Gas Holder at Bethnal Green

W.G.V. Balchin (Consultant Editor).  The Country Life Book of the Living History of England.  Country Life Books, 1981.

Also known as gasometers, these devices stored large volumes of coal gas through the use of telescoping vessels located inside each other. As the gas volume increased, the vessels would rise, and the gas would push each vessel up until it triggered the release of the vessel above it, and so on.  Imagine inverted nesting cups stacked on top of each other.  The illustration above shows the outer support beams for the vessels.

Out of use since the 1960's, 76 of these Victorian structures in England and 111 in Scotland are slated for demolition to make room for housing.