The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-11-07

with u great many cities In this country.
Third. That YOU have not given your
consumers proper service. That to In
crease the efficiency of your service you
would have to cXpcnd from five cents to
seven cents more pcr / 900 cubic feet
for distribution expenses, etc. that YOU
now spend
Fourth. That the expenditures Of the
municipality In the settlement of claims
are lower than would be the case with
"a private corporation.
Firth. That due to your stringent reg
t,lations. which YOU are in Il position to
enforce. YOU arc able to collect closer
than could n private corporation.
Should we omit all charge for unpaid
taxes. depreciation, office rental. ETC., we
would show an apparent net income of:
1902. 49,. $50. 80 SILL OIL
1903... ......s ~, 3oO w 5tf
tih# 1904 ....,.9.5.i.s. %, ZOO alia
Quality of Service to the Con-
sur1ler.
Exhibit sc" gives a comparison between
tho main system Of Richmond and those.
of two other cities Of a~comparablet Size
onel (A) located In Massa chusetts and one
OBJ located In New York state.
1t will be noted that OF the s. miles
OF street mains In Richmond upwards Of
4S per cent. arc inchea or smaller III
size against S.3 per cent. - the case OF
"a" and 1913 per cent. IN the case OF
"B." A study of this list OF mains IN
connection with the map Of the city
exhibit BY will convince one that. IN
order to carry 1-2 to 9 inches Of pres
sure at the lowest point Of your system
1t will be necessary for you to carry mn
excessive amount on the higher portions
Of the system: In fact, Il higher pressure
than you have available.
Asnumber Of pressure charts have. un-
der my direction, been taken at various
points on your system. The minimum
pressure observed at each point Is shown
on attached blueprint, marked exhibit
'B. These prcsstres are IN a number
of places considerably below the mini
mum required for praper service, and 1t
must be borne In mind that these pres
surcs are taken at time when your
consumption is at its lowest point, being
probably less than one half of your max
.imum. If at the present season you OBJ
thin in certain localities only about l.
inch pressure on your mains. with pres
sure of 21-2 to 3 inches at your works.
the surprising fact is that, during the
period Of maximum consumption with no
more pressure carried at your works.
these low districts arc not partially or
wholly without light. @8
Your holder at the lower gas WORKS
throws, when fully inflated. in the neigl +
5borhood of 5-lnch pressurc; your holders
at the upper works throw approximately
3-inch pressure. AS q general rule, all of
the gas distributed west Of the upper
at these upper works. a number Of
charts We're obtained. showing the pres
sure carried on the supply mains at the
upper works during December. 1904.
These show that rarely was the pressure
above 3 Inches; that frequently it was
allowed to fall below 9 inches-at times.
as low as II lnches-and that no at
tempt was made to regulate the amount
OF pressure this point to the demands
of the consumption. AS far as could be
learned. at, the time of minimum pres
sure at the upper works additional pres
sure could have been made available by
simply opening a valve. thereby mate
rally beneflting conditions on the out
lying districts. Instructions to your pres
sure men at the upper works. If YOU may
call them instructions. are TO use their
judgment in regulating pressures. Just
how they are to form an opinion Of the
needs OF the districts have been I'M
able to discover. The Judgment of the
most experienced man, based upon the
fullest information as to conditions on
the districts, would be subject to re-
vision from week to week and day to
day
Generally speaking, the additions to and
enlargements of your main system have
not kept pace with the growth of the
city nor with the Increase in your con-
sumption. Furthermore, your manage
lnGUL docs not SEEN 10 IlhNt dppIcClilSu
the necessity Of maintaining the pres
sure on the district nor. to have had
any understanding Of the means OF so
doing. I believe 1t safe to say that 80
per cent. of your complaints are because
of insufficient supply caused by low pres
sure.
Quality of Gas.
From analyses which we're made by
local chemists we find that at the pres
ent time your gas is of satisfactory
quality as far as Impurities are con-
cerned, containing maximum at the
time of test of isis grains Of ammonia
per 100 cubic feet Of gas and 1921 grains
OF sulphur per 100 cubic feet. These ana
lyscs, however, furnish no guarantee that
q similar quality of gas is distributed
during the winter months. With your.
present low productions, largely Of water
gas, your purifiers readily remove tho
sulphur. requiring a change OF oxide IN
only one box per week. According TO
your employees reports, >it is necessary
during the winter months to daily, change
the oxide in one purifying box.
A number Of phutOnletriC observations
were made. These show a wide varia-
ton and absolute lack of regulation. As
lermining the candle-power. i is reason
able to suppose that during the colder
months the varia ton Is much greater
For this condition you can however noid
no one Responsible, as you nave ueciihtu
to appropriate the necessary money to
enable your superintendent to purchase
a bar photometcr.
Service.
Until few years ago you laid service
pipes as small as three-quarters OF an men
in diameter and at the present Nne inc
majority OF the services laid are only one
inch in diameter. With such small pipes
the liability 10 stoppage IS very great and
must be the source of a large number o.
complaints.
Metres. \. .3
Your methods Of tnstinls and repairing
metres are crude. There is also an en- !,
tire lack of system in the testing Of
these metres. Attached hereto, under
Exhibit 3D. you viii find the results ol
the testing Of fifteen metres; out OF these
fifteen only six metres were within Two
per cent Of being correct. the regs ira,
| ton of the remaining metres being IRON
ten per cent, slow to five per cent. fast
From the test Of Duch u small number
! of metres it is Impossible to draw any
| conclusion as to the relation between tht
total registration of service metres and
tho total amount of gas consumed rms
| large variation in the registrat ton OF IN
| l,oo