Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/139

 ‘ 4 Fes. 9, 1872. from Ludgate-circus to Holborn-circus), will be unani- mous, I believe, as to its suitability for foot-pavements. Again, if, in London, land is so costly that the work- ing-classes must of necessity be cooped up in such places as ‘* Frying-pan-alley” and ‘“ Bit-alley,” Cow- eross (which, by-the-bye, I do not admit), some amelioration of the sanitary condition of such abodes of filth and misery might, I think, be brought about by having the surfaces of the courts and alleys paved with this asphalte, which has a smooth surface, is non- porous, and is free from joints, thereby rendering it in- capable of affording such a lodgment to decaying organic and vegetable matter asis the case with the joints and uneven surface of the materials—too often nothing but stoneyard refuse—ordinarily used; moreover, this smooth surface is capable of being easily and effectually washed down with water at regular intervals, and its non-porosify will prevent the percolation of offensive matter into the soil beneath. Again, and for the reasons just adduced, I cannot but think that a very valuable use to which this asphalte might be put is the paving of backyards of not only the poorer class of tenements, but of the yardsattached to all kinds of dwell- ings, the mansion included ; for these purposes, as well as for the paving of wash-houses, sculleries, &c., [ think it is unquestionable that asphalte offers great advantages from a sanitary point of view. Trusting, sir, that some of your numerous corre- spondents will think over these points, and supplement my remarks with such hints and suggestions as they may be able to throw out, Lam, sir, &c., Walworth, February 3, 1872. ae THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. T the meeting of this Institution on Tuesday, the 6th of February, 1872, Mr. T. E. Harrison, vice-President, in the chair, thirty candidates were balloted for and declared to be duly elected, including eight members—yiz.: Mr. Howard Aston Allport, Inspecting Engineer, Bedford and Northampton Rail way, Bedford; Mr. William Barrington, Limerick ; Mr. John Elliott, Chief Inspector of Machinery and Traction on the Florence Railway, Leghorn; Mr. William John Galwey, District Engineer. East Indian Railway; Mr. George Henry Hill, Manchester; Mr. George Robert Jebb, Chief Engineer of the Shrop- shire Union Railways and Canals; Mr. Alexander M‘Donnell, M.A., Locomotive Engineer of the Great Southern and Western (of Ireland) Railway; and Mr. Daniel Pryce, Resident Engineer of part of the Great Eastern Railway Company’s Metropolitan Extensions. Twenty-two gentlemen were elected associates—viz. : Mr. John Walker Balmain, Government Reclamation Works, Bombay ; Mr. James William Butler, Willes- den; Mr. Samuel Carrington, Engineering Staff of the East Indian Railway: Mv. Henry Chapman, Paris; Mr. John Cleghorn, late Secretary of the North Eastern Railway Company; Mr. Alfred Dowson, Westminster; Mr. Whately Eliot, Weymouth ; Mr. Richard Hammersley Heenan, Executive Engi- neer of the Bhawulpore State; Colonel James Macnaghten Hogg, M.P., Chairman of the Metropolitan Board of Works; Mr. Elihu Henry Oliver, Shanghai; Mr. Henry Blackburne Parry, Assistant Engineer, P.W.D., of India; Mr. Frederick Molesworth Pfeil, Resident Engineer, Madras Railway Company's Service; Mr. John Phillips, Holland-street, Blackfriars ; Mr. Gilbert Richard Redgraye, Hyde Park Gate; Mr. Henry Francis Ross, Chief Engineer of the Iquiqué and La Noria Railway, Peru; Mr. Albert Marcius Silber, Wood-street; Mr. Charles Tomlison, Cam- bridge; Mr. George William Usill, Stud. Inst. iE, Chesterfield ; Mr. ‘Rienzi Giesman Walton, Acting Executive Engineer, Bombay Municipality; Mr. George Herbert West, M.A., Wimpole-street ; and Mr. William Henry White, Engineer to the Oxford Local Board. The council reported that, acting under the provi- sions of Sect. 3. of the Bye-Laws, they had trans- ferred Messrs. Horace Bell and Thomas Codrington from the class of associate to that of member ; also that, in accordance with Sect. 4, they had ad- mitted the following candidates students of the institution:—Messrs. Frederick George Banister, Edward Ernest Brice, Alfred Edward Carey, Griffith Nathaniel Cox, Martin William Browne Ffolkes, Edgar Giberne, John Hunter Jones, and William Beswick Myers. DELTA, CHIPS. A handsome and commodious market has just been erected at Newton Abbot, Devonshire, at a cost of £17,000. A new school is about to be erected at Stapleton, Shropshire. Mr. Haycock, of Shrewsbury, is the architect. Thomas Parker, of Neweastle-under-Lyme, has patented a new hot-water heating apparatus. The principles of the invention are comprised in the use of pipes of small bore for the flow and return of the hot-water, laid chiefly on the floor of the building, &e. The Pimlico, Peckham, and Greenwich Tramway Company offer to contribute £1,000 towards the Newington Butts Improvement, proposed to be made by the Metropolitan Board of Works. This im- provement will involve the pulling down of the parish church, which is at present an obstacle to the laying down of tram rails between Kennington Park and the Elephant and Castle. THE BUILDING NEWS. Autercommunication, SN ee QUESTIONS. [2454.)