The New York Subway, Its Construction and EquipmentInterborough Rapid Transit Company
History
The New York Subway, Its Construction and Equipment
Interborough Rapid Transit Company
Local transit -- New York (State) -- New York; Subways -- New York (State) -- New York
There are fifty-two boilers erected in pairs, or batteries, and
between each battery is a passageway five feet wide. The boilers are
designed for a working steam pressure of 225 pounds per square inch
and for a hydraulic test pressure of 300 pounds per square inch. Each
boiler is provided with twenty-one vertical water tube sections, and
each section is fourteen tubes high. The tubes are of lap welded,
charcoal iron, 4 inches in diameter and 18 feet long. The drums are 42
inches in diameter and 23 feet and 10 inches long. All parts are of
open-hearth steel; the shell plates are 9/16 of an inch thick and the
drum head plates 11/16 inch, and in this respect the thickness of
material employed is slightly in excess of standard practice. Another
advance on standard practice is in the riveting of the circular seams,
these being lap-jointed and double riveted. All longitudinal seams are
butt-strapped, inside and outside, and secured by six rows of rivets.
Manholes are only provided for the front heads, and each front head is
provided with a special heavy bronze pad, for making connection to the
stop and check feed water valve.
[Illustration: OPERATING ROOM SHOWING CONDENSERS--POWER HOUSE]
The setting of the boiler embodies several special features which are
new in boiler erection. The boilers are set higher up from the floor
than in standard practice, the center of the drums being 19 feet above
the floor line. This feature provides a higher combustion chamber, for
either hand-fired grates or automatic stokers; and for inclined grate
stokers the fire is carried well up above the supporting girders under
the side walls, so that these girders will not be heated by proximity
to the fire.
As regards the masonry setting, practically the entire inside surface
exposed to the hot gases is lined with a high grade of fire brick. The
back of the setting, where the rear cleaning is done, is provided with
a sliding floor plate, which is used when the upper tubes are being
cleaned. There is also a door at the floor line and another at a
higher level for light and ventilation when cleaning. Over the tubes
arrangements have been made for the reception of superheating
apparatus without changing the brickwork. Where the brick walls are
constructed, at each side of the building columns at the front,
cast-iron plates are erected to a height of 8 feet on each side of the
column. An air space is provided between each cast-iron plate and the
column, which is accessible for cleaning from the boiler front; the
object of the plates and air space being to prevent the transmission
of heat to the steel columns.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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