120 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



Electrolysis of Water and Gas Pipes, 

 and Iron Structures. 



Read Before the Hamilton Scientific Association, 

 January 2ith, 1901. 



BY E. G. BARROW, C.E. 



The destruction to water and gas mains, and particularly 

 to lead service pipes, by electrolysis, which has been so 

 frequently brought to notice of late years, principally on 

 pipes adjacent to the single trolley system of electric propul- 

 sion, has at length aroused those in authority in cities and 

 municipalities to take action for the prevention of the evil 

 which might entail millions of dollars of loss if not checked. 

 The distribution system of both water and gas pipes have 

 been and are being gradually eaten away, and it is impossible 

 to say to what extent, but it is certain that damage of a most 

 serious nature is silently proceeding. 



On account of the pipes being buried in the ground, it is 

 of course impossible to estimate the full amount of damage. 



The object of this paper is not to discuss in detail the 

 theory of electrolysis, but to describe and try to bring to your 

 notice, by description and illustration, the injury which has 

 and is going on by electrolytic action ; the means taken for 

 its prevention, and to try and interest your association so 

 that the members may be induced to use their influence in the 

 very laudable endeavor to arrest what may perhaps develop 

 into a very serious loss of property and perhaps life. 



Electrolysis is defined as the resolution of a fluid into its 

 proximate constituents by the direct chemical action of the 

 electrical current. Another definition, and the one which I 

 think is most applicable for the purpose of this paper, is the 

 chemical dissociation which is brought about by the pass- 

 ing of a current of electricity from one electrode to another 

 through a solution containing an electrolyte. 



