Posts fromEric Nordgren

After removal from the port Worthington pump steam chest, the packing material mentioned in the last post was largely complete and retained the shape of the cavity it was pressed into. Examination under a microscope at 100x magnification revealed that the individual fibers are translucent and have a twist or ‘convolution’. There is also an absence of the scales present on animal derived fibers such as wool. Quite a bit of dirt or other particulate matter can also be seen. Our first conclusion is that the packing material is a type of cotton fiber, possibly with additives to improve its sealant properties. Stay tuned for more details soon!

Last week Will and Eric were preparing to photograph the steam chest fromMonitor’s port Worthington Pump. This component houses the slide valve which fed steam from the boilers to drive the pump’s steam piston. Noticing that the valve rod packing seal fitting appeared to have loosened up during treatment, they were able to remove it intact and discovered that the fibrous packing material was still inside. The organic packing material, which resembles a tightly twisted rope, was wound around the wrought iron valve rod and packed tightly into a packing chamber. It may have been treated with lead or some type of natural oil or tallow to improve the sealing properties. When the pump was functioning on theMonitor, this material would have kept the steam sealed inside where it could do the most work, and prevented waste of valuable boiler pressure. This find is exciting! Although we know there were a number of packing seals used on theMonitor, this is the first one we have found intact! Look for more on the packing material soon!