Toronto Water Works
The Bawden Machine Company
John T Hepburn Ltd
St Lawrence Foundry
Kerr & Coombes Foundry
McCoy Foundry Company

The Toronto Water Works Hydrants

Text courtesy Stuart Niven, ©2002

The very first water system in the city of Toronto was installed and maintained by a private company, The Toronto Gas, Light & Water Company in 1843. Water was distributed through a system of wooden pipes to those who could afford the cost.

At the same time there was another private company called "Furniss Works" who provided water to the public from 1843 to 1873. Their main purpose was to provide water for firefighting and they were unable to keep up with the public demand for water.

Toronto water distribution was in shambles for many years after that.

In 1872, Toronto City Council passed an act which allowed them to take over the existing private water companies and form their own publicly administered water works service. It was in 1873 that Toronto Water Works Company was born. Some time around 1890 the City of Toronto, along with their public company TWW, decided to have some fire hydrants manufactured for them. The TWW hydrant was made in the Kerr & Coombes Foundry in Hamilton Ontario.

It is unknown when this foundry was first opened but is known to have existed at least as far back as 1845. Back then the grey iron was poured into moulds made of bank sands from the local area.

In 1945 Harry McCoy purchased Kerr & Coombes and it became known as The McCoy Foundry Company. McCoy must have honoured the relationship that the previous owners of the foundry had with the City of Toronto. This seems reasonable since McCoy Foundry continued to manufacture the TWW hydrant until around 1968. The McCoy Foundry Company still exists today in Troy Ontario, where they moved in 1970.

In 1953 the City of Toronto became known as Metro Toronto and their water company became The Metro Toronto Works Department. Then just recently, in 1998, the surrounding municipalities of Toronto were amalgamated into a "mega-city" and the various works departments were combined to form The Toronto Works and Emergency Services.

There are known to be 15,000 TWW hydrants in Toronto today, and they are slowly being retrofitted by the city to meet current standards. One of the interesting aspects of TWW hydrants made after 1910 is that the two-way versions were cast with an option for a pumper nozzle. Others were made from the start as 3 way hydrants with a 4" pumper nozzle. The existing two way versions have in recent years been converted to 3 way models, the cast "boss" for the pumper nozzle has been drilled out and threaded. A Universal Flow Engineering 100 mm Storz nozzle connection was then treaded into the hole.

Additionally, there were some 3 way configurations where all ports were 2 1/2" hose nozzles. There was also a high pressure water main in Toronto at one time, and that line had high pressure TWW hydrants connected to it. These hydrants look the same as the standard pressure TWW hydrant, but were overall larger bodied hydrants.

The mega-city must be proud of their hydrants to spend the time and money to modify them, and preserve them this long. It must surely be cheaper to replace them with new ones?

If you have any additional information about the Kerr & Coombes Foundry, The McCoy Foundry Company, The Bawden Machine Company, John T Hepburn Ltd, St Lawrence Foundry, or the Toronto Water Works type hydrants --- such as an old advertisement, old records at your water agency, a photo of a hydrant model not shown here, etc. --- please send us an E-mail.


Click photos to enlarge

  Integral Bonnet Types

  Type 1
  • Note the skinny upper barrel, thinner barrel boss lips, 2 ridges on bonnet; very likely produced by St. Lawrence Foundry.
  • Canadian hydrant historian Stuart Niven believes these were made between the years 1870 and 1899.
  • Photo of TWW hydrant
    1667
    Nozzles: 2x 2.5"
    Size: ? V.O.
    © 2002 Stuart Niven

      Internally Gated Model
    Photo of TWW 3-way hydrant
    1958
    Nozzles: 4x 2.5"
    internally gated
    Size: ? V.O.
    Dated:1898.
    Mfg: St Lawrence Foundry
    Notes: Toronto Water Works collection.

    © 2003 Michael J. Vacanti

      Type 2
  • Note the fatter upper barrel, thicker barrel boss lips, 3 ridges on bonnet, very likely produced after 1899 by ?
  • Photo of TWW hydrant Photo of TWW hydrant
    2486
    Nozzles: 2x 2.5",
    Size: ? V.O.
    © J. Kaminski
    1960
    Nozzles: 2x 2.5", 1x 4"
    Size: ? V.O.
    Dated: 1909
    Notes: Toronto Water Works hydrant collection.
    © 2003 Michael J. Vacanti

      Bolted Bonnet Types
      Type 2b - Retrofitted with bonnet flanges.
  • At some point a removeable bonnet was desired. On these examples the one-piece integral bonnet was ground perfectly round, then a flange was fitted and brazed to the barrel, to give these hydrants a bolted removable bonnet similar to the later Type 3 hydrants shown below. These hydrants still have the 'lip' at the end of each hose nozzle boss.
  • Two-way examples of this type hydrant can be with a blank nozzle boss on the barrel, which allows for machining a threaded bore to retrofit a steamer port.
  • Believed to be an innovation that came after the Type 3 listed below, perhaps as late as 1950. Known examples all have hex head bonnet bolts, versus the square heads of the Type 3 hydrants.
  • Photo of TWW 3-way hydrant Photo of TWW hydrant
    1693
    Nozzles: 2x 2.5", 1x 100mm Storz
    Size: ? V.O.
    Dated:1910.
    Notes: UFE Storz 100mm
    retrofit.

    © 2002 Stuart Niven
    1668
    Nozzles: 2x 2.5"
    Size: ? V.O.
    Dated: ?

    © 2002 Stuart Niven

      Type 3 - Bolted Bonnet Hydrants
  • These hydrants were cast with removable bonnets in mind.
  • On this type, the hose nozzle bosses are smooth, the 'lip' has been eliminated.

  • Photo of TWW hydrant Photo of TWW hydrant Photo of TWW hydrant Photo of TWW hydrant Photo of TWW hydrant
    1937
    Nozzles: 2x 2.5"
    Size: ? V.O.
    Dated: 1931
    Mfg: The Bawden Machine Co
    © 2004 Eugene Newbry
    2481
    Nozzles: 2x 2.5"
    Size: ? V.O.
    Dated: ?

    © Stuart Niven
    1959
    Nozzles: 2x 2.5", 1x 4"
    Size: ? V.O.
    Dated: 1931.
    Notes: Toronto Water Works collection.
    © 2003 Michael J. Vacanti
    2482
    Nozzles: 2x 2.5", 1x 3"
    Size: ? V.O.
    Dated: ?

    © Stuart Niven
    1938
    Nozzles: 2x 2.5", 1x 100mm Storz
    Size: ? V.O.
    Dated: ?
    Mfg: John T Hepburn, Ltd.
    © 2003 Michael J. Vacanti

      Type 3 - TYWW Embossing
  • Hose nozzle bosses are smooth, the 'lip' has been eliminated.
  • Manufactured by John T. Hepburn.
  • Photo of TWW hydrant
    2483
    Nozzles: 2x 2.5"
    Size: ? V.O.
    Dated: ?

    © Stuart Niven

      Type 3 - NYTWW Embossing
  • Hose nozzle bosses are smooth
  • Photo of TWW hydrant
    2484
    Nozzles: 2x 2.5", 1x 3"
    Size: ? V.O.
    Dated: ?

    © Stuart Niven

      Kerr Type
  • Kerr Engine Works style hydrant.
  • Bawden Machine is one manufacturer of this type hydrant for the city of Toronto.
  • <
    Photo of TWW hydrant Photo of TWW hydrant
    2485
    Nozzles: 2x 2.5"
    Size: ? V.O.
    Dated: 1950

    © Stuart Niven
    Close-up of the TWW logo on a hydrant in the city of Toronto


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