The herald., 1896-01-08
How Street and Sewer Work
Will Hereafter Be Done
THE OLD METHODS NO GOOD
Only One Set of Specifications TO Be
Used Hereafter
The Present 6, ,atus of Annexation Judgment
Honey Paid Into the City Treasury-The
Building Record-School Committees

Ihe board OF public work 8, sewer com
mittee, city attorney, city clerk and engi-
neer have finally completed the proposed
new specifications which will hereafter be
followed in the construction of sewers, side
walks and street curbs. The old specifica-
tions, both numbered and lettered, were so
numerous and contradictory as to render
them almost valueless,a ,and the ne W specifi-
co ions are intended to remedy this defect
and to be also in every essential thoroughly
legal.
The new sewer specifications provide
that all pipe shall be of the first quality of
vitritied salt-glazed sewer pipe, sound and
well burned throughout its entire thickness.
not more than one-half inch in diam
eter for every 3 inches. For all diameters
up to II inches and for diameters of IL
inches and upwards, double strength pipe
must be used.
All socket pipes must be in piles two
feet in length and all pipe rejected must he
Immediately removed from the work. Y's
must be placed twenty-five feet apart and
must branch under 40 degrees, except
when otherwise specified. Y's and head.
ends of all pipes must be closed with earth
enware caps and the space above filed
with wet sand with thin coating of cement
mortar. In excavating tunnels may be
dug not less than ten feet apart in all exca-
vations where the trench is more than ten
feet deep, which tunnels must be two feet
above the pipe when laid.
The contractor must at his own expense
pump out the water or sewage which he
may find upon any piece of work, and he
must brace and plank all tunnels over four
feet in length wherever necessary.
Where rock is blasted it must be taken
out three inches below the outer bottom of
the sewer. and the trench must then be
laid with sand to the gravel of the grade.
Where water pipe is encountered, rock ne
cessary to be eXcavated for width of five
feet on each side of the main pipe is in all
cases to be removed without blasting.
Free access must be left in digging to all
hydrants and water gates. Oakum gaskets
must be used wherever it has been found
necessary to pump or dIain or remove
water from the trench or tunnel. Before
the trenches are refilled the tops of all
trenches not over four feet in length must
be trimmed to V shape. All gravel used
for packing must be replaced by good,
clean, fresh gravel.
In all ungraded streets, new sewers must
be covered with dirt to depth of not less
than three feet Where the trenches do
not furnish material of proper quality the
contractor must procure the deficiency at
his own cost.
The city engineer must test all work un-
der the rules OF the American Society of
Civil Engineers. All cement work must
be at least 90 per cent tineness and not less
than 50 per cent in weight All cement
used must be of the best Portland variety
and the contractor must give at least one
weeks notice for the purposes of testing.
The manholes and flush sewers must
contain an eight-inch arch where the pipe
is over twelve inches in diameter and
four-inch arch where the pipe is over
twelve inches. The bottom of the man
holes must be of concrete and the inside
must be provided with iron bars three
quarters of an inch thick and fifteen inches
apart. No connection of sewer with
drains is allowed before the completion
and acceptance of the former and no in
competent workmen shall be employed and
the street superintendent shall compel any
imperfect work to be corrected. The con-
tractor will have to be responsible for any
damages the city may have to pay in con-
sequence of his failure to protect the pub
lie from injury. He must not obstruct
travel and must properly fence his work
and must post red light and employ a
night watchman upon the same.
In the matter of cement sidew alks and
curbs the new specifications require that
the curbing shall be inches on top by i 3
inches deep by IL inches on the bottom,
thaving a batter of ) inches on each side;
the curb to be composed of concrete of the
proportion required by the city engineer.
Sidewalks shall be 3 u inches thick, built
on foundation of properly rolled sand
gravel. On this foundation concrete to a
depth of 3 inches must be spread. A fin
ishing coat is to follow, q inch thick, and
the surface must be smoothed and marked
into blocks.
On streets where the cement sidewalk is
not the full width of the walk, earth or
other material must be removed to the
grade of the finished work. The whole
width of walk must be left one continuous
plane.
The material to be supplied in case of
fill must be of good sound earth, and built
up in layers of not to exceed l foot in
thickness, each layer to be well packed
and rolled with a roller weighing not less
than twenty-five pounds to the linear inch.
All sidewalks and curbs must be protected
from the sun and thoroughly watered for
ten days after completion.
All cement used shall be of the best
Portland cement.
A RADICAL CHANGE
In the matter of cement tests, to show
the quality, tineness, strength of the arti-
Gle the specifications are changed so that
the city engineer is made the arbiter in
deciding as to these various points, instead
of the street superintendent as formerly.
All tests shall be made by the methods
and under the conditions prescribed by the
Ss