USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > Town of Newton annual report 1882-1883 > Part 29
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Of the above amount expended, $23 should have been charged to sidewalks, $1.47 to parks, $1.47 to highways, widenings and improvements, and $24.22 to highways, gen- eral repairs.
ASHES.
The collection of ashes is made by the highway depart- ment, under the direction of the highway surveyors.
Amount appropriated by order of the City Coun-
cil for the collection of ashes for the year ending Jan. 1, 1884
$3,000 00
Amount expended
2,265 60
Balance unexpended .
$734 40
The following table will show the cost of the collection of ashes for each ward, and the day of the week on which the collection is made : -
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Wards 1 and 7, Thursday
$722 52
Ward 2, Friday .
255 94
Ward 3, Saturday
254 81
Ward 4, Monday
252 44 .
Ward 5, Tuesday
251 94
Ward 6, Wednesday ·
255 19
Cost of labor, as per superintendent's record of work . · . For miscellaneous expenses, as per sundry bills in auditor's report 272 76
$1,992 84
Total amount expended .
$2,265 60
WATER DEPARTMENT.
WATER BOARD. EDWARD W. CATE, President.
Members at Large.
FRANCIS J. PARKER. FRANCIS A. DEWSON.
Representatives of the City Council. ALDERMAN J. WESLEY KIMBALL. COUNCILMAN FRED. W. FREEMAN.
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS OF THE WATER BOARD.
Clerk and Water Registrar. ALBERT S. GLOVER.
Superintendent. H. N. HYDE, JUN.
Inspector. J. CLIFTON WHITNEY.
City Engineer. ALBERT F. NOYES.
WATER DEPARTMENT.
In connection with the Water Department, there have been located one hundred and seventy services and exten- sions laid during the year. Lines and grades for the laying of water-mains have been established on twenty-nine streets, and all special castings have been located, and the regular meetings of the Water Board attended.
PUMPING-STATION.
The setting of the pumps and engines upon the new foun- dations, begun in 1882, was completed early in the year ; and the smooth and even working of the pumps attests the solidity of the foundations. A new twenty-four inch force main, with check-valve and gate, was laid from the pumps in their new position to the Y in the yard.
The small feed-pump was lowered, and a large cast-iron reservoir made for the more perfect heating of the feed- water.
Feeling that there might still be cavities beneath the plank- ing of the pump-well, borings were made with a quarter-inch bell-hanger's auger, which showed that spaces existed under nearly the whole bottom of the well, varying in depth from nothing to ten or more inches. It was therefore decided to inject cement-grout under the plank in order to make every thing as solid as possible. The well was 29 feet 9 inches long by 9 feet 10 inches wide, and about 14 feet deep, with a screen and gate-chamber 5 feet 4 inches by 4 feet 6 inches, of the same depth as the main well.
As the water-pressure against the bottom of the well, when
38
empty, was equal to ten feet of head, it was necessary to bore through the planking under a head equal to that in the ground outside. Cast-iron flanges were made fast to the plank bottom by lag-screws. A length of three-inch pipe twelve feet long was screwed into the flange. The pipe was filled with water, and the plank bored with a long-handled auger. To insure the perfect filling of all cavities, four of these three-inch pipes were placed equidistant from each other through the centre of the well, and ten two-inch pipes, used merely for vents, were placed on the extreme sides and corners of the well. The main three-inch pipes were carried to the level of the engine-room floor by the addition of a length of pipe to each; and the cement-grout poured from this floor had a head or pressure equal to thirteen feet.
The grout used was of clear Portland cement (Lion brand) mixed to a consistency of thick cream. The mixing-boxes were two in number, five feet long, four feet wide, and one foot deep, placed side by side, and each divided into two sec- tions by a partition in the middle. Each side of the partition was a two and a half inch hole, with a wooden plug. On the under side was fastened a galvanized iron chute to the cem- ent towards a galvanized iron funnel, which was set on the top of the pipe. The mixing of the grout in each section of the boxes was continuous, so that a steady stream was running into the pipe from the commencement of the work to the finish.
The pouring was commenced upon a pipe at the extreme end of the well, and the thoroughness of the work was shown by the water gradually rising in each of the other pipes, and finally filling each with solid cement. Sixteen and a half barrels of cement were thus used; but I estimate about one and a half barrels as wasted in the several pipes and in the overflow. I therefore estimate that about fifteen barrels were actually injected. Further borings showed that the cement extended at least six or eight feet beyond any of the vent- pipes, and how much farther it may have extended I have no means of knowing.
