Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/219

 Marcu 8, 1872. THE BUILDING NEWS. 203 ee 8. Every grain ought to be perfect and clear. 4, All pores ought to be clean, no dust ought to show in them. 5. Cementing material ought to be hard, as well as grains. 6. The sooner the stone dries the better after being wet. Ofcourse the times of drying must be con- sidered in relation to other stones of its own class. Others I shall note as I proceed, and the diligent student will note many things I shall never note.— I am, &c., C. A. WEDDLE. Hyde-street, Winchester. PLUMBING. Sir,—Allow me to eorrect ‘*R. P. C. W.” The “systems” of laying lead gutters in the articles on plumbing are not ‘practically bad,” for one of the systems, described at p. 171, is the best in both theory and practice, and for my part I am ready, as a practical master tradesman, to challenge “R.P.C W.” to produce a better. In regard to the one system, described at p. 95, and which is so largely used in the West of Scotland, while his theory condemns it, my practice tells me that when good lead is put on it answers well, more especially if the gutter has a northern exposure. Of course, by putting in two pipes to take off the water from front gutter, described at p. 95—viz., one at each end—said front gutter may be put on in two sepa- rate pieces, with a saddle or roll in the middle, but where the gutter faces the north, east, or west, the architect and proprietor may unite in considering the extra pipe and drain superfluous. Perhaps, how- ever, ‘““R. P. C. W.” could suggest some good prac- tical way of putting drips into the stone-cornice gutters described at p. 95 ? “R. P. C. W.” is wrong in stating that drips of only 1}in. depth are the general practice, and to support this by referring to a little extra breadth of lead that may be required for the deeper drips is going against his own theory. ‘“R. P.C. W.” is also wrong in supposing ‘“‘stepping” to be the “‘ neatest, soundest, most economical and best job” for stone flashings; he only thinks so because he probably never saw a better. The best plan in both theory and practice, as also ¢he neatest for polished stone- work, is to put on the flashing in one or more pieces, according to its length, and then to put in an apron B above it as per sketch, where A is flashing, and B the apron. The question of exposure Gi comes in here also, for while the flashing may be put in as per sketch, for a southern exposure, for the side looking to the north the flashing may be put on without the apron, only in place of putting on a flashing nine feet long or so in one piece, it may be put on in three pieces, which merely causes two overlaps. : As to the style of gutter described at p. 170 (Figs. 1 and 2), I examined a front gutter in that style to-day, it had a western exposure, and although on for about 30 years, there was no crack in the gutter anywhere, except where it went along before chimney, as per Fig. 2, p. 170, and the fault there lay in the top edge of gutter being inserted into the raggle, and so bound fast, instead of an apron being put on, as recommended at p. 170. While, there- fore, it cannot. be denied that when of good lead the gutters often stand very well upon the tops of such town tenements as are described at p. 95 and the first part of p. 170, yet, of course, it must be ad- mitted that when the gutters are of a style that ad- mits of drips being put in as per p. 171, then the lead gets a better chance.—I am, Kc., A PLUMBER. PEMBROKE COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. Srr,—I write to ask if you will be kind enough to correct the mistake made in your paper of the 16th inst, about the stone used at Pembroke College, Cambridge. It is said that the stones for copings and weatherings are stone from the neighbourhood of Stamford, but it is from the Clipsham Quarries, in the County of Rutland, and supplied by Medwell and Son.—I am, &e. 5S. MEDWELL. Clipsham, February 27. ABERYSTWITH SCHOOLS COMPETITION. Srr,—If the other competitors would each adopt the same course as Mr. Sherwin, they would relieve the Aberystwith School Board from the stigma cast upon them by ‘‘Nusquam Luta Fides.” Itis very doubtful, however, whether either of them can make the same statement, or even evade the statements made by ‘* Nus- quam Luta Fides” in any honourable way.—I am, &c., NEITHER A COMPETITOR Nor APPLICANT. ABERYSTWITH SCHOOL BOARD. Sir,—Allow me, through your columns, to inform Mr. Sherwin that it was my intention (but owing to writing my letter ina great hurry I omitted) to ex- press any doubt as to his direct acquaintance with any member of the above Board. Anyhow, if, as Mr. Sher- win states, my knowledge has led me very much astray as regards himself, I can assure him that it has not as regards the other four gentlemen; and further, if he does prove himself not to be acquainted directly or in- directly with any member of the above Board, he does not in the least way prove that their selection was an honourable one, but vice versd. The very fact of Mr. Sherwin not being a 24 per center. speaks of the dis- honourable way in which the above Board has treated the other seventeen candidates.