Reavell Compressor
Iris and I were wandering around 213 Stirling Rd in Toronto, the former Moloney Transformer Factory, now converted to trendy new studio-type offices. This huge 2 cylinder compressor occupies a place in the hallway as a decoration, possibly because it was too much bother to move. Of course we stopped to play with it, both it and the motor still turn easily, the compressor still pumps air. A couple of belts, a lot of electricity and it could be supplying air to a workshop.
Reavell started building steam engines in Ipswich in 1897, in 1900 they showed their first electrically powered compressor. The company was sold to international Compressed Air Corporation in 1969 and is still in business today as part of Gardiner Denver.
213 Stirling Road, 1980
2 comments:
Nothing to do with the generator, but it looks like that the new office block is the first redevelopment in that area for a long, long time.
That is one of the last gentrifying industrial areas in Toronto, and it's near the subway line. Across the street in a turn-of-the-last century office tower (the first in the British Empire elevator install) apparently is an art museum, next building has a craft brewer, there are still a couple of working factories, and the empty land will soon be a blot-on-the-landscape housing development. The artists etc that made it attractive are being priced out of the area. Same old story... but better than large abandoned industrial areas for sure.
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