An art gallery is one of the less likely places to find an industrial gear pump. However, an Albany 1/2in AP4* gear pump was used to power one of the exhibits in a show at the Tate Gallery, Liverpool. The piece, by Bolton-born Janet Hodgson, contrasted a 2m cube of white sugar with a constant trickle of black molasses, the residue from sugar refining, running from the ceiling into a tray. The intention was to make reference to the Gallery’s former life as a bonded warehouse.
Albany was able to meet the artist’s variable, low flow specification by running the pump at 112 revs/min, with a screw-down valve on the delivery, governed by a relief valve return to the molasses drum.
You can read more about the exhibition here: Tate Exhibition
*this pump has now been recategorised and called the GA-040
