Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 07.djvu/321

LEFT PIPE CLAY 255 PIQUET PIPE CLAY, a variety of clay adapted by its plasticity and freedom from impurities for the manufacture of pipes. PIPE FISH, a popular name for any individual of the family Syngnathidse. Siphonostoviata typhle is the broad- nosed pipefish; Nerophis sequoreus, the ocean pipefish; N. lumhriciformis, the worm, or little pipefish; and N. ophidion, the straight-nosed pipefish. PIPE LINE, one of the most remark- able of modern devices for lessening the cost of transportation of petroleum. At first the crude oil was transported from the wells to the refineries on barges and flatboats. Later, railroads obtained much of this business. About 1870 wooden tank cars were displaced by cars with tanks constructed of boiler iron. These tank cars are still in use to a large extent. The practicability of a line of tubing was suggested by Gen. S. D. Kams of Parkersburg, W. Va. In 1872 a Mr. Hutchinson laid down a short line of pipe on the siphon principle from the Tarr farm to the first refinery erected in the oil country at Plumer. In 1875 the first successful pipe line was laid by Samuel Van Sycle from Pithole to Miller's farm. Next came an effort to construct a pipe line from the wells to the seaboard, and in 1875 the Pennsyl- vania Transportation Company was au- thorized to construct a pipe line from the oil regions to tide water. Generally, to avoid the extremes of heat and cold, the pipes are buried under the surface of the ground about two feet. They are laid on a bee line, and follow the face of the country to tide water. The pumping stations are located at central points in the valleys along the various lines. Each pipe line section is patrolled by a lineman, and the smallest leakages are quickly detected and righted. To re- move sediment and other deposits an automatic scraper is introduced into the pipes, the oil pressure forcing the scrap- er along from one station to the next, the sound of its travel being thoroughly audible to the lineman who follows it in its passage. PIPING CROW, the Gymnorhina tibi- cen, a bird from New South Wales. It has great powers of mimicry; called also the flute player. Also the Gymnorhinnse, a sub-family of Corvidx, with five genera. PIPPIN, a name given to several va- rieties of apples. Normandy pippins are apples dried in the sun and stored for winter use. PIQUA, a city of Ohio in Miami co., about 70 miles N. W. of Columbus. It is on the Miami river, the Miami and Erie canal, the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton, the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis, and the Western Ohio railroads. Among its important edifices are a library. Federal Building, and Ball Memorial Hospital. The city has important industries including sheet steel works, iron works, stove works, woolen mills, etc. Pop. (1910) 13,388; (1920) 15,044. PIQUE, a French material, made of two cotton threads, one thicker than the other, which are woven, and united at certain points, and there made an extra thickness. PIQUET, a game of cards played be- tween two persons with 32 cards — viz. the four honors and the highest four plain cards of each suit. The cards are shuffled and cut as in whist, and then dealt, two by two, till each player has 12, and the remaining eight, called the "talon," or stock, are then laid on the table. The first player must then dis- card from one to five of his cards, replac- ing them with a similar number from the talon; and after him the younger hand may discard if he pleases, similarly making up his proper number from the remaining cards of the talon. The play- er who first scores 100 wins the game, and the score is made up by reckoning in the following order: carte-blanche, the point, the sequence, the quatorze, the cards, and the capot. "Carte-blanche" is a hand of 12 plain cards, and counts 10 for the player who possesses it. The "point" is the greatest number of cards in any suit, or, if the players are equal in this respect, that which is highest in value (the ace counting 11, each court card 10, and the plain cards according to the number of pips), and counts a number equal to the number of cards in the suit. The "sequence" is a regular succession of three or more cards in one suit, and the highest sequence (t. e., the one containing the greatest number of cards, or, if the players have sequences equal in this respect, the one of the two which begins with the highest card), if of three cards, counts three; of four cards, four; of five cards, 15; of six cards, 16; etc. The "quatorze" is a set of ^ four equal cards, (not lower than tens), as four aces, four queens, etc., and the highest quatorze counts 14 for its hold- er; but should neither player have a quatorze, then the highest set of three is counted instead, but it reckons only three. The possessor of the highest se- quence or _ the _ highest quatorze also counts all inferior sequences and qua- ' torzes (including sets of three) ; while his opponent's sequences and quatorzes go for nothing.