The Bâtiment des Forces motrices (BFM), French for "Power plant building", is the power house of a former hydro power plant and waterworks in Geneva called Usine des Forces Motrices, later Usine des Forces Motrices de la Coulouvrenière.
Bâtiment des Forces motrices in 2019
Jonval turbine wheel originating from the Usine des Forces Motrices shown in front of a former Escher Wyss & Cie. factory building in Zurich.
Interior of the powerhouse with the pumps.
A hydraulic power network is a system of interconnected pipes carrying pressurized liquid used to transmit mechanical power from a power source, like a pump, to hydraulic equipment like lifts or motors. The system is analogous to an electrical grid transmitting power from a generating station to end-users. Only a few hydraulic power transmission networks are still in use; modern hydraulic equipment has a pump built into the machine. In the late 19th century, a hydraulic network might have been used in a factory, with a central steam engine or water turbine driving a pump and a system of high-pressure pipes transmitting power to various machines.
Machell Street hydraulic pumping station in Hull, showing the water settling tank on the roof
The preserved pumping equipment in Wapping pumping station, which was owned by the London Hydraulic Power Company
The external hydraulic accumulator at Bristol Harbour