A Plan for Increasing the Capacity of the steam 
Heating Plant of the Spooner Library, 
University of Kansas. 
BY FRANK E. WARD. 
The buildings of the University of Kansas are all heated from 
one boiler-house, which is on the south side of the hill and 4oo 
feet from Snow Hall and 500 feet from Fraser Hall and the physics 
building which are on the top of the hill. The Spooner library 
building is placed just below the top of the hill on the northeast 
side, and 1300 feet from the boiler house. 
It is not the purpose of the writer to offer criticism or suggestions 
regarding the method of heating the library building; but to show 
how a difficulty in forcing the steam over to the library was 
overcome by a simple plan, which has now been in successful 
operation for two years. 
After the steam-heating surfaces have been carefully calculated 
and the pipes put in place ina large building like the library, it 
is often found that unforseen drafts and exposures necessitate 
changes or enlargement of surfaces, and at best the plant is often 
insufficient in very cold weather. Several changes were made in 
this case until the heat was very well distributed. But when 
severe weather set in it was found impossible to heat the library 
and it was closed several times on this account, while the other 
buildings which are heated from the same source were almost too 
warm. 
The low pressure gravity system used in heating all the Univer- 
sity buildings, except the physics building, in which all the con- 
densation returns to the boilers by gravity, is as follows: From 
a battery of four boilers there are two pipes which carry away 
steam and return the condensation. These pipes maintain an 
equal pressure which varies, but in this case does not exceed twenty 
pounds per square inch. From these main pipes, branches are 
taken off which lead to and return from all the above mentioned 
buildings. Fig. 1 represents the 10-inch main and 6-inch return. 
(149) KAN. UNIV. QUAR., VOL. VII, NO. 3, JULY, 1898, SERIES A. 