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The work upon the foundations of the large pumps showed that the walls of the pump-well were badly cracked and broken by the various settlements. It was decided to grade up the bottom so that it would pitch towards the gate, to lay a four-inch brick invert in the bottom, to line each wall with eight inches of brick-work, and to construct three additional cross-walls, -- one twenty inches thick, and two twelve inches thick, one on each side of the suction-pipe.
The contract for performing this work was awarded to H. Bellamy, W. A. Fogwill, and J. Foster.
About nine inches of concrete were required at the north end of the well, running to nothing in the centre, in order to bring the bottom to a level. In order to obtain sufficient depth of water under the foot-valve of the large pump, the south half of the well was shaped up with concrete instead of brick, It was intended to calk all of the leaks in the old wall before laying the brick-work; but the old wall was found to be so weak and rotten that the calking of a large leak would cause a large number of small ones to burst forth. For this reason, the calking was abandoned, and chasings cut in the wall to carry the water away from the new work as much as possible.
Portland cement was used in all the concrete, in laying the brick invert, the lower part of the walls, the three courses in the arches of the cross-walls, the tying-in of the cross-walls, and the whole north half of the well up to the top. The remainder of the work was laid in Rosendale cement.
In the north-west corner of the well the largest leak was allowed to run through a pipe until all the work was com- pleted, when the pipe was capped. The well was made perfectly tight, and no leaks have since been discovered ; showing that the work was well performed.
As the changing of the screens in the screen-chamber allowed considerable floatage to pass through, a fixed screen, extending the full width of the well, was put in place be- tween the suction and gate. In order to clean this screen, the water is first pumped out of the well, and the screen
40
thoroughly washed with water from a hose : the washings are then removed in pails. For convenience in entering the well, two sets of stepping irons were placed in the walls.
A new foundation was laid beneath the Worthington aux- iliary pumps and engine, and the base lowered to a level with the basement-floor, thus reducing the suction-lift about eight feet. The contract for putting in the new foundations, re- pairing the cellar-floors, patching the walls, building of piers for floor-posts, feed-pump, hot-well, oiler, etc., was awarded to Arthur Muldoon of Newton Centre.
The old foundations were torn down, and the bricks cleaned. In excavating for the new foundation, two-inch sheathing was used. The excavation for the first three feet was mostly quicksand and meadow-muck, after which gravel was entered, which became coarser as the excavation pro- gressed. The excavation was carried eight feet below the basement-floor. Three feet of Rosendale cement-concrete, mixed in proportional parts of one, two, and five, was filled in for the full size of the sheathing, which was 12 feet 6 inches long, and 6 feet 8 inches wide. Upon this, 2 feet 3 inches of brick-work was built, also of the full size of the sheathing. Then the brick-work was drawn in to the size of the bed of the engine, and carried up to the level of the basement-floor.
New maple and cherry floors were laid in the engine-room, and the pump and pipes were painted and gold-striped.
The three boilers were reset, the furnaces relined, and the flues to the chimney changed, so as to pass over and between each boiler, instead of directly over, as before.
FILTERING-BASIN.
The repeated ebb and flow of the water in the filtering- basin, from each successive pumping, had caused a large quantity of the fine silt or sand to be washed from the slopes into the bottom, thus silting it so as to prevent as large an inflow of water as would otherwise have been obtained. With this condition of things, there was every indication that
41
there would be a shortage of water from the basin during the summer.
It was accordingly decided to give the basin a thorough cleaning. As but a week or ten days' supply could be stored in the reservoir, the basin could not be spared for a greater length of time. It was decided to separate it into two parts by building a coffer-dam across the centre, and clean one-half at a time. This dam was designed and built by John Harris of Boston. Three six-inch pumps were used for draining the part to be cleaned. The reservoir was filled to its fullest capacity, the water pumped out of the lower half of the basın, and a large force of men set at work with wheel- barrows and shovels for the removal of the silt. The imme- diate charge of the work of removal was given to Richard Adams, foreman of pipe-laying. The thoroughness of his work, and the economy of its removal, attest his efficiency.
