3-102-268 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Like great blocks of ice: part of the alum-block, or finishing, house, 1909. 'The Biggest Alum Factory in the World. Alum is of the greatest importance in numerous manufacturing processes. Without it, for instance, writing and printing paper would be but spongy substances, into which ink would sink as it sinks into blotting-paper...Alumino ferric has proved itself to be of the greatest efficacy in the purification of drinking-water. The addition of only 1½ grains to a gallon makes turbid and impure water clear and potable, so that the use of alumino ferric in India, South America, South Africa, and elsewhere has been followed by greatly improved health and a considerably reduced death-rate. In Great Britain alumino ferric has become an important factor in the purification of sewage, which it converts jnto an entirely innocuous effluent. In 1845 a new scientific method of extracting alum from coal-shale was discovered by Mr. Peter Spence, who two years later established in Manchester the chemical works for the working of his invention. It revolutionised the trade by producing alum of the greatest purity at half its previous cost. Peter Spence and Sons' have become the largest manufacturers of alum in the world.' From "Illustrated London News", 1909.