The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-07-03
new RECORD IN CAISSON WORK
MiDE N CITT'S BIG PR m ~
GINEERS AND SAND HOGS.
ENprrts travel Across HAn the World 10
Iook and say Job Couldn't be Done
AbFoad How sand Hogs work
Doctor whose speciality u Heads

Iook and say Job Couldn't Be Done
AhPoad How sand HoEs work
Doctor Whose speciality u ''I1end-." !
The Foundation Company Of us Broad I
way which drives tunnels and shafts IN
deep PLACES all over the continent. from
canada and Idaho tn Wall and Nassau
streets. has Just broken all Of its own and
everybody else's records in placing one
OF the piers which will help support the
new municipal building. Supt. U. :.
Downing ~ the company says that Il Is
the greatest engineering feat New York
has ever seen. Moreover. most Of New
York has seen It, for II stands, or rather
sticks out 81 the ground on the site Of the
new Ss.GO.OOO municipal building at the
Manhattan eni Of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Mayor Gaynor has seen II and expressed
his approval ~ have architects and
contractors who have come all the way
from Toxic and Australia to look at the
job and who all agree that III" thing
coul int L.. don" outside Of America.
WhA, the engineers travelled across
half the world io look ~ - "A concrete pier
With .fc,l shaft IN n. tipVai 10y razor
eIgri ,aissuu which - resting on led
/ rnck ~ a depth 1T I:2 feet and inch below
SCI level u j. IN" deepest cnissou dug
pier IN the world and II was all sunk and
set IN ou,. lay more than a month. Round
| IL are IO5 other piers. just like ~. which
run 10 depths of from VI To il2 feet. where
they So IN "A nei Of solid rock. Ssv-ntv-
thTee of them Al" already hnishet AMI 10y
August the Thomson -Starrett Company
can start tn huld upon the foundations.
which have cost the city 81. JOo.0OO
For year Supt. Downing has kept ia
men at work light and day Fiiieen cans
SONS IT four iin.rent typss- nave besn +
driving steadily for bet rock. No matter
whether their working chambers are Oi
wool steel or concrete. all are euulpp"i
With a steel cutting edge al the bottom and
one of Daniel b MorAn'z newly patented
Air lock chambers at the top. In fact II
WAS only MIR MuTan's invention and its
IMPROVEMENT upon the old fashioned air |
lock thai made the job possible.
This l. how foundation piers Ar" bum. /
FiT-, a uillar uf concrete u moulded to a |
h,.iyht Of thirty or forty feet aDove the I
cellar level steel shaft lust laTg"
enough for "A bucket and one man Ia move .
Wy and down in u driven dowh lnn'ie ths
tog- nakei except for boOtE. shovel /
sand INTO buckets III. water II kept out .
~ the caisson 10y air pressure from the lock 1
al the top OF the SHAFT. The hrrt pressure
inch above, the normal atmospheric press ,
IRE u fifta.u Iuunds. As the shaft slnks |
the air pressure II Increased one pound .
for every >. inches ot depth. In the deef-
,.-t .,aisson at ~ feet, the sand hogs toll /
out their forty minute shifts under AN arti-
ficiAl pressure 81 ~ pounds "a the square
inch When rock II rearhsi square
footing for the pier II blasted with uynA-
mite lhSa the concrete SETTLES and
harriens and the lakes 81 water Learning
auckland close round a comple'ed pier.
SUIT Downing = men also broke another
record by taking out Dos cubic wards OF
sand IN 'Ssnty-four hours under te;-
rifle air pressure ~ th. cai~snn-. Even
In tbs. deepest works there SerN. no Herl-
OTIS accidents The sand hogs most
~ them are lrisb-gei hig pay Tor work
ing eighty minutes IN two SHIFTS ~ forty
minutes each They are all poN"ri ~.
hardy men SINE 81 whom haN" been
working IA c,.Is-ons for thirty years
Ten years - considered tie limit Tor an
average CAis-un wor~r Then the
.henis- maze II unsafe for 4 man 10
ON Of the Foundation Company's in
tere-tlng pieces of equipment - com
pressed air hospital Dr.. NJ Ryan
u Toronto, "a graduate oI Mc'"iI tnly-r
sity and an authority on tn. lends,
MS established a lock hospital ~imillr
to the ,,ne ne directed at the time the
Hudson tunnels were being built. Men
get the bends 10y coming out 4 nigh
nnrily the men wait twenty or thirty
minutes ia the "a r chamber for IN" pressure
20 60 down. II they mes lect 90 DO this th"V
are taken with violent Craint's IN the
forearm. calf. IN gh and across the storm
ach and lack the moment they step INTO
the normal uncOmpres-ed AR III" am
~ said 90 resemble that ~ tnoihache.
and IL Lasts tor hours accompanied Nv
blind stageers. choking spells and nausea
When bent sand hog ~ hrought
IA Dr RYAN be in given 1. mug II black
COTE. for stmulant and Put hack under
pressure m the two compartment nos
:d'al locks There he exercises and
gets his muscles unbound. slowly the
pressure rises - twenty pouni- and th"n
RO,s down ~ the cOurs. - two or three
Eours. Once free the sand hog puts
IN two flannel shirts. a heavy SUIT. pps-
sibly am oyrrcpat. and x - home T. sleep
until u ~ time for his second forty minute
shift IN the CtlS-pn
Dr Ryan says that ve,y few men ar"
I'll, my enough ~ stand the work. Hun
dr.ss have b.-rn refused employment
for this reaSyn Every man II eXan,lped
al leact Once a month.
Penpl. who look down upon the eNca-
vafIups from the elevated station often
ask sup. DOwning odd questions One
man who leans over the rail- and halls
HIM regularly ~ very sorry tha' siit'h
gang II rncn should vast" their time
for u whole year In dirty hole and not
get ANYTHING don: nnvo few hum
ful for the cty and too lad Tor thu men
-Out there m III" sun.
When the COMPANY first moved into
the lot An elderly gentleman whom Supt
Downing ie-crihes 1s bright looking I.
u-ei e. gaze at the new electric cranes
and eHpos'ulats on the dangers ~ build
ing steel structures out IL pipes and hot
rivets7 But that was before the work
% sinking IA" piers began.