Chap. VIII.
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above 23 feet: being brought to the intended cistern, on Michaelmas day, 1613, SirThomas Middleton, the brother of Mr. Hugh Middleton, being Lord Mayor, rode withmany worthy aldermen to see the first opening of the river into the cistern. Sixty of thelabourers were present with their tools, all habited well, and wearing green Monmouthcaps; the foreman delivered a speech, which embodied in verse an account of the obstaclesagainst which the projector had contended, and made honourable mention of the overseer,the clerk, the mathematician, the master of the timber-work, the measurer, the bricklayer,the engineer, the borer, and the pavior : after this was delivered, the whole went in proces-sion to the floodgates, which when opened, allowed the stream to flow’ gallantly into thecistern, amidst the sounds of drums and trumpets. Wooden mains were at first laiddown in the streets, and from them leaden pipes conveyed the water to the houses.
Stow also tells us that as early as 1580 a person of the name of Russel propounded tobring Istelworth or the Uxbridge river to London ; and that by a geometrical instrumenthe laid this scheme before Lord Burgley, whom be told in his paper, “ that he moved thisnot by skill or art of learning, which he did not profess, but only by an assured and infalliblygrounded consideration taken by the difference of the height of the said Uxbridge river atthe place or head appointed anti the river Thames , right below the same towards Lalam ;which was, he said, to be compared to the difference between the upper end of Ilolborn,which was a point of the new’ water, and Thames right against it below the Strand. Whichtiling rightly noted did show the easy possibility, and sufficient current to that place withdiscreet leading ; for that the country lay w r ell for that purpose, yet very dark, and seeminghard to all that took not with them the consideration aforesaid. So,” added he, “it hathpleased God to bestow this blessing, and to appoint me an instrument, in a time bestpleasing unto bis will, showing that in all ages, neither power, wisdom, learning, orstrength can perform an act until the time appointed, and the instrument to effect it."Lord Burgley w’as so pleased with the project, that “ he drew w’ith his own hand onRussel’s paper the river and the town adjacent, describing the river Istelw’orth and anotherriver, how they fell into Uxbridge river, and how that run by St. Giles.”
In the year 1591, the same historian tells us, that Frederick Genebelli, an Italian, pro-posed to establish water-works in London , which should cleanse all the filthy ditches, andafford to the inhabitants a plentiful supply of wholesome water.
The works before alluded to, and first established at London Bridge by Peter Maurice,were erected near the first arch on the north side, after a lease had been granted him bythe city. They consisted of a water-wheel w'orked by means of the tide ; by this motiona number of force-pumps raised the necessary quantity of water to the top of a w r oodenbuilding, where a cistern, elevated 120 feet, allowed it to flow by numerous leaden pipesinto the dwelling-houses of Thames , Gracechurch, and New Fish Streets, as far also as theStandard in Cornhill: from the latter place it was again conducted by four other leadenpipes to Bishopsgate, Aldgate, the Bridge, and Wallbrook.
The highest point at which the water was delivered was the Standard in Cornhill; andthe quantity thrown up by this first simple machinery of Maurice was estimated at3,170,000 imperial barrels per annum, or an average quantity of 216 gallons per minute;the wheel working 16 pumps, each 7 inches in diameter, and having a stroke of 30. Ma-chinery of a similar kind was put up in the other arches, and also on the Southwark sideof the river, for the use of the inhabitants of that district.
Mr. Beighton, in the Philosophical Transactions , gives us some account of the state ofthese works as they existed in the year 1731. At that time the water-wheels whichdrove the pumps were placed under the arches of the bridge, and moved by the currentof the stream; the dimensions were, 19 feet for the length of the axle, the diameterof which was 3 feet; there were eight rings to each, four arms, twenty-six floats, thelength of which was 14 feet, and the depth 18 inches. These axles turned on twogudgeons in brasses, or two large levers, which were placed in a horizontal position, andtherefore supported the weight of the wheel, which, by means of the levers, might l>emade to rise or fall with the tide in the following manner. The levers were 16 feetlong, divided by the fulcrum at 10 feet from one end and 6 feet from the other. At theextremity was a sector or arc of a circle, described from the fulcrum of the lever, and tothe bottom of this arch was fixed a long triple chain, similar to that of a watch ; but thelinks were arched to a circle of 12 inches in diameter, with notches or teeth to take hold ofthe leaves of a pinion of cast-iron, 10 inches in diameter, with eight teeth, moving on anaxis, fixed up over the arch at a considerable height; the chain went up to the pinion andturned over it. To the loose end of this chain was attached a large weight, to counterpoisethe great weight of the water-wheel, which prevented the chain from sliding on the pinion.On the same axis as the pinion was a cog-wheel 6 feet in diameter, with forty-eight cogs.To this was applied a trundle or pinion with six teeth ; and upon the same axis was fixed asecond cog-wheel of fifty-one cogs, turned by a trundle of six rounds, on the axis of whichwas a winch or windlass. The other lever was provided with a similar chain and wheel-work ; and the axis of the last mentioned trundle was prolonged until the two winches
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