The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-12-03
COMPRESSED AIR JOBS.
CALL FOR WORKERS COMING
WHEN THE TUNNEL STARTS

Two Thousand at Least Needed, aud
There are Not So Many Used to the
Work im the Markst-Good Wages
and snort Hours-Bus There aIuss be
No strikes-Bids Ready.
If the Pennsylvania railroad let's con-
tracts for the driving of its tunnels by
the compressed air process more men
will be required for the work than have
ever been at work in air chambers at
one time in all the world. Bids for the
work are to be opened on December 5.
Under the specifications the contrac-
tors will be driving the tunnel shields
from sixteen headings at the same time.
Under the North river there are to be
two tubes. Work will be started on the
Jersey side and simultaneously on the
Manhattan side, the tubes coming to-
gether in the middle of the river.
That calls for four headings. In the
East river there are to be four tunnels.
Borings will be made from each shore,
and In addition headings will be driven
from the Long Island side east, as the
examination of the material east from
the Long Island shaft shows that it is
very soft for distance of sixteen hun
dred feet and the compressed air and
shield system must be employed there
AS the men work in short shifts, be-
cause of the abnormal conditions, an
average force Of one hundred men to
each heading will be needed to keep the
work going day and night, as 1t must be
to comply with the requirements. AS a
percentage of compressed air workers
are in hospitals for large part of the
time, nearer two thousand than sixteen
hundred will be needed.
That's more men than there are now
available for this sort of work" said a
contractor yesterday. 1T will not be
hard, however, to get new men for the
ordinary labor In the chambers. The
wages paid are attractive to men in
other occupations. The difficulty will
be in getting foremen to direct their
work. IL .-s. .4. L..
Out Of one hundred men accustomed to
this kind Of work a contractor will not
find one man fit to be foreman or even
a gang boss. Effective work must be
directed by an able foreman, and such
men are few, because they are the pro-
duct of long experience or unusual in
telligence.
One Of the obstacles that the con-
tractor for this class of work has to
meet in figuring on. these big contracts
is that the Pennsylvania railroad spe-
officially stipulates that the contractor
shall be entitled to no allowances of
time or money for delay due strikes.
With the compressed air labor field
more than swallowed up by this one
contract, bidders may have some fine
figuring to avoid labor troubles
At least one Of the alternative bids
put in will offer to build the tunnel I'M
der the rivers by the freezing process,
which does away with the compressed
air chambers and opens the labor field
to the ordinary workman. This method
consists Of freezing the slit into sub
stance akin to sandstone by the use of
refrigerating popes. The material may
then be removed in big chunks. All the
patents covering the process in this
country are held by Charles Sooysmith,
the well known hydraulic engineer. Mr..
Sooysmith, 1t is understood, Is prepar-
Ing bids for boring the tunnels by both
processes.
An unusual requirement in this con-
tract is that the contractor must main
work progresses the contractor is paid
ninety per cent. therefor on the certifi-
cate of the engineer OF the ten per
cent. due him on completion, five per
cent. is paid to him at the end of six
months, less the actual cost to the Penn
sylvania Of any repairs due to faulty
work, leaks, breaks or other defects de-
veloped in that period.
At the end of year the remaining
five per cent. Is to be paid to the con-
tractor after like expenses have been
deducted. Whatever weaknesses may
be developed by the vibration of the
trains In operation for a year will thus
be charged against the contractors.
The instructions to bidders disclose
that the engineering commission deci-
ded on the iron pier system for the sup
port of the tunnel body. Some engi-
neers had favored sinking a bed Of wood
piues, on which the tube of iron and
cement might rest. The plans call for
hollow iron piers, each twenty-seven
inches In diameter, to be filled with ce-
ment. These piers are plated to the
body of the tunnel and to be fastened to
whatever substantial bottom the river
may offer, so that the lengths are UNI
certain. The supports will be twelve
and oue-half feet apart, right across the
river.-New York Sun.
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