Research Buildings 195 



circles up to 1 meter in diameter, engraving machine, lacquering outfit including air 

 compressor and oven, grinder, circular saw-table, wood-trinuner, disk-sander, band-saw, 

 forge, bench tools, and a full equipment of small tools for metal and wood working. Each 

 of the machine tools is operated by an independent motor on 110- or 220-volt alternating 

 single-phase current. The basement contains also a small shop for the special use of the 

 laboratory, and is fully equipped with work-bench, 9-inch lathe, and small tools. There 

 are also on the basement floor 2 rooms in the west corner for special instrumental work 

 and testing purposes, and the lavatory and shower bath. 



The clock-room is advantageously located for constant-temperature conditions, being 

 practically at the center of the building and surrounded on all sides by heavy 13-inch brick 

 walls and special insulating and ventilating arrangements. 



The storage-battery room is isolated completely from all other rooms of the basement 

 by an entiy hall. A ventilation duct is provided to the chimney stack, where a special fan, 

 operated from the storage-battery room, is mounted to increase the ventilation as neces- 

 sary. As this room is directly above the furnace-room, an air space was interposed between 

 the ceiling of the furnace-room and the floor of the storage-battery room to prevent too 

 high or sudden fluctuations in temperature. This air space is connected directly with the 

 outside by ventilating shutters placed above the door and window of the furnace-room. 

 A great deal of attention was given to the question of acid-proofing of floors of battery- 

 rooms and a number of plans and details were studied. It was decided that for so small 

 an equipment the most economical and satisfactory arrangement would be a floor of vitrified 

 brick laid on edge in cement mortar with close joints over the reinforced-concrete floor. 

 This brick floor is built with a fall from all sides to a drain at the center, and a sump pit 

 provided in the outside area below for the dilution of acid waste in case of an accident. 

 The walls of tlie room are also of vitrified brick laid up in cement with close joints. All 

 of the exposed metal work has been painted with a specially prepared acid-proof paint, 

 and special acid-proof lighting fixtures and switches were installed. All metal work will 

 be further protected by a coating of paraffin. 



The present storage-battery equipment consists of 60 chloride accumulators of type E13 

 by the Electric Storage Battery Company, having the rated capacity of 30 amperes at the 

 8-hour discharge rate of 240 ampere-hours. The equipment is mounted on 3 wood frames 

 in two tiers, one above the other, each tier containing 30 cells. Each set of 30 cells is sub- 

 divided into 2 groups of 3 cells, 2 groups of 6 cells, and 1 group of 12 cells. The leads to and 

 from the room containing the motor-generator and switchboard are of No. 4 gage copper 

 wire lead-covered. 



The equipment for the motor-generator and switchboard is in the north corner of the 

 building, adjacent to the storage-battery room. The motor-generator set consists of a 

 10-horsepower, 60-cj'cle, single-phase, 220-volt motor of the Wagner type, mounted on a 

 single base with, and coupled to, a 5.4 kilowatt, 90-volt, shunt-wound direct-current genera- 

 tor of the Crocker-Wheeler type. 



The 5 sioitchboards are of slate. On the first are mounted the alternating power and 

 light meters, together with test links. The second board controls the alternating-current 

 supply. It comprises, in the first place, 2 rows each containing 3 switches. The upper 

 row controls the lighting system for the basement, first floor, and second floor; the lower 

 row controls the power supply to the power panel-boards, workshops, and laboratories. 

 Four additional switches are provided besides the main switch, 2 for the roof fans, 1 

 for the stereoi)ticon, and 1 for the vacuum-cleaner. The last 3 boards together com- 

 prise respectively the charging-board, the positive distributing-panel, and the negative 

 distributing-panel for the storage battery. In the design of these boards, Dr. W. F. G. 

 Swann, chief physicist, followed somewhat, in the case of the distributing-panels, the plan 

 adopted at the Ryerson Physical Laboratory of the University of Chicago. 



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