PINION AND REDUCTION GEAR

The beam protrudes from the east side of the beam engine house which is attached to a connecting rod which drove the first motion shaft.

This connecting rod is linked to a crank which drove a shaft containing a 17 feet diameter flywheel along with a 4 feet pinion and 9 feet reduction gear as seen in the animation below.

The engine drove two gears, one of these ran at engine speed, the other, larger one, ran at roughly half this speed, and drove the pump rods in the shaft via a horizontal connecting rod and 'Tee' bob. This Tee Bob, (situated on the edge of the up-cast pit.) gave a rocking motion which operated 190 yards of spears [ Pump-rods } hanging down the pit. These were connected to the ram of a water pump.

The water was being pumped up in two stages at between 9 and 12 thousand gallons per hour. The pumped water came to within 85 yards of the surface, through 6-inch pipes where it ran away through a tunnel to a watercourse in the bottom of a nearby valley.

The counterbalance 'Ballast Box' contained around 5 and a half tons of scrap iron to counterbalance the weight of the spears in the shaft. The spears [ pump - rods ]were lengths of timber of up to 20 feet long (Red Deal) that were joined together and reinforced with metal straps.