Page:New York subway ventilation.djvu/34

32 filled the tube in which they ran. Since neither of these conditions are met in the old, or the new, subways this "scheme" should be absolutely disregarded.

In passing, it might be well to note that in the under-water sections of some subways—such as the "Hudson tubes" where both of the above requirements are almost completely met—this so-called "piston" action has not been relied upon to produce the admittedly very excellent ventilating results which therein obtain—but there have been installed in addition at one terminal of these tubes, powerful fans which discharge the subway air into a great chimney of considerable height.

Ventilation Logic

Attention is now called to the following fundamental contentions in regard to the subways of New York City as now built, as now building, or as to be built:

(1) Adequate mechanical ventilation of any subway is absolutely essential to safety and comfort of passengers and incidentally attracts traffic and insures profits.

(2) Subways elsewhere are adequately ventilated by mechanical, that is, fan methods.

(3) The subways of New York City never have been, and are not now, adequately ventilated, either on the score of passenger safety, comfort or profits.

(4) The subways of New York City can be adequately ventilated by means of fans driven by electric motors taking current from a source of power other than that for train propulsion.

(5) The problem of mechanically ventilating all the subways of New York City which now faces the City authorities, the Public Service Commission, the Interborough Rapid Transit Co., the New York Municipal Railway Co. and the Public—is wholly a question of which one of the many plans proposed for so ventilating the subways shall be adopted.

Skeleton Specification

The system herewith outlined is well and fully comprehended under the title of "sectionalized," or "piece-meal," ventilation.

Primarily this system requires (in addition to electric fans and power cables which are an inseparable part of any adequate mechanical system of ventilation) nothing more costly or complex than the specified "air-lock" doors and, either some comparatively slight additions to, or alterations of, the subway ("kiosk") entrances, or the alternative installation of light air-tight structural partitions at the station plat- forms.