—Claim for Estimates.—I recently sub- mitted a design in a school competition (accommodation was to be provided for 530 children), and had the satis- faction of hearing by a subsequent post that it had, with that of another competitor, been selected from a quan- tity of plans for final adoption, only the Board wished to know the probable cost of each, and through their clerk ordered me to furnish a careful estimate of the cost of building according to my designs. I accordingly abstracted the quantities carefully, calculated the cost, and sent the bond-fide estimate in detail (that the Board might, if they desired, make any reductions on any different portion of the buildings). The time occupied in my calculating the quantities and placing the estimate in the usual official form was three days and a half. My estimate amounted to a little over £1,200. In the course of two days I received a letter, informing me that I was unsuccessful, and I gathered from the local newspapers that my rival’s estimate was only £800. This figure being so much below mine, led me to make inquiries, which resulted in my discovering from private sources that his plans will fail to meet the Education Depart- ment’s rules in three distinct points. No architect was consulted when the decision was arrived at by the Board, and they, being unacquainted with the Govern- ment regulations, regarded (I presume) chiefly the difference in cost, which is caused by my strictly ad- hering to the Government rules. My opponent’s plans were accordingly adopted. He is a person of the locality, and I hear this is the first school he has designed, although in this [am not positive, and very probably when his plans are returned for revision by the Educa- tion Department (which they are sure to be, unless altered since the competition), he will in all probability quietly revise them until he is obliged to bring them very nearly like mine in design and cost. Can I enforce payment for my esti- mate (made out in accordance with the written order of their clerk), and which they did not mention anything about in their public advertisement for “*Plans and Specifications”? If AN I can enforce payment, to what amount can I sue them for ?—T. S. (2455]—Sompting Church.— Will any reader kindly inform me if the point of roof at A can properly be called a “squinch”? I am of opinion that it cannot.—Mavurice B. ADAms. [2456.]—Obstructing Light,—I have a piece of land on which I purpose building a house. My neighbour has a house on the adjoining piece close to my boundary; the said house has been built thirty years or thereabout, and one of the windows looks over my ground, Can I on my own ground builds in away that obstructs the light—in fact, within Gin. of such window? Iam willing to puta skylightin, asa neighbourly act.—T. R. (2457.]—Winding Stone Staircase.—Will any of your readers kindly give me the lines for working a winding stone staircase, circular on plan, with joggle pn joints, anda solid newal, the newal ‘being wrought on the end of steps? The following is a plan of the stairs anda section of two steps, showing jointing.—J. RANp. [2458.)] — Commission on Works not Exe- cuted.—In measuring up extras and deductions at the completion of a job, is it the custom of London architects to allow the contractor a commission on works not executed, although described, which would come under the head of deductions ?—SuRVEYOR. [2459.]—Mastie Cement.—Will any reader give a description of mastic cement, its composition, how used, and its peculiarities? I should also be glad if any one will recommend me a cheap and simple work, treating on colours, as to what will harmonise, &e.—C. T, [2460.|—Burning Sheet-Lead in Cisterns for Chemical Purposes.—Will some correspondent kindly give the necessary information for making joints of sheet-lead good in cisterns for chemical purposes without the aid of soldering ?—CoNsTANT READER. [2461.)—Strength of Iron Girders.—What pro- portion should the test of strength of iron girders bear to the estimated working live load it is to carry? and what deflection under test would be considered within the limit of safety for girder of, say, 20ft. bearing ?—Q. [2462.]—Gas Burners.—In providing for the lighting of a public room by gas, is there any rule to obtain the number of burners required ?—Q. REPLIES. [2424.)—Builders’ Profits.