Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1914-11-18
SUPPLY TANK At
CITY WATER WORKS
IS BEING PAINTED
GEORGE MILLS. HAS FOLLOWED
HIGH WORK FOR PAST
TWELVE YEARS

| George Mills, OF Greenvile, has
been painting the large supply tank
at the water works. The cold wealth
er of the last few days made ii neces-
sary for him TO discontinue the work
for a few days.
While the job looks to be a trifiing
one, to the casual observer, yet there
! is quite an amount of daring and
risk to 1t. When asked how he pro-
ceeded with the work Mr.. Mills said:
/ well, you will notice that the large
ball on the top OF the tank has been
/ taken off. You may not think il is
a large ball but it will measure about
twenty-four to twenty eight, inches in
diameter. The ball has fianges on
its lower part that extend out on the
roof of the tank, when il is in place
these flanges hold the ball in position.
| had to remove the ball in order to
get the hooks, that support my scat
fold into the hole beneath it. The
hole is just large enough to run my
hand through.
81 have been here two weeks trying
to work but part of the time the
weather has been so bad that l could
not work. 1t took me four days to
get the ball off of the tank and my
scaffolds up. The wind was so strong
that l could not hold to the roof. AT
the top of the ladder, that is fastened
to the side Of the tank, there is a man
hole through the edge of the roof.
Just above the manhole there is an
other hole that opens into the
interior Of the tank While the wind
was so strong ] could not get past
this hole. 1t was all that | could do
to hang onto the roof without trying
to scale the incline with my ropes
and hooks
Finally when | got my hooks and
ropes attached | began the work of
scraping the sides Of the tank. The
old paint had scaled up in patches
as large as my hand, and these scales
had to be removed and the surface
made smooth. This work took about
four days, because it is quite a dis
lance around the tank. You would
not think that it was twenty-five feet
in diameter. but it is. Neither would
you think that it is almost forty feet
from the base Of the tank to the edge
Of the roof.
well, | have painted portion Of
the sides already and will continue as
soon as the weather moderates. |
dIIl uSlnS ii SDtCldi steer paint iileihG
by z. ]. Knapp q Company. ] use it
in almost all of my steel painting.
When / get the outside painted l will
go over the entire inside, clean, scrape
and paint it, | would rather paint
the outside than the inner surface.
/ have to work in the dark on the
inside, and while the tank is supposed
TO be dry inside there is a certain
Of do of
Mr.. Mills was asked how long he
had been at the work, and how he
CHANGED TO start into that kind of
work:
Il have been working at high work
about twelve years. / was working
at the Lansing Boiler Works at the
time / started. The company wanted
to have a steel stack painted. After
the ropes and tackle had been put up
they were unable TO get anyone to
paint il. AS my foreman came past
me / remarked to him that / would
like to have a whacI at that work.
He said: Well, you can just go out
there and begin work on it, / made
the remark in jest, but, nevertheless,
went out and tackled the job. /
have been at the work ever since. /
travel all over the country and am
kept busy all OF the time.
How often should a tank be paint
ed ?" was asked.
About once every four years on
the average l think the tank here
was painted four years ago. Plenty |
of paint is cheaper than new tanks
every time. 1t will take me several !
days yet TO complete the job here. |
1t is getting most too cold to do such /
work now and l will soon have to /
quit for the winter"
Mr.. Mills also repairs brick chin
neys by taking out the old, crumbling /
bricks and replacing them with new
ones On one Of the stacks in Alma
he placed over two thousand new
bricks.