1897 Chamber Building

The acid chamber building is 190 feet long and 72 feet wide with eaves 32 feet above the ground. There is a raised roof 8 feet wide and 3 feet high at the peak and it is indicated that the structure is 3 stories tall with the first story empty. A single story 18' x 50' office and engine room with eaves at 12 feet is on the end of the chamber building.

The acid chambers are voluminous lead walled rooms built on wooden frames and supported above the ground, in this case about 12 feet to match the single story eave height. If we assume that there are 10 foot walk ways around the entire interior of the chamber building for inspection purposes and that this is a three chamber process then the size of an individual cell could be 15 feet wide by 170 feet long. The height of the chamber can be estimated as 15 feet; 20 foot height of walls less 5 feet for the support frames. This calculates to be about 38,000 cubic feet per chamber which is well within the established specifications for these types of facilities.

As the acid collects in the bottom of each chamber it flows by gravity to storage tanks under the chambers. It is then pumped from the tanks to the Glover tower for concentration. The usual means employed for pumping the acid is compressed air, I speculate that the engine room has a steam driven compressor to provide this air for the entire acid facility.