The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1877-11-06
TUMWATER PIPE.

The San Francisco Journal IF Com
mere has an exhaustive article on the
history, merits and modas operandi Of
the American Water Pipe Company's
enterprise at Olympia. The company
was organized in San Francisco, March
1877, with a capital of $250,000. The
mill is located at Olympia, Tor Tumwa
teri, where the pipe is prepared, and
then taken to the company factory On
Channel street. San Francisco. where
it is finished, ready for use. The pro-
cess IS thus described:
"Some fifty or sixty men are en-
ployed at both places. The manner Of
making this pipe is peculiar. 1t Is
made in sections Of eigh: feet long.
from Puget ;5onnd pine or fir. 1t is
first bored, and then turned in lathe
10 uniform thickness of she'll, remov-
ing all of the sap. and sseamed thor
oughIy to avoid any possibility of check
ing, or tasting the water One end OF
each piece has a ternon OF about three
and one half inches, and the other is
mortised to fit it closely. The swelling
of this lennon, when driven home.
makes u perfectly tight joia.. The
pipe is now ready for binding This is
done by winding the iron sDirally
around it, of thickness, and at inter
walls required by the pressure to be su''
tanned. The iron is coated On the ~
der side as it is wound upon the pipe,
and then the entire pipe and iron are
thickly coated with sspbaltum. produc-
ing condition best calculated to re-
sist decay in any form. The waterpipe
is coated on the outside only. as it is q
we'll known scientific fact that water
either salt, alkali or sulphur. does moi
affect wood, and in this city this pipe
is used at the mint To carry off the
waste acids, while it is as we'll known
that water will find the smallest crack
in the inside coating of iron pipe and
cut its way out in few months.
The gas pipe made by this company
is made the same as the water pipe. ex-
cept that it is coated inside, and is not
bound as heavily with iron; and one
great feature OF the gas pipe is. that it
prevents condensation"
The following is the description of
test to which this pipe was lltely sub
jected:
"Three lengths of the ordinary eight
inch Inside diameter) pipe were placed
in position The first pipe was designed
to stand a fifty foot pressure. The
pumps were set Mt work and soon q
pressure of 100 pounds. equal to fall
Of nearly 400 feet. and yet the pipe was
apparently a. firm as ever. A pressure
was then put on equal to q head If $50
feet. when small seam opened in the
wood and small spray of water
escaped. The pressure was reduced by
the escape of the water and the seam 1t
once closed aud the pipe at $50 feet
pressure was perfectly tight. The
second pipe was made for head Of 100
feet. This stood q pressure Of go
pounds To the square inch, equal to a
fall Of nearly GOO feet. The third pipe,
made for 300 foot head, stood pres
sure of 400 pounds to the square inch.
equal to n head of 900 feet. The test
was evidently satisfactory to the scienti-
dc gentlemen present, and Mr.. Schussier
expressed himself highly pleased with
the test He said no pipe in actual
service would be called on to stand such
n test. tor in cities it was impossible to
close oil the hydrants ut the same time,
and even If il were possible to do 80,
the superior elasticity Of this pipe rem
dered it superior to any pipe he knew
of. From his own observation and
from what he had learned, he expressed
himself highly pleased with the pipe.
This pipe has been in use in the East
for the past eighteen years, and nearly
one thousand miles OF it has been
thoroughly tested. 1t has been brought
into immediate competition with the
best iron pipe. and not in single in
stance has it failed to prove itself the
best. and when taken up to lay larger
pipe 1t has been found perfectly sound
and every foot re-laid."