In the construction of the dam, the foreman, not anticipat- ing so rapid filling of the basin, placed, instead of drove, the upper end sheathing-planks on the river-side of the basin. During the afternoon and night before the comple- tion of the cleaning of the lower part of the basin, a heavy rain and wind so washed the banks as to cause the water to get under a portion of the dam at the point where the planks were placed. This somewhat delayed the work, the cost of which was offset by the contractor for the dam.
From one to three or more feet of silt was removed by the cleaning of the basin. The growth of algæ appears to be more abundant and rapid, and the labor of keeping the same removed is constantly increasing.
PUBLIC PROPERTY.
JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC PROPERTY AND BURIAL-GROUNDS.
ALDERMAN JAMES R. DEANE, Chairman. ALDERMAN HENRY E. COBB.
COUNCILMAN AUSTIN R. MITCHELL.
COUNCILMAN EDWARD H. MASON.
COUNCILMAN SAMUEL L. POWERS.
PUBLIC PROPERTY.
Under the direction of the Joint Standing Committee on Public Property and Burial-Grounds, the work upon the sanitary improvements of the Claflin schoolhouse were com- pleted (for a description of the work see City Engineer's Report for 1882). The sanitary arrangements of the out- buildings have proved highly satisfactory.
While the arrangement for the ventilation of the school- rooms has been attended with excellent results, the arrange- ment of the furnaces has not been as satisfactory as antici- pated. The large radiating surface provided for the heating and ventilating of the building during excessive cold weather cannot be, or is not, as easily controlled as was hoped ; so that the heat is at times in excess of that which is needed. But care and judicious management can undoubtedly attain better results. Observations made by the teachers in each room each day during the month of February showed an evenness of temperature throughout the room unequalled in any other school visited. The consumption of coal by this arrange- ment will undoubtedly be larger than that by a judicious arrangement of steam-radiators in indirect coils.
Should another building be erected upon the Claflin-school lot, I would respectfully recommend that both buildings be then heated by steam.
Early in the year, the sanitary condition of our school- houses engaged the attention of the City Council, and the Special Committee of the previous year (consisting of the Joint Standing Committee on Public Property and Burial-
46
Grounds ; Edmund W. Converse, Fisher Ames, Lincoln R. Stone. Charles H. Stone, and Isaac Hagar, on the part of the School Committee ; the Health Officer and the City Engi- neer), which had been appointed to examine into the sani- tary condition of the schoolhouses, and the necessity for additional school accommodations.
This committee held several meetings, and appointed two sub-committees, - one consisting of the members of the School Committee, to consider the necessity for additional school accommodations ; and the other consisting of the City Engi- neer, Isaac Hagar of the School Committee, and Councilman Austin R. Mitchell of the Committee on Public Property, to consider the subject of heating and ventilating the school- buildings, the sanitary condition of the outbuildings, the various repairs and alterations necessary, and to examine the condition of the furnaces. For the result of the ex- aminations of these committees, I would respectfully refer you to their report made to the City Council, March 26, 1883.
As a result of this report, a special appropriation of $17,- 500 was made for heating, ventilating, repairing, and improv- ing the sanitary condition of the school-buildings; of $16,000 for erecting a new four-room school-building at Nonantum ; and of $31,000 for erecting a new eight-room building at Auburndale. Several meetings of the Committee on Public Property, local members of the School Committee, and the City Engineer, were held to examine and accept plans for the proposed new buildings. The plans of J. Foster Ober, archi- tect, were accepted for the eight-room building, and of George F. Meacham, architect, for the four-room building. Surveys were made and grades given for the foundations of these buildings by this department.
Plans, specifications, and contracts were made, and their execution superintended, for the following work : -
On May 11, 1883, a contract was made with John Foster and John Marden for the sum of $125 for excavating a por- tion of the cellar of the Public-library building, and concret- ing the sides and bottom. The head-room under the floor-joists
47
was only 31 to 42 feet, the general level of the cellar being about 3 feet below the floor-girders. An area 11 by 24 feet, and a passage to the front cellar 5 feet wide, were excavated, and the floor covered with 4 inches of concrete, giving 8 feet of head-room at the furnace, and 6 feet under the floor- joists in the passage. The sides of this excavation were pro- tected by a concrete wall 12 to 18 inches thick all along the outside edge, against the foundation-wall of the building, with a footing of concrete 12 inches thick and 24 inches wide. This wall was run up 30 inches, made of concrete rammed in tightly behind a plank framework. The con- crete used was mixed in the proportion, 1 part Rosendale cement, 2 parts clean sand, and 5 parts screened gravel. The work necessitated the removal of four of the brick piers supporting the floor-joists. These were rebuilt from the new bottom with a foundation of 18 inches of ledge-stone, and were well wedged up under the floor-timbers, the whole being laid in cement-mortar. A new No. 10 Chilson furnace with a brick casing was put in place of the old one. The total cost of the work and furnace was $372.84, the city furnishing the cement for the concrete.
On May 17, 1883, a contract was made with F. H. Hum- phrey for $115 for putting up a ventilating-shaft for the outbuildings of the Williams schoolhouse. A 12-inch gal- vanized-iron pipe was run over the ceiling of the building, with 3-inch branches running to each seat, and an 8-inch branch with hood over the urinals. This pipe ended in a galvanized iron box 3 by 2 by 11 feet, connected to a 12-inch pipe run up outside of the main building, and terminated by a globe-ventilator above the roof. This last pipe, from roof of outbuilding to the coping of the main building, is sheathed in, and painted to match building. The box at the foot of this pipe is fitted with a double-wick, Golden Star kerosene- stove with heating-drum, to furnish a draught in the whole system of pipes. The total cost of the work was $127.
On June 14, 1883, a contract was made with T. J. Hartnett for $258 for fitting up a bath-room at Hose House No. 5,
48
Auburndale. A room on the north side, lighted by a sky- light near the tower, was appropriated for the purpose. The skylight was raised about 6 inches, so as to admit a flap-ven- tilator to be set in the side of it, and the sash arranged to open with a cord and pulleys. A 40-gallon supply-tank was set up in the closet, and connected with the main house-supply. The fixtures in the bath-room consist of a tinned, planished copper bath-tub 51 feet long, a 14-inch porcelain basin set in a marble slab, a porcelain water-closet with an enamelled Worcester ventilated hopper, and a 12-gallon supply-tank to water-closet ; 40 feet of 2-inch wrought-iron pipe was also used as a radiator. The bath-tub and basin were fitted with hot and cold water fixtures. A 40-gallon copper boiler was set in a closet on the first floor, just below the bath-room. This boiler was sheathed in, up to and through the ceiling, to a register in the bath-room floor; a register was also placed at the floor-level on the first floor. By this means, air is sup- plied to the bath-room, heated by contact with the boiler. Hot water is obtained by an inch-pipe coil set in furnace in cellar, connected to boiler and tank. The coil in the bath- room is connected with the hot-water circulation for winter heating : in summer it can and should be disconnected, and all water drawn off. The soil-pipe was continued from the stable-wall up through the roof, to receive all wastes. All traps were ventilated, and a 2-inch vent pipe run through the roof. The amount of the contract covered the whole cost of the work.
The work upon the bath-room of Hose House No. 6 at Newton Lower Falls was inspected, and, so far as the erec- tion of the soil-pipe was concerned, was made satisfactory by the contractor.
As a result of the work of the Special Committee on the Sanitary Condition of the Schoolhouses, plans were made for altering over and rebuilding the outbuildings of the Hyde, two Prospect, and Jackson schoolhouses ; which alterations were made as follows : -
A contract was made with Isaac Smith and Daniel Hur-
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ley, amounting to $2,187, for rebuilding the outbuilding at the old Prospect School, altering that at the new Prospect School, and making divers repairs in both buildings. This contract was extended so as to include a new passageway from the outbuilding to the main building, new hard-pine outside steps to main building, and new rain-water con- ductors to main building; so that the total amount of the contract was $2,546. The old outbuilding to the old school was removed, and replaced by a building 17 feet by 17 feet 4 inches, fitted with slate urinals and Mott's cast-iron trough water-closet.
The old vault was removed and filled up, and a brick cess- pool built outside, and connected to urinals and troughs. The inside of the building was finished in pine sheathing, shellacked, with hard-pine floors except around urinals, where a cement-concrete floor was laid. On the boys' side five slate urinals were put up, flushed by a brass perforated pipe ; also three closets. On the girls' side are five closets. The roof over the passages on either side is dropped a foot or so below the central roof, thus allowing hinged windows to each closet, giving a chance for direct ventilation through the closets, as the doors are set six inches above the floor, and are only five feet high. Further ventilation from troughs and urinals is obtained by a 10-inch ventilation-shaft run up at the rear of the main building, with a heater-box at the foot similar to that at the Williams School.
