The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-11-09
MORE ABOUT THE SEWERAGE
QUESTION.
George e. Warnings Claims to Origi-
nality in the Memphis System.

George II. w . SldlIuS To OTl&l-
nality in the Memphis System.
Fditor Morning Neps: Mr.. George E.
Waring, in his letter of Oct "a, 1888, adj
dressed to DIR. J. c. LeHardy of this city,
SAYS
1.-THE Memphis system is original with
me Nothing like it was ever carried into
execution before, nor, SO far as | know, de
sc,ibed in any American or foreign print.
= The automatic
flushing of gil 81 parts Ct The system %sa .b Is
senee of manholes in Memphis was a mere
measure of economy, not contemplated
in the original plans. \ 4
This system has been greatly improved in
detail since its introduction in Memphis,
ETC."
As Mr.. Warning had full sway in putting
his system into Memphis, l was not pre-
pared to believe that the people of Memphis
had. las a measure Of economy" done the
foolish things attributed to them; and so
have taken the trouble 10 look up Mr.. War
ing's own sayings ON the subject.
| have before me a pamphlet by George
f. Waring, Jr., of Newport, R., l., pub
ished in 1888, attacking Mr.. Rudolf Her
ino.,, r ct for the sewerage of Bingham
ton, N. Y. (Mr. Herings plans having been
accepted in preference to Mr.. WariDg's).
On page MIR. Warning says: 1T is proper
TO say that wherever the English separate
system is carried out, provision is made for
flushing through man-holes; but this re
ouires personal attention, which is never
reliable, while the opening of man-holes
leading to small pipes is a frequent source
of the admission or Substances which cause
distractions"
let me say here that ia this country
fushinq is not done through manholes, bat
if Mr.. Warnings objections held good against
covered manhOles, the same objections
would apply +, cOcered flush tanks, covered
opening being needed so as to facilitate ex-
aminatol and repairs.-L. A. f.
nplge 10 NJ. Warning further says: eff
Memphis has proved anything, 1t has proved
that manhOleS and ian1phoLeS for the IN,
Spection of the interior condition of the
sewers are not necessary, and if the custom
Of American city engineers is to be taken as
guide, such manholes and lampholes are
not used for this purpose after they are
built"
And on page IA Mr.. Warning still further
saws: Experience with the forty miles of
sewers in Memphis shows that with sewers
arranged as they are there, such an inspec-
ton is never necessary, instructions being
SO rare that the cost Of their location and
removal is less than would be the cost of
even a monthly inspection of the whole
system by manholes and mpholes-which
if they were built
As Mr. Warning, in his LeHardy letter,
saddles the blame for leaving out manholes
on the Memphis people, and the Memphis
people had to remedy his wrong work, l
nave quoted the above extracts from War
ing's own publication, so that the people of
Savannah may Judge as to the correctness
of my charges.
Now on another point, the ventilation of
housedrains and connecting sewers 'by ex-
tending the pipe beyond the roof" Mr.
Warning SAYS: wherever this latter altern-
alive has been adopted, the ventilation is
complete without reference to manholes."
If anyone will stand on the rear of NOV
ing train, or look out of the window, he will
observe that the current of air is carried
along in the same direction with the NOV
ing body land whilst this concurrent motion
may be more or less checked or driven back
by a greater force than the suction power
such greater force is not often present. The
safety valve of ventilation in sewer lies
in the fact that the air beIo,O the surface in
winter gets warmer than the air above the
surface, and the ventilation through the
house pipe to the roof is caused by the ris-
ing of the warmer current. Existing theo-
ries concerning the ventilation of sewers
needs some revision.
AS to Mr.. Warnings claims to originality
in the Memphis system, what was original
had to be changed, and the automatic flush
ing, and the separate system as Tsol0 i'm
proved was not original. On these points
the following extracts from letter received
by me recently from the distinguished sani-
tary engineer, Rudolph Herring, throw con-
siderable light:
"Waring did not inuent the fushtank
used in Memphis. 1t is Roger Fields tank.
See Baldwin Latham's book on sanitary en-
cheering, edition of 1878. Nor did Waring
inuent the separate svstem.' 1t was first
proposed by Phillips & Chadwick in the
SOS and used in England since en-
With the above extracts l dismiss Mr.
George E. Warnings claims to originality.
In relation to his proposed plan for the
house drainage of Savannah, will have
more to say. LOUIS A. FALLIGANT.