2 CONSTRUCTION AND MANAGEMENT OF SMALL GASWORKS. 



additional departments of slot meter work and maintenance 

 of incandescent burners to take in hand. But in works 

 appreciably below this limit, the practical part falls to the 

 lot of a man who also acts as head stoker and yardman, 

 whilst the bookkeeping and collecting are undertaken by a 

 local solicitor or public accountant, or by some tradesman, 

 as a spare time occupation. The so-called working 

 " manager " is really more of a works foreman, being in no 

 sense the manager of the company's affairs, but simply of the 

 gasworks. It is in this sense that the word " small " is used 

 in the title, and it is to undertakings running on such lines 

 that the following remarks are addressed. 



The number of these " small " works is larger than would 

 at first sight be supposed. According to THE GAS WORLD 

 Directory for 1910, there are some 450 undertakings in the 

 United Kingdom making 5,000,000 cubic feet per annum, or 

 less. And while a great amount of matter bearing on the con- 

 struction and management of gasworks issues from the Press 

 in the course of a twelvemonth, a very small proportion indeed 

 is addressed to the special requirements of this class. The 

 phenomenally large works, so large that not more than a 

 very small percentage of readers are likely to have similar 

 experience in practice, gets more than a fair share of atten- 

 tion, while the small one suffers as a consequence. 



My first experience of a small gasworks dates back more 

 than forty years, but I can well remember the feelings of 

 self-satisfaction with which I received instructions to pro- 

 ceed to a certain works and attend to matters that would 

 occupy two or three days. The railway journey, and the 

 first night in an hotel, both carry considerable importance to 

 a lad fresh from school. And since that time, in one way 

 and another, the small gasworks has always been present 

 with me, and I have been more or lest responsible for the 



