The Alexander Steam Engine
Discover the history of a steam engine with more than 130 years of history: its construction, its use and its heritage protection and restoration
The Alexander machine in 3D (2024)Museu de les Aigües
An award-winning restoration
In 2024, an interdisciplinary team from the group restored the Alexander steam machine. This work was recognized with the Bonaplata Award awarded by the Association of the Museum of Science and Technology and Industrial Archaeology of Catalonia, highlighting the rigor of the process and the prior study carried out to learn about and value the machine.
Illustration of the Alexander machine in an advertising catalogue of Alexander Hermanos (1890)Original Source: Arxiu Històric de la Ciutat de Barcelona
The manufacturer of this machine is Alexander Hermanos, a company created by the brothers David and Thomas Alexander. It was one of the main companies building steam engines in Catalonia between the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.
Its machinery was key to implementing water extraction and pumping systems everywhere, especially in Barcelona.
Manufacturing
The Alexander machine in the Museu de les Aigües was manufactured in 1894 to extract water from the Besòs aquifer in Santa Coloma de Gramenet through a well belonging to an irrigator community. Aigües de Barcelona would eventually buy the well, preserving the original machinery in the garden of the Central Cornellà.
Advertisement of Alexander Hermanos in Industria e Innovación (1890s)Original Source: Hemeroteca Nacional. Biblioteca Nacional de España
To learn about the history of the piece, exhaustive historical research has been carried out, which has allowed documents, news and advertising catalogues to be recovered.
Articles about the technologies of Alexander Hermanos in Crónica de la Industria (1880)Original Source: National Newspaper Archive. Biblioteca Nacional de España
The machine arrives in Barcelona
In Barcelona, its technology was implemented in projects such as the Llobregat Power Plant, the Besòs Water Tower or Pous de Montcada, all projects that were important for the water supply in Barcelona at the end of the 19th century.
Alexander machine of the Empresa Concesionaria de Aguas Subterráneas del Río Llobregat (1918)Original Source: Arxiu Nacional de Catalunya
The Empresa Concesionaria de Aguas Subterráneas del Río Llobregat in 1897 installed two Alexander steam engines of 200 horsepower each, which drove four pumps that in total could extract 14,000 cubic meters of water daily and raise the water to a height of 100 meters.
Alexander building of the Empresa Concesionaria de Aguas Subterráneas del Río LlobregatOriginal Source: Sociedad General de Aguas de Barcelona (SGAB) Archive
The Llobregat Power Plant, integrated into the Cornellà Water Plant in Barcelona, still preserves the building where the two Alexander machines were housed.
The extraction in the Besòs
In 1882, the Compañía General Anónima de Aguas de Barcelona, Ladera Derecha del Besós launched its project to extract water from the Besós aquifer using Alexander machines.
Besòs Water TowerMuseu de les Aigües
The imposing Torre de les Aigües del Besòs, which commemorates his association with Alexander Hermanos, also remains from this project. The tower was restored in 2011, with the support of Aigües de Barcelona.
Alexander machine from the Pous de Montcada in the Municipal Gazette (1910)Original Source: Arxiu Històric de la Ciutat de Barcelona
Aguas de Montcada, a company that supplied water to the Ciutat Vella area, also installed Alexander pumps in its extraction wells located in Montcada i Reixac in 1879.
Industrial water heritage
Today, Alexander machinery is part of the heritage complex of the Casa de les Aigües de Montcada i Reixac, where, in addition, boilers of the same brand can be seen.
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