The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-08-21
NEW PIPE Linz.
Remarkable Construction
Work on Newark's
New Conduit.
CONNECTING TWO RESERVOIRS
Another Connection Between Ma
copin Intake and the BellevilIe
Reservoir.
CONNECTING TWO RESERVOIRS

NEWARK, Aug. u. 1Sss.-The last
length OF pipe that goes to make
up the second conduit between the
Maeopin intake and the BeLIeville receiv-
ing reservoir was lowered into the ditch
Wednesday at a point on the line in Frank
This practically completes a stu
pendots contract.
Before the fluid can be sent
through the entire conduit from the PEI
quannock* Valley some finishing touches
must be put on, but in comparison with
the main work they are trivial and cover
a section of only several hundred feet Of
the duct. 1t is expected that the last
rivet shall have been driven home before
nightfaIi, and the work, save the filing
In of the trench, will have been complet-
ed.
Final operations are being carried ON at
the BelIeville reservoir and at a point
about two miles up the line. The men
were at work Wednesday afternoon put
ting in place a closing-fn joint about four
feet long. and a smaller joint of the
same kind vas put on yesterday The
Joints are the small portions of pipe
necessary to join WI sections Of pipe.
AS the work On the entire line was car
ried on by four gangs working simulta-
neously, it did not always happen that
two sections of pipe would meet to a
nicely There was more apt to be a short
age of a few feet, and this opening had
to be connected with Smaller sections Of
the pipe 1t was such an opening that
was closed Wednesday afternoon. and
one more remained to receive attention
yesterday.
The riveting crew, which Of necessity,
must come last in the pipe-layfng opera
lions, still has a little to do. but very
little When the men quit work Wednes-
day night there were less h a dozen
seams to be rivetted, and these, with the
binding of the c~losing-fn pieces referred
to above, scarcely represent 8 days work
for the force of rivetters employed. At
the BeleviIIe reservoir the only labor to
be performed was the filing in over the
pipes and special work at that point
All the pipe from the intake to the
section where the men are working has
been thoroughly tested and found to be in
perfect order. In fact, 1t has been in
constant use from the intake to Aunt
sally's HILL" for a month or over. At
the HILL which Is located near Wayne,
a connection has been made with the
original conduit n the water has been
drawn from the intake through the two
pipes, In about equal quantities, and sent
on to Belleville. in the old main.
From Belleville north the first section Of
the new conduit at that end has ais
$50 -
been tested and proved, SO that the one
stretch of pipe where work is now being
carried on alone remains to be tested and
joined to the other sections before the
new main will be ready to send about 81
10000 gallons of water daily to TINS
city, or, temporarily, to other consumers
Though the new conduit IS not quite as
large as the old one the Work OF con-
~strueting the former has been u~nequaiied
" enginesrlng feaos II fr ,he t work s'ahapoi IS
claimed, T. A. & r. G.. Gillespie, the con-
tractors who did the work for the East
Jersey Water Company. haye Inc r rsp says
time. and in the present work the water
company found it expedient TO spare no
expense in order TO get the conduit In
position as quickly as possible.
1t was not until the latter part. OF De-
eember last that the contractors mad the
first shovelful Of earth turned Tor dne sx.
time 1T was admitted that another main
would be necessary to fulfil the terms of
the water contrast but the SIZE Of the Inc
between the city 2 the East Jersey
Water Company. Work was kept up m
the frozen ground for the digging Of the
trench, in a sort of preparatory manner.
but no wonderful. progress was made in
the excavations until the opening OF the
new year.
finally reached an agreetnent in April
there had been comparatively but 2 small
amount Of work done. The frst lengths
early IN March, but when the supple
me1Ftary contract had been ratified and
certainly Of detail took h place Of UNI
to work with a wnl, and a force of men
varying from 1000 to 1,4W were kept go
ing steadily until the line reached It's
n the I've or six months there hav
been aid III. 100 feet. Of pipe This repre-
semts twenty-one miles and $50 feet TO
were required, and each length was made
up of four plates of steel, rivetted to-
gether in the shops where they were
available to rsvet two lengths Of pipe to-
gether before lowering them into the
trench, but for the most part each
ing been placed in position the lengths
had to be rIvetted together, n special
gangs were kept going for this purpose.
eight inch pipe required ninety-three riv-
cts and every connection OF forty-two
inch pipe used on al average eighty-one
of the steel pins, 1t will be seen that the
rivetting was no small part OF the work;
In the s%gaaller sized Rhbge fn nsaa rt were II qs en
inch IN diameter. where the pressure was
eisbt riyets of ffve-eigffts inches each
were employed to Join the rims.
A first a rsvetttng machine worked by
faction. II was discarded and the riyets
were heated to a white heat and driven
home by hand. A compressed abr calk-
ing machine was sent over the work az
terward to finish the job and as 5000
.rfvets. in round numbers. were used, vt
can readily be seer. what a Job this was.
The contractors laid the second main
the placing Of the first. When the origi-
nal work was started the East Jersey
people gave the contract to a certain fi!m.
but as the contractors had finished but
one mile Of the work in three months the
contract was a~brogated and the Messrs.
dertakfng. Even at that fully q year
was required to connect the man
with the intake and the Bellevhle reser-
Helped by their former experience and
With a knowledge of the difficulties to be
the contractors handled the
present work accordingly and made great
1900 feet Of pipe were laid. while 81 other
occasions two or three lengths were all
that could be placed In position. With the
present line the Passaic River was cross
ed at Little Falls in three days time.
There the pipe was put under the bed
OF the river, quite a difficult task, as the
first main had been carried over the