The outbuilding at the new Prospect School contained four double closets on the girls' side ; and on the boys' side there were eight seats, a teachers' closet, and ten plank uri- nals : these were all removed. Two sets of three slate uri- nals, with a cement-concrete floor, also four closets, were put in on the boys' side, and six closets on the girls' side, with troughs. The old vault was cleaned and refilled, and a soil- pipe was run to a brick cesspool outside of the building. The ventilation is arranged the same as at the old school-building.
The overflows from the cesspools built at both school- houses, and at the hose house above, were brought into a
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larger tank, from which an automatic siphon delivers all the liquid into a 5-inch drain leading to the lawn in front of the new schoolhouse, where it is distributed under the surface through 2-inch tiles laid from 8 to 12 inches below the surface. The surplus, if any should occur in winter, is taken to a long, dry well at the foot of the lawn. All this drainage-work was put in by day labor, owing to the pres- ence of rock so near the surface in many places, which neces- sitated frequent changes of plan as the work progressed.
Inside of the old schoolhouse two wash-stands and fittings were placed in the schoolrooms on the first floor. New hard- pine steps, and new rain-water conductors, were put up on both sides of the building, also steps from the cellar to the outbuilding ; and the cellar was reconcreted. The outside and division fences were painted three coats. At the new schoolhouse two enamelled iron sinks were set up, one on each floor, in corridor, with fittings. Four transoms were also set in the walls of passageway to each room, with rods, so as to be opened, as required, for ventilation. The total cost of the work was $3,588.41.
On July 9, 1883, a contract was made with C. H. and A. F. Ireland for $1,688.75 for rebuilding the outbuilding at the Hyde School. The old outbuilding contained a teach- ers' closet on each side, six seats on the girls' side, and seven seats and fourteen urinals (wooden) on the boys' side. The fire-escape or rear stairway, built some years ago, terminated on top of this building. In the alteration the old building was all cleared away, as the fire-escape had been built with posts running through the old building to piers below. The rear stairs were continued down to the first floor of the main building, with access from the two rooms on this floor, and outlets to the right and left into the school-yard. The cellar- stairs were carried out under these new stairs, and a building similar to that at the old Prospect School built in the rear. This contains two sets of four slate urinals, and five closets on the boys' side, and seven closets on the girls' side. The form and arrangement of the building is such, that, if a new
51
schoolhouse is built on the rear of the lot facing Lincoln Street, this same outbuilding could be extended and con- nected to it. The soil-pipe from this building connects with a large stone cesspool arched with brick, 10 feet in diameter, and about the same depth on the north-west side of the build- ing. Half-round enamelled iron basins were set later in each schoolroom, with fittings, and waste-pipes running to a cess- pool on the south-east side of the building. As the draught from the various furnaces used for heating the building was insufficient, two 8-inch cast-iron chimneys were run from the cellar to and through the roof. These were connected with the two portable furnaces, and the change was attended with very excellent results. The total cost of the work was $2,152.69.
A contract was made with Isaac Smith and Daniel Hurley for $1,430 for rebuilding the outbuilding at the Jackson schoolhouse. The old building, containing five seats on each side, and five urinals, extended back to the rear fence. This building was removed, leaving only the old stairway leading from the cellar ; and the new building was run across the back of the school-building, there being no windows in the main building on this side. The girls' and boys' accommodations are thus in separate buildings. The sectional form of the building is the same as a half-section of the new buildings at the Hyde and Prospect schools. It furnishes seven girls' closets, five boys' closets, and two sets of four slate urinals. A cesspool four feet in diameter, and six feet deep, was built in each front corner of the school lot, and connected, one to each end of the building. Ventilation-pipes and heater-cham- bers are arranged similar to those previously described, except that, the chamber being over the cellar-stairs, there is an 11- inch main running either way, with 3-inch branches to the seats. A single-vent shaft is run up to the top of the main building, sheathed in, and terminated by a globe-ventilator. Enamelled iron basins, with fixtures, were set in each school- room. Cold-air chambers were built to supply each furnace, and the cold-air boxes repaired. A new floor was laid in
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