106 HALIFAX WATER WORKS. JOHNSTON. 



with the plain pipe the process of joining has not yet been 

 begun and necessitates considerable labor and material being 

 employed to finish the work. To get the best results with lead 

 or wood, jornts also requires a higher class of labor. The pipes 

 can be sprung around curves, but in this case should be caulked 

 with lead. 



Previous to the introduction of the turned and bored pipes, 

 wooden joints were used extensively for pipes of 6 inches and 

 over. They have the merit of cheapness as compared with the 

 lead joint a ( nd are durable, but possess the defect of being liable 

 to be blown out with a sudden increase of pressure, and most 

 of our trouble with discovered leaks has been from this cause. 

 The faucets of the 24-inch and 15-inch for this kind of joint 

 were made tapering | inch inwards. The joint is made as fol- 

 lows : 'After the pipe is inserted in the socket it is raised up 

 by means of a tool called a raising iron and soft pine wedges 

 or staves, thoroughly seasoned and cut to the radius of the pipe, 

 are inserted on the lower side for about ^ of the circumference 

 of the pipe. The pipe is then lowered, and raising irons are 

 driven in the top and on each side of the joint, at intervals of 

 about 3 to 5 inches. The wedges are then driven in 

 with a sledge-hammer beginning from those already laid 

 and working up both sides, the raising irons being with- 

 drawn as the work proceeds. When all the wedges are in, keys 

 are driven where necessary between them to tighten the joint. 



The wood joints in the 15-inch main, where under the water 

 of the Chain Lakes, were strengthened by adding an angle strap 

 of wrought-iron bolted closely to the pipe in front of the wedges. 

 The difference in cost of turned arid bored, and plain pipes, 

 has varied from 55 cents to $1.00 per ton, the former being 

 the difference in the tenders for the 27-inch and 24-inch pipes 

 laid in 1893. The 'net saving over lead joints in laying the 27- 

 indi man amounted to $3,147. Taking the cost of turned and 

 bored pipes at 75 cents per ton more than plain pipes, the fol- 

 lowing table gives the detailed cost of laying mains with 

 turned and bored, lead, and wood joints. 