—I feel obliged to “Builder” for his reply to my question, inasmuch as I find that many questions of interest are passed with- out any notice; but I submit that ‘* Builder’s” brief } 4 3 123 essay is entirely beside my question, and is no answer to it. What I wish to know is, admitting the price of a mechanic’s labour to be eightpence per hour, what price per hour is the employer of the mechanic to charge me, the owner of the building on which the workman is employed, or in other words, what profit is the master to have on the workman’s wages? To prevent “ Builder” losing himself again amongst his mental and physical forces, I will explain the cireum- stances. A builder agrees to do certain work for a specified sum, about this portion there is no dispute It is also agreed that with regard to other work in con- nection with the first-mentioned, that the time and materials shall be charged to me ; accordingly a bill is sent for certain quantities of bricks, sand, lime, cement, deal, &c., and so many bricklayers, labourers, and carpenters, so many hours. What I want to know is, there being a standard rate of wages in any parti- cular town, what rate of profit is a master entitled to in a “time and material” account rendered by him ? In my particular case the man’s rate of wages is eight- pence. Should the master’s be ninepence or ninepence halfpenny ? Two surveyors give contrary opinions.— Q. R. [2452.]—Foundations for Buildings.—In reply to ‘*A Young Architect,” I wish it to be understood that I do not coincide with Mr. Elborne in discarding concrete and using an elastic material, I am of opinion that concrete is the best thing possible for a foundation if properly prepared. But I would remove the superabundance of moisture that is always to be found inclay soils, and then the objectionable swell- ing and shrinking will cease. This may be done by means of ordinary agricultural drain pipes in the same manner as for farm lands. They should be laid in from 4ft.to 6ft. deep, will require but a small inclina- tion, and not being sewage water may be run off into any ditch or open channel that happens to be accessible. I should lay round the building at about 3ft. or 4ft. from the walls a good-sized drain, say,.4in. to G6in., and an outfall of the same size; then smaller drains about the site, connecting with the same, of 3in. bore. The proper depth of the drains will vary according to the locality, but the best way is to sink a trial shaft or two, and notice in what stratum the water appearsin the greatest quantity. A great mistake is made generally by supposing that it is surface water that isthe cause of the mischief after percolation, when really it is water rising from below by pressure or capillary attraction; therefore, ifthe ground be tapped at a fair depth, and the water intercepted, the stratum aboye the water line cannot be so easily acted upon by the yarious changes of the atmosphere,— S, J. B. [2453.] — Water-Closet Basin.— ‘‘W. R.S.” need not be surprised at the soil and paper not im- mediately leaving the 8 trap when he pours water in, because it, perhaps, hardly ever doesso. Ina pan or valve-cleset, although the soil, &c., leayes basin when handle is pulled, and goes out of sight, yet it then goes no further than the siphon trap below, where it lies and gets saturated with water. When water-closet is used again, some time after, then what lies in trap is put out, and the new soil takes its place, and so on. This is the result of my observation ; only, if ‘*W. R.S.” has bottled up his cesspool too tightly, he will just have to ventilate it with a small pipe.—PLUMBER. ————»———_ CHIPS. The Bridgwater School Board has resolved to build schools for 560 children. The new buildings for the School of Science, Museum, and Art Gallery, Southampton, the foundation-stone of which was laid in August last, are approaching completion. The School of Science is almost finished, and will be ready for the use of the students in a few weeks. The Museum and Art Gallery is also in a forward state. The works have been carried out by Mr. J. Crook, Southamp.on, the contractor, from the designs and under the personal superintendence of James Lemon, the Borough Surveyor. At arecent meeting of the Metropolitan Board of Works, the Building Act Committee recommended that the services of the additional temporary assistant, whose seryices were continued for the period of three months, on the 13th October last, to assist in the duties in connection with dangerous structures, should be continued for a further period of three months, at the same salary as he is now receiving— viz., £2 2s. per week. Agreed to. Dean Stanley, inasermon preached during the course of special services heldin celebration of the restoration of the towerand the nave roof of Chester Cathedral, referred to the revival of ecclesiastical architecture during the last fifty years, remarking that there was not amodern Nonconformist meeting-house which was not now built with more reverence and more art than any parish church was built more than a hundred years ago. One of the late Canon Moseley’s best known works was his volume on “The Mechanical Prin- ciples of Engineering and Architecture,” a work which has been not only reprinted in America, and edited, with notes, by Professor Mahan, for the use of the Military School at West Point, but also trans- lated into German by Professor H. Schefler, of Brunswick.