—I am, &e., Nusquam Luta FIDEs, —— —_ Antercommumication, QUESTIONS. [2493.]—Firegrates and Flues.—In reading on smoky chimneys, I constantly find recommendations to the effect that the stove or grate should be contracted, or of the most contracted kind. What is the meaning of these terms? In what part of the fireplace or stove is the contraction to be made, and how ?—B. [2494.)—Paddington Railway Station.—Can any of your numerous readers inform me in what book or periodical I may find illustrations of the Paddington Station ?—P. C. J. (2495.]—Liability of Gas Companies. —Can any reader of ‘t Intercommunication ”’ answer correctly the following question ? A. rents a house at C., in which house the gasislaidon. A. burns gas. At the next quarter-day the secretary to the gas company sends him his bill for gas consumed. <A. not being able to pay, the secretary sends him a notice that unless the gas bill be paid by a certain day the gas will be cut off. A. replies that if the gas is cut off he will bring an action against the company. Are gas companies who have no Act of Parliament empowered under such circumstances to cut off the gas ?—L. J. [2496.]—Tracing Calico.—Will you allow me to ask, through your * Intercommunication” column, the best method of inking in and colouring upon tracing calico ?—W. N. (2497.]—Medizeval Spires.—Would you or some of your correspondents inform me if the best examples of Medizval spires be slightly swelled to correct the inward curye, which a straight one will appear to assume, or is this apparent inward curve considered appropriate, so as to give lightness and elegance to the long line of roof ?—G, A. 8S. GLow. (2498.|; Gauging Sheet Lead.—Willany reader inform me if there is an iron gauge made, and where to be obtained, for gauging sheet lead ?—LrIcEsTER. (2499.J—Red Ants.—Will one of your readers kindly inform me, through your Journal, if he is able to give acure for the following ? Several of my tenants complain of being troubled with quantities of little red ants. They generally swarm about the kitchen fire- place, but also make their way upstairs. I have tried to find their nests, and in one case taken the range out and the flooring up, but have been quite unsuccessful. Other means also have been tried, such as putting poison down, but all to no purpose.—A READER. (2500.|.—Hot Water in Lieu of Fireplaces. — Will some of your numerous readers inform me,through your columns, whether any of the extensive suites of offices in London have been successfully warmed with hot water in lieu of fireplaces? and if so, the address of any of them ?—ARCHITECTUS. REPLIES. [2476.])—Measures of Lime. — In reading my BuiepinG News, I often wish that I could send answers to “ Intercommunication ” more frequently, as I feel strongly the advantages to be obtained by this mode of giving and gaining information. In question No, 2476, ‘A. H.” asks about the measures of lime, and gets from ‘‘ Birmingham” a very unsatisfactory reply. I say unsatisfactory because (though, for all that I know to the contrary, the answer may be quite right) it certainly does not apply to the South of Eng- land. Ihave carefully looked into the matter of lime measures, and the following particulars may perhaps be useful to “A, H.” ‘The hundred of lime is so ancient a measure that even our old friend Batty Langley, in his “London Prices” of 1750, fails to account forit,though he gives many useful particulars, to which I shall here- after refer. In the ‘“ Builders’ Dictionary ” of 1734, Vol. IL, I find it stated that ‘Lime i mmonly sold about London by the hundred, which is 25 bushels, or 100 pecks, but in the country by the load of 32 bushels.” This information I have traced back to an older work, “The City and Country Purchaser,” of 1703, which is full of curious instructions to builders and workmen. From Batty Langley’s book I glean that the bushel here spoken of is the old Winchest triked measure of 2,256 cubic inches, and the hundred of lime would thus fill a cubical box of 38% inches every way, or more exactly 56,300 eubie inches. We are told, however, that ‘the measure by which bricklayers measure lime at their re- ceiving it from the lime merchant is a bottomless cube vessel, whose root or side is 5 feet 1 inch, and whose cube quantity is but 50,643 cubic inches.’ Here, then, is evidently the derivation of our ordinary London lime measure, the yard cube—the extra inch has been knocked off by some knowing dealer, and the hundred ~ has become obsolete. It may be interesting to preserve this fact in your columns for the benefit of posterity, when lime will probably be sold in a measure of 30in. each way at the utmost. On looking into the ‘* Tables of Weights and Measures,” I find it stated that the Winchester striked bushel contained only 2150°42 cubic inches; in this case a hundred of lime would be 53760°5 cubic inches, or a cube measure whose side was as nearly as possible 37} inches. With reference to the latter part of the question, I am more puzzled by what “Birmingham” tells us than by the caleulations of «A. H.” A London lime merchant sends out a yard of ground lime in nine two-bushel bags = 18 bushels, and he will tell you that this quantity represents a cube yard of Jump lime—i.e., 22 bushels—ground ; but I must confess that I never heard, either in London or the North, of such a measure as either 14 bushels or 16 bushels, which, from the reply of ‘“‘ Birmingham,” I presume isin use there. Lias lime is sold by weight, by the ton, in fact; and ground lias lime is sent out certainly by one firm in the Midland Counties in three- bushel sacks, 10 to the ton = 30 bushels. Selenitic lime measures in the South of England 36 bushels to the ton. The number of bushels when the material is sold by weight must, of course, depend upon the density of the lime or cement. Thus Portland, of medium weight (1121b. per bushel), would average only 20 bushels to the ton, while tender-burnt white chalk lime may take as much as 40 bushels to make up this weight. In Ireland, lime is sold by the barrel, which should,by imperial measure,be 4} bushels; 7 barrels tare or 314 bushels make the ton. But there seems to be no fixed standard or size for these barrels, and each manufacturer or burner has a different measure. I should be glad to be set right on any of these points, and to hear of any other measures now in use for lime. I may add, in conclusion, that in Leicestershire, lime is sometimes sold by the “strike,” which isa very shallow basket, on which the lumps are heaped up as high as the workman’s ingenuity will warrant. Why, there- fore, called a striked measure it is difficult to imagine, or what its contents when striked.—GiLBERT R. RED- GRAVE. [2479.]—Perspective.—A very useful little work on “Perspective,” by G. L. Paraire, published by Rowney, would, I think, answer ‘“‘ W. F.’s” purpose. LILLEY. [2484.]—Tiles.—If the makers are instructed to do so, when ordering the tiles, they will make them with a dovetail recessed in the back, When I have not been able to wait, and have taken tiles from stock to fix yertically, I have drilled holes in opposite corners of tiles and fixed copper wire loops; this forms a hook in the cement backing, and always proved successful. I have frequently found them come off in yards when fixed with Keen’s cement or plaster, and believe this to be caused by the plaster sweating; but I have lately taken to fix them with blue lias cement, and have proved this to be far the best. The tiles should be soaked in water for some hours before use, and the joints can be washed out and pointed with Keen's cement.—R. P. C. W. (2484.]—Tiles.—If these FIG F/G,2 tijesare put on upon upright sf Z external walls, as per Fig. 1, d without any slope upon the top edge, that may perhaps be the means of allowing water to get in. If so, per- haps by making them witha slope,as per Fig. 2,that might remove the complaint.—P. [2485.)—Professor Kerr’s Lectures at Glas- gow.—I regret that I cannot give ‘* W. W.” the desired information.—YoUR GLASGOW CORRESPONDENT. [2487.)—Bronzing. — If your correspondent H. Lewellin will carefully read my articles on “ Gilding and Bronzing,” I think he will find the information he seeks. —AN EXPERIENCED WORKMAN. (2491.J—Ventilator and Windguard.—I can assure your correspondent that Boyle’s patent wind- guard and outlet ventilator are most efficacious. I have seen many of them fixed, and always with success, as also the outlet ventilator for fitting into flues or air- shafts; but I believe he is wrongly informed as to the proprietors of this patent. Comyn, Ching, & Co., of 23, Little S. Andrew-street, Upper S. Martin’s-lane, have always supplied those I haye seen used, and he will, I think, further find that Canham attempted to patent another man’s patent, and that he was stopped in the manufacture of this ventilator by Comyn, Ching, and Co. There is no such firm as Boyle & Co. ; Boyle has been dead some years.—J. H. ———_—>—_—_—_—_ CHIPS. The production of artificial fuel made from a mix- ture of coal-dust and clay, with other incorporating ingredicnts, has been effected by machinery for up- wards of ten years in Belgium. The cost of the fuel is said to be only 7d. per ton. The manufacturers of Birmingham intend to pro- duce a collective exhibition of new goods in the In- ternational Exhibition. At a meeting of the inhabitants of Tranmere, held on friday last, it was resolved to form a com- pany to construct a new pier and approaches to ‘Tranmere Ferry, the estimated cost of which, ex- clusive of boats, would be £13,000.