The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-03-09
TURNED INSIDE OUT.

TURNED INSIDE OUT.
While exposed plumbing" is one of
the features of the new science, it is
by no means all that is new. The entire
system of general house drainage has.
in fact, been turned literally inside out
by the recent Innovations. The main
line of pipe supports itself, Independent
of the beams, walls and ceilings of the
house, and thus cannot be affected by
any settling of the floors or the various
displacements to which every building
is liable. In the time of the old meth
DDS pines We're frequently bent in this
way. and the entire plumbing of
| dwelling disturbed. This new construc-
tiCn is as little concerned with the rest
| OF the building as, to use a well-knoWn
| example the walls of a modern office
building are with it's steel frame. 9th
er improvements in general drainage
are the perfection of the vent system
and the substitution of wrought iron
for the old cast iron pipes.
These new pipes of wrought iron are
screw threaded and form a solid, con-
tnuous piece of tubing, doing away
with the ancient cock joints. The vul-
nerable part of the plumbing Of a house
fifteen years ago was where its pipes
joined, the junctures being made by
oakum and lead. There was always the
| danger of leaks and displaCements. The
new method is, to say the least, far
| safer
So much for general drainage. An
! interesting phase Of the new plumb
| ing is its water supply. The oldtime
| lead pipes have been to a great extent
superseded by pipes of wrought irOn
| galvanized or porcelain lined, and
where exposed finished either in brass
or the more valuable metals, such as
nickel, silver or gold In the best
work the street pressure system is not
| considered sufficient, and a tank on
the upper floor is added.
| Hot water supply has been studied
carefully, with the result that the old
| idea of single boiler has been dis
| carded, and now houses are
fitted out with the twin boiler
or the double system. The
| former is in use in modern houses
of the type of the Vanderbilt, Hunting
| ton and Yerkes mansions of this city
and the west. In the best designed ap-
| paratus Of this class there is a separate
| pipe running from the boiler to each
| hot water faucet, each pipe fitted out
| with Il stopCOck near it's beginning
| that in case of any trouble that pipe
| may be shut off and hote water con-
| tinue to be supplied to the rest of the
house. The double boiler is placed by
the side of the kitchen range in the
| usual manner, but is boiler within a
| boiler the outer cylinder supplying the
| two lower floors, the inner those above,
| or vice versa. The twin boiler is simp-
| ly two boilers standing side by side.
DECORATIVE FEATURES.
Wash basins and closets, baths and
| tubs have not only shared in the gen.
| eral advance from a scientific point of
| view, but have been made highly dec
orative with rare marbles and costly
metals The modern bathroom has
| hardly a trace of wood in it. Closets
are now built largely of porcelain, and
! during the last ten years the siphon jet
| has replaced, in all fine work, the for
| mer wash-out system. The greatest
| ingenuity along these lines, however
| has been expended on the water