Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1903-09-18
FIXING A BIG STACK.
How II Was Made. Plumb While In
Daily Use.

lazy Oecs
An interesting piece Of engineering
In CranssOn was completed last week.
The chimney, 1872 feet high. built
few months ago. was brought back TO
perpendicular position and the engi-
neer who planned the work Is conf
dent that there win be no further set
Ting. The safety of an $1,000 Chin
ney seems to be assured. and the nee
essiry of moving new boiler house
to another location Is obviated.
Last winter when the foundations
were laid ii was supposed that the
ground was solid. The site OF the
chimney is near the edge of Tongue
Pond, which flows into Spectacle
Pond, and IL Is probable that the &C
tion of the water weakened the east
side Of the foundation. When the
chimney was partly built there were
signs Of settling. and soon after the
laying of the last brick the tall col
umn leaned toward the east a distance
of nearly four feet. No instrument
was needed to show that the chimney
was badly out of plumb. and 1t was
obvious that In time II would fall, q
the soil was clearly incapable OF car
rying the load. The company which
erected the chimney had no desire TO
take the responsibility Of straighten-
ing 1t. and Mr.. Joseph. III. Gerhard.
civil engineer, of this city, announcer
his willingness to take the chances OF
failure. The plan devised by Mr.. Ger
hard was simple. but patience ana
Judgment we're required to carry 1t TO
completion. and the results are very
creditable to all engaged in the deli
cate undertaking.
One course of bricks, three-fourths
of the way through the chimney, was
removed from the west side. Wedges
of oak were driven into the space oc-
cupied by the bricks. On the east side
a he'd OF concrete feet thick and hay
ing an area of 10 by 20 feet was laid
against the foundation. When the
earth was removed a strong spring
was tapped; the flow of water was at
the rate of 10000 gallons an hour, ana
the pumps available at short notice
were insufficient to keep the excava-
ton dry. Apprehendiug that the now
of water might further undermine the
concrete supporting the chimney, one
engineer discontinued effort to divert
the flow and proceeded to bury the
spring under concrete. This departure
from approved methods of concrete
construction appears to have Deen
successful; the new bed of concrete
showed no sign of settling and was at
once utilized in the work OF tipping
the chimney westward
Two holes were cut into the east
side of the chimney and In these holes
22-inch steel beams 25 feet long were
inserted. the outer ends of the beams
resting on the concrete Twenty jack
screws were placed under the beams
and the leverage was sufficient to TIP
the chimney toward the west, as the
wooden wedges were gradually burned
ont by a gas flame, driven into the
oak by compressed air. The chimney,
as the wood was burned away, gradu-
ally approached a perpendicular hne'
the movement averaging about SIX
inches a day. When the chimney was
straight concrete was filled into the
space occupied by the brick, and the
steel beams were buried In concrete
after the removal of the Jackscrews to
protect the metal from corrosion.
During the fitting operation It's use
was not interrupted. - Providence
Journal.