Dock Tower

Grimsby Dock Tower is a hydraulic accumulator tower and a maritime landmark at the entrance to the Royal Dock, Grimsby, in North East Lincolnshire, England. It was completed on 27 March 1852 with the purpose of containing a 30,000-imperial-gallon (140,000 L) reservoir at a height of 200 feet (61 m), that was used to provide hydraulic power to power the machinery of the Grimsby Docks. The extreme height of the tower was necessary to achieve sufficient pressure, and as a result of this, the tower can be seen for several miles around, even far inland on the north bank of the River Humber in villages such as Patrington.

The tower was built to provide water pressure to power the hydraulic machinery (for cranes, lock gates and sluices) at the Grimsby Docks. The tower was built to carry a tank 200 feet (61 m) above the ground with a direct feed into the machinery. Small pumps topped up the tank as the hydraulic machinery drew off water. The tower system was brought into use in 1852 working the machinery of the lock gates, dry-docks and fifteen quayside cranes, and also to supply fresh water to ships and the dwelling houses on the dock premises. The water was obtained from a well, 15 ft (4.6 m) in diameter and 47 ft (14 m) deep, with a boring of 5 in (130 mm) in diameter to the chalk rock in the centre, situated near to where the Grimsby Evening Telegraph has its present offices. The well was also fed by seven borings of 5 in (130 mm) in diameter, at intervals in a length of 300 ft (91 m), which discharged into the well by a brick culvert 3 ft (0.91 m) in diameter.

Water was conveyed from the well to the tower in a cast iron pipe thirteen inches in diameter when it was then forced into the tank by two force pumps, each of ten inches in diameter, worked by a duplicate, horizontal engine of twenty-five horse power. All the engines, pumps and pipes and the whole of the machinery were made by Mr Mitchell of the Perran Foundry, Cornwall.

During the building of the tower, Armstrong developed another system using weighted accumulators, which at once was found to have great advantages. The working hydraulic pressure was greater, permitting more compact and cheaper machinery and everything was at ground level. The first such installation was at New Holland dock and pier, actually brought into use more than a year before the Grimsby system.

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