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 pipes have been found preferable to cast-iron. He says that it had been demonstrated by practice that cast-iron cannot compete with wrought-iron or steel pipes in the states west of the Rocky Mountains, on the Pacific slope. This is due to the absence of coal and iron ore in these states, and to the weight of the imported cast-iron pipes compared with steel pipes of equal capacity and strength. The works of the East Jersey Water Company for the supply of Newark, N.J., include a riveted steel conduit 48 in. in diameter and 21 m. long. This conduit is designed to resist only the pressure due to the hydraulic gradient, in contradistinction to that which would be due to the hydrostatic head, this arrangement saving 40% in the weight and cost of the pipes. For the supply of Rochester, N.Y., there is a riveted steel conduit 36 in. in diameter and 20 m. long; and for Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, there is a steel conduit 5 ft. in diameter and nearly 10 m. long. The works for bringing the water from La Vigne and Verneuil to Paris include a steel main 5 ft. in diameter between St. Cloud and Paris.

Cast-iron pipes rarely exceed 48 in. in diameter, and even this diameter is only practicable where the pressure of the water is low. In the Thirlmere aqueduct the greatest pressure is nearly 180 ℔ on the square inch, the pipes where this occurs being 40 in. in diameter and 1 in. thick. These large pipes, which are usually made in lengths of 12 ft., are generally cast with a socket at one end for receiving the spigot end of the next pipe, the annular space being run with lead, which is prevented from flowing into the interior of the pipe by a spring ring subsequently removed; the surface of the lead is then caulked all round the outside of the pipe. A wrought-iron ring is sometimes shrunk on the outer rim of the socket, previously turned to receive it, in order to strengthen it against the wedging action of the caulking tool. Sometimes the pipes are cast as plain tubes and joined with double collars, which are run with lead as in the last case. The reason for adopting the latter type is that the stresses set up in the thicker metal of the socket by unequal cooling are thereby avoided, a very usual place for pipes to crack under pressure being at the back of the socket. The method of turning and boring a portion, slightly tapered, of spigot and socket so as to ensure a watertight junction by close annular metallic contact, is not suitable for large pipes, though very convenient for smaller diameters in even ground. Spherical joints are sometimes used where a line of main has to be laid under a large river or estuary, and where, therefore, the pipes must be jointed before being lowered into the previously dredged trench. This was the case at the Willamette river, Portland, Oregon, where a length of 2000 ft. was required. The pipes are of cast-iron 28 in. in diameter, 1 in. thick, and 17 ft. long. The spigots were turned to a spherical surface of 20 in. radius outside, the inside of the sockets being of a radius 3⁄8 in. greater. After the insertion of the spigot into the socket, a ring, 3 in. deep, turned inside to correspond with the socket, was bolted to the latter, the annular space then being run with lead. These pipes were laid on an inclined cradle, one end of which rested on the bed of the river and the other on a barge where the jointing was done; as the pipes were jointed the barge was carefully advanced, thus trailing the pipes into the trench (Trans. Am. Soc. C. E. vol. xxxiii. p. 257). As may be conjectured from the pressure which they have to stand, very great care has to be taken in the manufacture and handling of cast-iron pipes of large diameter, a care which must be unfailing from the time of casting until they are jointed in their final position in the ground. They are cast vertically, socket downwards, so that the densest metal may be at the weakest part, and it is advisable to allow an extra head of metal of about 12 in., which is subsequently cut off in a lathe. An inspector representing the purchaser watches every detail of the manufacture, and if, after being measured in every part and weighed, they are found satisfactory they are proved with internal fluid pressure, oil being preferable to water for this purpose. While under pressure, they are rapped from end to end with a hand hammer of about 5 ℔ in weight, in order to discover defects. The wrought-iron rings are then, if required, shrunk on to the sockets, and the pipes, after being made hot in a stove, are dipped vertically in a composition of pitch and oil, in order to preserve them from corrosion. All these operations are performed under cover. A record should be kept of the history of the pipe from the time it is cast to the time it is laid and jointed in the ground, giving the date, number, diameter, length, thickness, and proof pressure, with the name of the pipe-jointer whose work closes the record. Such a history sometimes enables the cause (which is often very obscure) of a burst in a pipe to be ascertained, the position of every pipe being recorded.

