotty by the youngest employee at the station, the 14-year-old messenger boy, Liam O’Sullivan. The Bishop, Mr Crotty and all the other guests were taken on a conducted tour of the station. The chairman of the ESB, Dr R F Browne, welcomed guests. They were shown the machinery for the pulverising of coal to be fed into the three boilers and the two big turbines.

Later at a luncheon in the Imperial Hotel, Dr Browne noted of a steady expansion of electricity grids in the city: “It has rendered necessary the building of a large generating station…A station was first placed in commission in Cork in 1897 [on Albert Road] and it gave good service over the years. The station opened today is some twelve times larger and has an installed capacity of 60MW and can be readily be extended to 120MW”. In thanking the many contractors to the scheme, the list of names echo the ESB’s focus on the use of cutting edge western European technology. The steam turbine alternator sets, switchgear and control room equipment came from Siemens Schukert of Germany. Babcok and Wilcox provided the boilers. Transformers and other switchgear came from ACEC Belgium and AEG Germany and from Brown Boveri Switzerland. The main civil works were carried out by McNally and Co. Ltd and by the Irish Piling Company.

Mr Browne further highlighted that to meet supply requirements, there were under construction in 1955, two large and four small peat stations, two hydro schemes and a large station in Dublin, similar to that in Cork. Native sources of power were being relied on and the focus was being placed on water and peat. With water, Mr Browne noted that the scope for further hydro development was limited as 70 per cent of the potential power in the country had been harnessed. The remaining 30 per cent was in very small rivers and streams, which to harness were not cost effective.

To be continued…

Caption:

726a. Aerial view of ESB Marina near completion, c.1954 (ESB Archives, Dublin)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 23 January 2014

“Technical Memories (Part 68) – Down the Marina”

With plenty of opportunities for technological minded students and workers, the second of the ESB’s led projects in 1950s Cork was that that of the steam powered station on The Marina. Irish industry showed an overwhelming preference for electric power because of its availability, economy and convenience. The demand showed an increase of 49 million units in 1953 – an increase of 47 per cent in the number of units used by consumers connected under rural electrification and a figure which strongly demonstrated the necessity for such extra electrical power. The Irish Independent remarked; “Every day more and more farmers are making use of electricity for such everyday tasks as milking, churning, root pulping, grinding and so on. The farmer’s wife has a big welcome for such amenities as a cooker, washing machine, a kettle, an iron or a refrigerator, formerly available only to her city sister”. 

Up to the late 1940s, power came from Ardnacrusha, Pigeon House on the Liffey, and Alleywood or Portarlington. In the event of Ardnacrusha not operating for any reason, power had to be transmitted over long distance, which, experience had shown was an unsatisfactory arrangement. Before World War II, this possible difficulty was foreseen and plans were laid by the ESB for a Cork station. Owing to immediate post-war difficulties the preliminary work could not be undertaken until 1950, and the near completion of such a big undertaking in such as short space of time represented a ‘notable achievement’.

On 7 October 1954, the Irish Independent wrote about the Marina station near completion. Construction began in 1951. Operating from 1954, it fed electric power into the national network for use in homes, factories, streets, highways and farms throughout the south of Ireland. The station was the seventh power station to go into operation since the end of the war. For the preliminary development of the station two 30,000 kw steam turbo-generating sets were installed. These gave an annual estimated output of 240 million units per year. These turbines were the biggest in use in Ireland and were of the latest two-cylinder type and generated the electricity at 105kv. Transformers stepped up this figure to 110kv for easier transmission with minimum losses. A series of step-down transformers assisted in the ultimate delivery to the consumer at 220 volts. Steam was delivered to the two steam turbines at 850 F. The output from these sets was regulated from the station control room. Visual audible warning signs were given to the engineer in charge of the control room in the event of any fault developing in the plant. The station was linked to the central Load Despatch Office in Dublin.

The Marina Station occupied a commanding location on a 13 acre site facing Cork quays, its towering brick-fronted bulk was deemed as the Irish Independent noted as having a “pleasing architectural alignment with the extensive structures of adjacent industrial undertakings”. Surrounding it was Messrs Henry Ford and Son’s Motor assembly works, Dunlops Ltd rubber factory; and the mills, with their towering silos of the Cork Milling Co. Ltd and National Flour Mills Ltd. The selection of the Marina station site was influenced by its excellent access by road and the availability of deep-water wharfage for the unloading of coal and oil directly from ships.

There were many features of the new Marina station, which gave it a cutting technological status. It was the first of its kind to use both oil and coal for primary generation. The station’s fuel consumption was to be in the region of 120,000 tons of coal or 80,000 tons of oil. The reason that either coal or oil could be used to provide the necessary steam power was linked to cheaper operating costs. These fuels were competitive and the station was to operate on whichever was the cheaper at any given time.

The three huge boilers used in the station scored several notable ‘firsts’. They were the largest ever to be installed in Ireland and were of the very latest pattern; they were the first of their type to be used in Ireland for the generation of electricity. Capable of producing 600,000 lbs of steam per hour under normal operating conditions, they could rise to 660,000 lbs should the occasion demand.

In the event of coal being used it was unloaded at the wharf by a transporter crane capable of handing 120 tons an hour. This transporter delivered to bunkers beside the boilers or to the main coal yard, which could accommodate 60,000 tons of coal. A drag scaper distributed the coal around the yard and reloaded it on to the conveyors for transportation to the bunkers. Each boiler had a bunker capacity of 270 tons of coal which represented over a day’s storage –each boiler using about ten tons an hour. The coal from the bunkers fell onto weighers on the floor below and from there went to the ball-type mills which pulverised it. Hot air, blown through the mill, carried the pulverised coal away to the boilers where it ignited as it entered the furnace.

To be continued…

Captions:

725a. ESB Marina station, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy)