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Show BOARD IS READY TO KCEPT PIPE Resolution to This Effect Is Adopted at the Meeting Held Friday Afternoon. CONTRACTOR IS ABSOLVED FROM BLAME FOR LEAKAGE Mr. McMillan, Chairman of the Board of Works, Gives a Detailed De-tailed Explanation. Holding that the outlet pipe for rhc west side sewago system is built according ac-cording lo plans and specifications wit.h two exceptions, the board of public works, in special session Friday afternoon, after-noon, decided to accept tho work. Chairman H. G. McMillan said Friday Xo timo was set for the formal ac-ceptauce ac-ceptauce of I lie work, but under a resolution reso-lution introduced by Charles D. Ivook-lidge Ivook-lidge the contractor was notified to plnco the work in early readiness for acceptance and approval bv tho board. The resolution substantially is as iol lows: 13o it resolved. That the Campbell Bulldlnpr company bo notified that the supplemental agreement enUTt-d Into between be-tween the cltv and tli? said Campbell VtuildinK company on or about January -'l last, Is bv order of Hie city council hereby terminated, and that said bulldlnpr coni-panv coni-panv Is berobv Instructed to R?t iho wood-stave wood-stave outlet pipe In shape to he accepted and upprovod by the board. This resolution. Mr. McMillan explained, ex-plained, has nothing to do, with the resolution adopted by the city council Mondav night, only iu so far as it abrogates t lie four-months' waiver entered en-tered into by the city and the contractor about January lil. After the board ac copts tho work the council may do what il pleases with it. Tho building company com-pany still has somothiug like $u000 coming to it on tho contract, so the citj" is amply protected. Work Is Accepted. "Wo met iu Mr. Tlalloran's office, I with all members present except Mr. llalloran, who misapprehended the time set. for the meeting," said Mr. Mc.Mil lan Friday night. "We discussed the matter, going over the' situation carefully, care-fully, as we have done before, tunc after time, with competent persons, and came to the conclusion that the contractor's con-tractor's work has stood for a considerable consid-erable time all the requirements for which it was built, and decided that wc will accept, the work, and wo shall so report to lhc city council Monday night." ' The cribbing of the pipe underneath the thirtv some odd lines of railway track which pass pver the improvement iu the neighborhood of Ninth Mprlh street and the use of cast iron shfles for malleablo shoes, are the only variations varia-tions from the plans' and specifications, nccordiug to Mr. McMillan. Alter' reviewing re-viewing the earlier stages of tho work, and setting out his well known aversion to wood-stave pipes. Mr. McMillan gave out the following interview: "In constructing tho pipe underneath the railway tracks it occurred to us that it was the sheerest folly not : to put in a reinforcement to protect the line from the weight of passing trains, but in order to get uuder the rraeks the contractor put in cribbing. This he , didn't have to do, but he did it at his own expense. When tho pipe was finished fin-ished the railway company nisistcd that the cribbing be left in, which was done. This cribbing is the. only thing that saved the pipe; otherwise it. would have been as flat as a floor. I had implored authority to put iu some sort of a substantial ret nt orcein ent, but tho city engineer, with others, had thought it an unnecessary expense, so none was PU"With the exception of the cribbing aud tho use of cast iron shoes, there is no exception to the construction of the pipe, and the city engineer oughtu t,l.o obiect to the constructiou of the pipe, now because he had an engineer or two there a part, if not all of the time, and was there some himselt. His strc-tions strc-tions were carried out to tho letter, so far as I know. Fulfilled Its Mission. "Well the pipe was constructed," continued Mr. McMillan, "and iho machinery ma-chinery al the pumping Btation started under tho supplementary ncmont. Vnd it is a matter of common knowledge that the pipe carried the waters troni tho intercepting to the gravity sewer until the break occurred under the Ore-"on Ore-"on Short .Line railway track about pril 1. In tho interim didn't the pipe fulfill the purpose for which it was bU' ftcr a heavy passenger train passed over" the pipe if was observed fat the water spurted twenty tcefc high. Upon even vn tins down to the pipe it was discovered that it was considrably flattened flat-tened and that the bands had burst. This would indicate to any reasonable mind that this condition could not have resulted from an inside pressure. "In tho opinion of the board, the test mado bv pumping water through the pipe was fairly satisfactory, al-thoue-h interrupted somewhat. With the exception of the 200 feet underneath under-neath the railway tracks the line has worked fairlv well, and the other -1100 fect there is 1G00 feet in the line beiug intact and in commission, this would indicate to a reasonable mind, at least, that the pipe construction is sufficient to carry out the objects of the enterprise." Reverting lo the reinforcement prob- I lcm. Mr. McMillan said: "At tho time that the construction reached the railway tracks, when wo were so well convinced that reinforcement reinforce-ment of some, sort should be placed nn- i der the track, it was considered bv the ! city engineer aud other city oOiccrs that it would be a useless expense and the opinion of the board was overruled and ignored entirely. "About this time the city engineer, without consulting the board, concluded it would bo better to put more bands on the pipe than the specifications called for. so he doubled the bands under un-der the railway tracks. This the bonrd was in hearty accordance with, and extra ex-tra work orders for double banding wero issued, although it was not believed that this would be of much uso against, outside pressure, the use of tho bands being, in the opinion of the board, more necessary to resist inside pressure, pres-sure, which is a true mechanical de-' duct ion. Unknown to the Board. "The contractor at tho outset had ordered malleable" shoes to be used for joining the bands or hoops froui iho east, in nccordanco with the specifications, but the duplicating of the bands underneath the tracks nL sitatcd some 300 shoes which i the . cel. tractor had not provided for. and unjr the permission and . instruction off-city off-city engineer rather thau del"'-!, wok to send east for more inallea R. shoes and unknown to the boaral r . public works, tho contractor, at the fr-stance fr-stance of the city engineer, had c l iron shoes mado hero after a model .qk nished by the city engineer, -and uj t, these shoes upon the extra bands. tt "This is urged now as one ot tluU m . perfect parts of the work ou the pi 1 Leaks huvo occurred from time to u which were promptly stopped hyi contractor, but they were not a leaks as to interfere with tho wrtt of the pipe as designed; In fact, nV are few wood stave pipes that aoi leak at lirst. until sediment stops - holes, and some of the indications s leaks are merely forcod air vents f ?-out ?-out which this pipe was construct Throughout the pipe there is not an vent, which practical engineers j toll you is a mistake, especially " line of undulating pipe, as is IMS. m "It has been .contended tlint tiw; of cast iron shoos was responsible? ; the breaks under the tracks. W .' many malleable shoes as the suecin tions called for were put on, in tiou to the cast iron shoes on Uioi - tra bands, aud if anybod .has var from the specifications it is Ino ,o . engineer.'' L JsuL Mayor Bransford declined t?..5fPhli any statement iu connection with lmM case Friday night. As a prccantionjy measure a copy of the resolution naojh Cd by the council Thursday uiS'it VUcJ delivered personally to Mr. Cauiptl by Patrolman Bob Goldiiig who is VV gcnnt-at-arnis for the council. It fBfe.,. dcrstood that the contractor is tttiyarsya to let tho city havo the pipe any Mf it wants il jflL' jlr |
