The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1910-12-01

and Ice crusher, the finest sort OF
warming and steaming ovens, and
everything a palatial restaurant needs,
except prospective patronage In pay
ing quantities. The smaller restaurant
In the senate wing Of the capitol, with
much greater patronage, and with the
same things furnished that are offer.
ed In the senate Office building. was
operated at a loss by the two con.
tractors who conducted II prior to the
new order under which the senate be-
came a restauranteur.
Both the ONCE buildings are equip.
ped with extensive baths, and q
solon may have anything he wishes
in that line from a needle spray to a
seance with a professional masseur.
A large tank for cold plunges 10 TO
be placed in each building. and whom
the whole plant is In full operation
there will be nothing to excel 1t tAIs
side of the perfumed baths of ancient
Rome and Pompeii. One Of the rooms
In the senate office building has been
fitted up MS a gymnasium for strenu-
GUS senators. The baths and tie
gymnasium are exclusively for their
use.
One begins to realize the immens
ity OF the legislative plant OF he
United States when he is told that
the combined cubiCal contents OF the
whole group Of capitol buildings Ia
more than 100000 cubic feet. To
supply the house chamber alone with
good ventilation requires the con-
slant admission OF $4,000 cubic feet
OF air a minute. There are some 40
elevators in the group Of buildings,
some 1,400 rooms, and other equip
ment In proportion. The list Of things
over which the superintendent must
have oversight Is a long and varied
one. A heating and power plant. .
ventilating plant, a carpenter shop, q
blacksmith shop. scientific labor
atory, are only a few Of the many
activities that call men from every
walk of life to assist In the care and
maintenance OF the big plant. When
congress wants anything 1t wants 1t
at once. Every phase Of the service
must be so planned that there will bo
no emergencies that cannot be met.
In Supt. Woods. Assistant Supt. Lynn
and Chief Electrical Engineer GLEN
II has fine guarantees that there will
be no delays.
The new heating and lighting plant
for the public buildings on Capitol
Hill is the most remarkable plant OF
its kind in the world. 1t can furnish
5000 kilowatts OF electric power and
heat-enough to warm the capitol,
the library, the Office buildings, and
the proposed new supreme court build,
ing. There are In Ii four large tur-
bine generators and Is big boilers.
The water for these boilers Is fur
nished through an independent pump
ing plant built In the Potomac river.
and operated by electricity from the
power station. There are three big
centrifugal pumps. located several
feet below extreme lOw-water mark,
which can deliver 100000 gallons OF
water an hour. A special sewer leads
from the power plant to the river
and S6-inch pipe carries the water
from the river to the boilers. Between
the power plant and the various
buildings Is big conduit $500 feet
long, seven feet high, and four and
half feet wide. Inside OF this con-
duit Is 14-inch steam pipe which
brings to the legislative buildings all
the steam needed for heating the
/ 400 rooms, and also for the cook
Ing and baking plants of the restau-
rants of the various buildings.
This pipeline is thing of wonder.
full construction. At intervals Of $50
feet, joints have been made which are
steam-tight. and yet permit the pipes
to lengthen out or shorten up as oc.
casion may require. For efficiency or
operation the plant has been a sur.
prise to those who planned it. They
thought there would be enough con.
densation of steam by loss of heat
between the power house and the
capitol to return a constant stream
OF water. But so perfect has been
the insulation that there is no water
to come back. The steam makes It's
long journey and comes back drier
than 1t leaves the plant In many .
power house.
There are some remarkably In
genious devices connected with the
plant. 1t Is expected to use about
$4,000 tons of coal q year, and every
ounce OF II Is unloaded, weighed,
placed in the boilers, stocked, and the
ashes removed. by machinery. A
railroad switch brings the coal cars
TO the door; a self-registering scales
weighs It; a machine brushes 1t TO
the proper size, and then a belt con-
veyor carries 1t to the hoppers above.
Here 1t flows by gravity into the
chutes which admit 1t to the furnaces,
and the feeding attachment Is so ar
ranged that the efficiency OF each
boiler may be followed every day.
The mechanical stokers insure perfect
combustion, and the ashes are car
ried out by a conveyor system and
dumped directly into waiting cars.
To make sure that the power plant
will never face an emergency which
cannot be met, no expense has been
spared. There Is huge storage bat
terry kept fully charged at all times.
II anything goes wrong with the dyn-
amos. an automatic switch cuts out
the generators and hooks up the
cables with the storage batteries and
everything goes on as serenely In the
substations as though nothing had
happened. Then there are two big
cables to the buildings, where one
would be deemed sufficient In the or
binary commercial plant.
Deducting the cost Of heating the
group Of buildings from the total cost
of maintaining the new plant, II Is
expected that the figures will show
that the government gets It's lighting