The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1878-11-20
HEATED BY STEAM.
The City of Lockport Warmed by the
Holly System.
An Idea which Promises 10 be Gener-
ally Adopted.
Correspondence New York World

| IL, 600 and &c, 600 people. The towns most
notable feature is that its public buildings
and private dwellings are heated by a system
of pipes general to the town. Birdsill Holly,
] who first conceived the idea, and who has
since developed il, was born in Auburn, and
| is now IS years of age. He has made many
| inventions, several of which are of
recognized merit. His best known in
vention is the Holly system of
water works. / called upon Mr.. Holly To-
day. and he took me out on a tour of
! inspection along the line whence three
miles or more of pipes radiste from the GEN.
/ trail boiler house. He said that he tlrst gave
serious thought to the subject OF heating
large districts by steam in 1866, and soon be-
gan series of experiments to test the con-
| densatioD, loss Of heat and other essential
| points. When he had overcome a number
OF obstacles and felt sure of the entire FEAST
bility of the practical workings of the sys-
| tenn he tried to get the Holly Water Works
| Company to take hold of it, but did not sue
coed. In regard to his Lockport operations
he said: '1n January of last year the Holly
Steam Company was organized, with CAPT.
tai of So, 900. We then set about giving the
| system q thorough test Last winter was a
variable and peculiarly trying one, but the
results were entirely satisfactory, and the
citizens OF Lockport pronounced it perfect
success. We have testimonials from ell who
have used the steam, showing that they
monials is one from the mayor, H ID. Nc
Neil, who says the heating has been done
Ito the perfect satisfaction of customers"
and also considers il especially useful in
keeping the fire hydrants from freezing in
/ winter, for its adaptability to the extin-
| guishment Of fires without the use of steam
| fire engines, and concludes by saying: II
consider the invention one of the most valu-
able of the age, and rejoice that our city is
| provided with it,"
Mr.. Holly showed me the boilers wherein
the steam is made. There are three boilers,
| two of them horizontal, 5 by 16 feet, and one
upright. Two are of 60-horse power each
and one of 80. Last winter no more than
two of them were in operation at one time,
and frequently but one. The building is de-
signed for six boilers, the other three to be
added when required. The boilers now in
| operation consume from two and one half to
three tons of coal daily, and pressure OF 80
| pounds is maintained.
| These convey heat through three and q
half miles of pipe at the present time to an
equivalent of 50 dwellings, as against about
40 last winter, showing an increase of patron
! age of over 100 per cent in a single season.
| Owing to the scattered location of the houses
some of the streets having steam service
| being but sparsely built up, Mr.. Holly says
that more radiators could be attached in /, 900
feet of business street.-The Broadway, for
| example-than in a mile on Lock port
| street. The pipes, which are laid three or
four feet underground, but above the gas
ana water pipes, are covered with a nom
conductor, and inserted in logs of wood
bored for the purpose. The pipes used are
| graduated in diminishing sizes in the ratio
| of the distance from the boiler house. They
decrease In size from eight inches to one and
! one-half inches, to correspond to the
! amount of steam to be passed. and much
smaller and less expensive pipes are required
than would be necessary by the low pressure
system commonly employed in single dwell
! ings. The natural obstacles of contraction
and expansion of the iron used in conveying
steam long distances have been overcome by
! a simple but effective device. An expansion
| junction service box Is placed at intervals of
| 100 to 200 feet throughout the entire line OF
mains. Technically, this provides for the
free longitudinal contraction and expansion
| of the MAINS and from this box the service
/ pipes run to the easements of the buildings
to be heated. Inside the junction box the
service pipes are fitted with an adjustable
| hood, which, being turned downward, col
| lects the condensed water as il accumulates,
carrying 1t forward to the regular valve in
side the cellar walls. Reaching the valve,
the water Of condensation being at degree
| of heat due to q pressure of fifty pounds to
| the square inch, it is wire drawn, by which
reduction of pressure is largely reconverted
| into steam, and thence is carried on to the
radiators, where ii is again condensed. By
| this arrangement the consumer living close
to the boiler house has no advantage over
the one two or three miles distant, for in
either case the main pressure of fifty or sixty
! pounds is reduced to two or three pounds
! before delivery for use.
The loss Of vitality or heating power of
the steam when conveyed through long dis
\ tances as shown by careful experiments and
verified in actual use by the Holly system,
| is found to be so very small as hardly to come
into the calculations Of the company. Or, in
other words, steam heat can be furnished by
boilers OF sufficient capacity, through pipes
| OF sufficient size, to an area of four miles
/ square from one set OF boilers.
Mr.. Holly explained to me the radiators
and the method by which steam heat is
measured out to customers. The Holly sys-
| tenn admits of the use of all kinds of radiat-
'ors, both direct and indirect The basis of
the price charged consumers is that given
quantity is equal TO so much coal. Hence,
when the meter registers q given amount of
service in steam heat rendered, it is paid for
| on the basis of so much coal consumed at so
much per ton. In steam served through a
pipe, as in gas, the meter plays an important
| part, and Mr. Holly has given special atten-
ton to the subject of producing meter for
accurately measuring out steam heat, The
result of his experiments in this direction is
/ as admirable as Ii Is simple, for II is COM
bined meter and regulator. There is valve,
exactly like the slide valve to high pressure
steam engine, which admits the steam from
the street main. This is connected by a
small pipe with another which admits the
steam 10 the radiators. Steam gauges show
| the pressure before and after passing through
| these valves. When 1 examined the regu-
| lator in the Office of the company the press
ure on the street main was between 20 aud 30
| pounds; between the two valves the pressure
] Il a. a. oxx1 1.
radiators five pounds. The latter pressure is
maintained on the radiators at the Office
constantly. so there is no possibility of ex-
plosion or danger.
Over the regulator the new meter was
| doing guard duty. This is piece of clock
work the working of which is regulated by
pendulum. A screw records the consump-
ton OF one dollars worth OF steam at each
revolution, which is shown by an indicator
| on the face. At the end Of the screw is q
disk, the periphery Of which is graduated to
hundredths or cents. The motion of the re-
4 I'll w.kow 1.d hxv