Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-19
COMPRESSED AIR JOBS
GALL FOR WORKERS IN NEW
YORK TUNNELS.
1000 Men at Least Needed - Coco
Wages and Short Hours-There
Must Be No Strikes.
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
If the Pennsylvania railroad let's con-
tracts for the driving of its tunnels by the
compressed air process more men VIII be re-
quired 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 g.
Under the specifications the contractors
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 together in the middle of the
river.
The Behring'S.
That calls for four headings. In the
East river there are to be four tunnels. Bor-
.ngs will be made from each shore. and in
addition headings will be driven from the
Long Island side east, the examination
of the material east from the Long Island
shaft shows that it is very soft for d,s-
lance of l, 600 feet and the compressed air
and shield system must be employed there
AS the men work in short shifts because
of the abnormal conditions. an average
force of 100 men to each heading will be
needed to keep the work going day and
night. as 1t must be to comply with the re-
uuirements- AS a percentage of compressed
air workers are in hosp tai for a large part
of the time, nearer 2,0OO than 1.6OO will be
needed.
That's more men than there are now
available for this sort Of work" said a
contractor yesterday. 'It 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 di-
rect their work.
Few Foremen.
"Out of 100 men accustomed to this kind
of work a contractor will not find one maj
fit to be a foreman or even a gang boss
Effective work must be directed by an able
foreman, and such men are few, because
they are the product of long experience or
unusual intelligence.
''One of the obstacles that the contractor
for this class of work has to meet in figur-
ing these big contracts Is that the Penn
sylvania railroad specifically stipulates that
the contractor shall be entitled to no al
lowance of time or money for delay Que to
strikes. With the compressed air labor
field more than swallowed up by this one
contract bidders may have some fine flgur-
Ing to avoid labor troubles"
At least one of the alternative bids put
In will offer to build the tunnel under 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 silt into substance akin to sandstone
by the use of refrigerating pipes The ma
terlai may then be removed in big chunks
All the patents covering the process In this
country are held by Charles Sooysmith
the wel-known hydraulic engineer Mr.
Sooysmtth. IL is understood, Is prepsr ring
DDS Tor boring the tunnels by both pro-
CeSSes.
Payment to Contractors,
An unusual requirement in this eputract
is that the contractor must maintain his
work for one year AS the work PROGRESSES
the contractor is paid 80 per cent therefor
on the certificate of the engineer OF the
10 per cent due him on completion & per
cent Is paid to him at the end of six
months. less the actual cost to the Penn
sylvdnia of any repairs due to faulty work.
leaks. breaks or other defects developed in
that period.
At the end of a year the remaining . per
cent Is to be paid to the contractor after
ike expenses have been deducted What
ever weaknesses may be developed by the
vibration of the trains in opera ton for a
year will thus be charged against the con-
tractors. ~
The Instructions to bidders disclose that
the engineering commission decided on the
iron pier system for the support OF the
tunnel body Some engineers had favored
sinking bed of wood piles on which the
tuDe OF iron and cement might rest The
plans call for hollow iron piers, each TWEEN
C-seFeh inches in diameter. to be filed
win cement. These piers are plated To tba
body of the tunnel and to be fastened 70
whatever substantial bottom the river NAV
oHer. SO that the lengths are uncertain
ne supports VIII be twelve and one-haIf
1eet apart right across the river.