The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-09-06


 The Gas Age in a recent issue, pub iished-zaHsz4nterestI account of the completion of the new Astoria tun ael, under the East River, in the con- struction of which a Connecticut boy, Harold Carpenter, had an important part as resident engineer for the Con- solidated Gas Company of New York
 The Gas Age says: Thursday, July IT, was one of the most important days in the history of the gas industry in New York, for on that day was ac- compIiShed the final E'holing through of the new Astoria tunnel under the East River between Astoria and the Bronx, by means of which the Con- solidated Gas Company of New York will supply from its Astoria plant the future needs of consumers in the fast growing borough north of the liar lem River The work of building. this latest of New York's tubes has been going on for almost three years but so quietly and unostentatiously have those in charge proceeded with their difficult undertaking, deep down un- der the swiftly moving currents mile or so north of Hell Gate, that com paratively few persons have even been aware that 1t was under way.
 Yet in many respects this new tun- neI is the most marvellous of all the numerous tubes that have been con structed in and about Manhattan Is land ruring the last decade. Certainly it is one of the grandest achievements in the line Of tunnel engineering for the purpose of gas distribution at least that has yet been accomplished anywhere in the world. Cut through solid rock at a distance of nearly 250 feet below the surface of the river, and in the face of difficulties that had to be and were met by extraordinary methods. It's successful completion the l,r Srzc% f0d he the part of the Consolidated Gas Com pany Of New York and it's subsidiary, the Astoria Light, Heat and Power Company. its far-sighted builders.
 At about 3:35 o'clock in the after noon Of July IT, William H. Bradley, the veteran chief engineer of the Con solidated Gas Company of New York, and George B. Cortelyou, the president Of the company, standing on the tun- neFs floor, 246 feet below the waters of the East River, and 800 feet from the Bronx shore, simultaneously press ed little electric switches that set off a powerful charge of dynamite. This tore through the intervening wall of rock between the two borings, and shortly afterwards the group of rub ber-coated officials, engineers and newspaper representa- who wit messed the interesting event, passed through the place from which the rock had been dislodged and the Astoria end was joined to the tunnel from the Bronx
 Besides MT Cortelyou and Chief En- gineer Bradley. the party who made this first underwater trip from Astoria to the Bronx, included Lewis B. Gaw- try, vice-president of the Consolidated Gao Company of New York, and son of Harrison E. Gawtry, for many years president of the company, and now chairman of it's executive board; Mich olas F. Brady, a son of the late An tl1ony N. Brady, and now president of the New York Edison Company J. w. Lieb. Jr., and Thomas Murray, vice. presidents of the New York Edison Company; W. Cullen Morris, engineer of construction; representatives of the contractors, Messrs. Jacobs & Davles Inc, Robert B. Livingston, of the Con- soIidated Gas Company, and about a score of newspaper men.
 Although the work of cutting through the new tunnel has now been success fully consummated, 1t will probab ply be a year or more at least before the two gas mains, each 72 inches in di- ameter, with which it is to be equip ped, and which are to supply the Bronx with gas, are laid. These mains have metal 3 1-3 inches thick and are made In lengths of 12 feet, each length Weigh ing a little over 13 tons, or a little more than one ton to the foot. Event ually 1t may be necessary to place two more Of these mains in the tunnel, making four in all
 The innmensity and importance of the work of building this new tunnel from Astoria to the Bronx probably will be best appreciated from some of the figures and facts concerning it. In the first place, the great increase Tn the population of the Bronx, which made 1t necessary to. provide not only for present but for future neede, is worth a moments attention. Only so short a. time ago as 1880 the pcpula- ton of the borough was Ss,90S. In 1900 1t was 2O0,507. Ten years later, in 19lO the year that saw the start of the new tube. the total had jumped to 430, ,9S0. while the latest figures give the opu- Iation of the Bronx as 53l.219- To rect the pressing needs of such a sttu- ation as is shown by thess increasing totals, the new tunnel, saId to repre- Eent an expenditure of nearly $5,OOO GOO, YVES undertaken --...
 The bore of the new tunnel is very similar in shape in the letter D turned on it's flat side. The tunnel is 21 feet high and 19 feet inches wide. The concrete lining, where concrete is used carries between IS and 36 inches. Where necessary the concrete is reinforced with steel rods. The mean depth of the floor of the tunnel is PAS feet and pver the tunnel roof there are 135 feet of solid rock and 90 feet of water. The shaft leading to the tunnel the As IOK1a &1Qe Is Zfo Ie6I , luCHSS u6ep, anu has a diameter of S4 feet inches, while the shaft at the Bronx end, whose diameter is 26 feet, sinks into the ground for a distance of 239 feet. The tunnel runs in an almost north and-south line, and it's total length, Including the shafts, is practically one naiIe-the exact figures being 5,171.79 feet.
 ENGINEERING FEATURES.
 The construction of the tunnel rep resents an achievement in engineering lnasmuch as the engineers were un- able to make use of the ordinary means available for such work It was impossible, for instance, to use compressed air. in order to keep the c,s eI