Cast-iron pipes, even when dipped in the composition referred to, suffer considerably from corrosion caused by the water, especially soft water, flowing through them. One pipe may be found in as good a condition as when made, while the next may be covered with nodules of rust. The effect of the rust is twofold; it reduces the area of the pipe, and also, in consequence of the resistance offered by the rough surface, retards the velocity of the water. These two results, expecially the latter, may seriously diminish the capability of discharge, and they should always be allowed for in deciding the diameter. Automatic scrapers are sometimes used with good results, but it is better to be independent of them as long as possible. In one case the discharge of pipes, 40 in. in diameter, was found after a period of about twelve years to have diminished at the rate of about 1% per year; in another case, where the water was soft and where the pipes were 40 in. in diameter, the discharge was diminished by 7% in ten years. An account of the state of two cast-iron mains supplying Boston with water is given in the ''Trans. Am. Soc. C. E.'' vol. xxxv. p. 241. These pipes, which were laid in 1877, are 48 in. in diameter and 1800 ft. long. When they were examined in 1894-1895, it was estimated that the tubercles of rust covered nearly one-third of the interior surfaces, the bottom of the pipe being more encrusted than the sides and top. They had central points of attachment to the iron, at which no doubt the coating was defective, and from them the tubercles spread over the surface of the surrounding coating. In this case they were removed by hand, and the coating of the pipes was not injured in the process. Cast-iron pipes must not be laid in contact with cinders from a blast furnace with which roads are sometimes made, because these corrode the metal. Mr Russell Aitken (Proc. Inst. C. E. vol. cxv. p. 93) found in India that cast-iron pipes buried in the soil rapidly corroded, owing to the presence of nitric acid secreted by bacteria which attacked the iron. The large cast-iron pipes conveying the water from the Tansa reservoir to Bombay are laid above the surface of the ground. Cast-iron pipes of these large diameters have not been in existence sufficiently long to enable their life to be predicted. A main, 40 in. in diameter, conveying soft water, after being in existence fifty years at Manchester, was apparently as good as ever. In 1867 Mr J. B. Francis found that no apparent deterioration had taken place in a cast-iron main, 8 in. diameter, which was laid in the year 1828, a period of thirty-nine years (Trans. Soc. Am. C. E. vol. i. p. 26). These two instances are probably not exceptional.

Pipes in England are usually laid with not less than 2 ft. 6 in. of cover, in order that the water may not be frozen in a severe winter. Where they are laid in deep cutting they should be partly surrounded with concrete, so that they may not be fractured by the weight of earth above them. Angles are turned by means of special bend pipes, the curves being made of as large a radius as convenient. In the case of the Thirlmere aqueduct, double socketed castings about 12 in. long (exclusive of the sockets) were used, the sockets being inclined to each other at the required angle. They were made to various angles, and for any particular curve several would be used connected by straight pipes 3 ft. long. As special castings are nearly double the price of the regular pipes, the cost was much diminished by making them as short as possible, while a curve, made up of the slight angles used, offered practically no more impediment to the flow of water in consequence of its polygonal form, than would be the case had special bend pipes been used. In all cases of curves on a line of pipes under internal fluid pressure, there exists a resultant force tending to displace the pipes. When the curve is in a horizontal plane and the pipes are buried in the ground, the side of the pipe trench offers sufficient resistance to this force. Where, however, the pipes are above ground, or when the curve is in a vertical plane, it is necessary to anchor them in position. In the case of the Tansa aqueduct to Bombay, there is a curve of 500 ft. radius near Bassein Creek. At this point the hydrostatic head is about 250 ft., and the engineer, Mr Clerke, mentions that a tendency to an outward movement of the line of pipes was observed. At the siphon under Kurla Creek the curves on the approaches as originally laid down were sharp, the hydrostatic head being there about 210 ft.; here the outward movement was so marked that it was considered advisable to realign the approaches with easier curves (Proc. Inst. C. E. vol. cxv. p. 34). In the case of the Thirlmere aqueduct the greatest hydrostatic pressure, 410 ft., occurs at the bridge over the river Lune, where the pipes are 40 in. in diameter, and in descending from the bridge make reverse angles of 31°. The displacing force at each of these angles amounts to 54 tons, and as the design includes five lines of pipes, it is obvious that the anchoring arrangements must be very efficient. The steel straps used for anchoring these and all other bends were curved to fit as closely as possible the castings to be anchored. Naturally the metal was not in perfect contact, but when the pipes were charged the disappearance of all the slight inequalities showed that the straps were fulfilling their intended purpose. At every summit on a line of pipes one or more valves must be placed in order to allow the escape of air, and they must also be provided on long level stretches, and at changes of gradient where the depth of the point of change below the hydraulic gradient is less than that at both