Vertical Boiler

This boiler design is called a ‘vertical cross-tube boiler'. Pipes criss-cross the inside of the boiler. These pipes held the water to be turned into steam by the heat of the fire inside the stokehole. This is different to a Lancashire

boiler where the fire was inside the tubes and the water inside the shell of the boiler.

This particular boiler was used at Aberdeen Gasworks. It provided steam to power steam engines, mostly pumps. These pumps forced the dirty coal gas from the coke ovens of the gasworks through a series of tanks to clean it for use in homes and businesses and for street lighting.