I live in an old industrial building in Manchester built around 1852. It's served various roles as far we know - a textiles factory, a suede works, a tanning works. Anyway, there's a huge piece of Mather & Platt equipment cemented into the wall and I've no idea what its purpose was. I think it was some kind of water pump, but I've no idea how it worked.
Can anyone shed any light?
I couldn't find anything painted the same colur as yours, but we've got a couple of Mather and Platt items in the Science Museum Group collection that look like they could be something similar?
Electric fire pump: https://collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/co8414500/body-of-mather-platt-electric-fire-pump-fire-pump-part
Valve from a sprinkler system: https://collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/co8414506/gate-valve-from-mather-and-platt-sprinkler-system-fire-pump-system-valve
Hope this gives you a clue to go on!
I would only be able to guess, but it does look as though it' s part of the old fire sprinkler system. It's painted red; fire control systems are often painted red. Those systems were something M&P were quite known for making, and if you look here at the drawing on the lower right, you can see a thing of similar shape as a part of such a system. I can't be sure of what it actually does- if there's an impeller shaft on the back side, unseen, it could be a pump like you say. But if the back is just a shallow dome like the front, the most obvious thing would be a diaphragm pressure regulator of some sort- albeit a very big one. The French text of the drawing indicates a control system.
