Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 10th February 1855, Edition 2 of 2, Page 9, NEW METROPOLITAN COMMISSION ^ OI SEWERS—...

Page 9
Page 9
9 of 24

On this page

  • Text (2)
  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Tmpmjk 10, 1856.1: The Leader. 129

      TmpMJK 10 , 1856 . 1 : THE LEADER . 129

      New Metropolitan Commission ^ Oi Sewers—...

      NEW METROPOLITAN COMMISSION ^ SEWERS—MR . I ? . O . WARD'S STATEMENT . HAVB * a traced , as set forth in previous reports , the progress of town sewage from the point of its collection in urban houses to the point of its utilisation on rural lands , Mr . F . O . Ward recapitulated the main heads of his argument , and the leading points of his proposed policy , in a series of conclusions , of which the following is a summary : — 1 . The concurrent extension of private , district , and main intercepting drainage , as parts of a connected whole ; parts , heretofore separately executed at different times by different persons , but really as essential to each other ' s working , as tributary streams are essential to the scour of a river , and as a river is essential to the flow of its tributaries .

      2 . The total abolition of stagnancy in all its forms ; and , as an immediate measure , to be adopted before the return of the hot weather , the elimination of all cesspools from houses standing within reach of sewers , and the substitution of tubular house-drains : the cholera death-houses being dealt with first . 3 . The abandonment of the flushing system , as implying the recognition of deposit to be swept away ; and the adoption in its stead of the self-scouring system , that is , of the continuous removal of refuse as fast as ^ produced , in currents sufficiently concentrated and swift to realise , in its most absolute sense , the principle , " Sewers without sediment . " 4 . The complete diversion of human excrement from the Thames ,, not only in fine weather ( as proposed by the advocates of tunnels to intercept mixed rain and sewage ) , but at all times and tides .

      5 . The complete agricultural utilisation of the sewage , without the waste of any one of its valuable ingredients at any season of the year ; its conveyance and delivery to the soil , to be accomplished ulteriorly by steam-pumping through irrigating pipes with hose and jet ; and deodorising precipitants being resorted to meanwhile , as transitional expedients , pending the extension , necessarily gradual , of sewage irrigation . Having thus concluded his address , Mr . Ward adverted to-the two new inventions mentioned in the notice he had put on the paper , and expressed some doubt whether , at that late hour , and after having already so long trespassed on their attention , he ought to proceed on that occasion . ( Cries of- " Go on . " ')

      Mr . Ward , having thanked the comnnssionera _ for their indulgent courtesy , produced a small cake or slab of a very hard material , greyish in colour , slightly polished on the surface , which came , he said , from Grenoble , in France , and which had reference to the first invention he had to bring before them . This invention , he proceeded to explain , was a method of making continuous jointless tubular drains , of any required length , by moulding them in the trench itself , with a hard cement similar to the specimen , which was moulded around a mandril as fast as ordinary pipes could be jointed together , and which set so rapidly that an hour or two after completion it was ready foruse ; " Themandrill-Mr . Ward added r was drawn forward as fast as each portion of the tube was complete ,

      and a fresh length moulded around it continuously with the former ; so that the drain when finished had no break nor join from end to end . The material , though at present produced in the neighbourhood of Grenoble only , would probably be found also in this and other countries when the attention of geologists was directed to the subject ; and it was so extraordinarily hard , dense , and impervious , that it was in use at Marseilles , Grenoble , Voiron , Valence , St . Egreve , and many other places in the south of France , for the conveyance of gas and water through ' the streets . M . Danr « S , the engineer of Marseilles , had informed him that pipes of this material ,

      two inches thick , were stronger than cast iron , less liable to fracture by settlements of the soil , totally impervious to gas , and , U fortiori , to water ; exempt of course from that continual leakage to which ordinary pipes arc subject at the joints , and capable of sustaining upwards of 150 feet of water pressure—as , indeed , was exemplified at St . Egrove , where the water was brought down at that pressure , through pipes thus made , to the public fountains . Now they were aware that the whole sanitary question was , in a great measure , a question of pipes : pipes to let pure water in , and to carry foul water out : nines for the drainacra of the aurfao . o and nf water out ; pipes for the drainage of the surface and of

      the subsoil ; pipes for wanning and ventilation , for fountains anil baths , for collecting refuse , and for distributing it over the soil . And ngain , the main problem , in respect of pipes , lay in the jointing . It was there , at the joints , that accumulations began in drains , and stoppages were prepared . In laying down pipes , the workmen ( who had many of thorn set their faces against pipes , as cheaper than brick sowers and therefore bad for trade ) would ofton , if not closely watched , close the joints carelessly , so as to leave a leak , through which tho water ran away , leaving behind it as a deposit tho , soil it should have borno on in suspension . At othor times workmen pressed tho cement in too far , so as to loavo a ring of it jutting into tho pipe—a barrier to tho passage of the wator , and n sort of hook to catch oy . stor-HhollH , & c . Tho pipes , moreover , were apt to warp in tho kiln , so that , unless carefully laid , the shoulder of one would sometimes

      project beyond the lip of the other , and so obstruct the current . It was to such faults , often the result of carelessness , sometimes of wilfulness , but happily preventable by vigilant supervision , that many of those stoppages that had taken place on the first introduction of the tubular system were due ; and to all such difficulties this method of continuous jointless tube-moulding would put an end . In districts whose flatness madeit necessary to economise the fall , such jointless drains would be invaluab l e , facilitating the flow and scouring power of the water , and often just making the difference between sewers with sediment and sewers without . For these reasons he would anxiously call the attention of geologists to this peculiar Grenoble cement ; and of engineers to its novel and useful application for the laying of jointless drains . *

      _ _ , Mr . Ward then handed round a piece of black-looking rock , and proceeded to say that the second invention of which he had to speak was , if possible , of greater importance stillT They were aware that an intimate relation subsisted between the surface and subsoil amelioration of towns ; that excrementitious roadways were as little to be tolerated as sedimental sewers ; and that in endeavouring to get rid of deposit from these latter road detritus was their principal difliculty . Town sewerage could not , therefore , be brought to perfection without a corresponding amelioration of town pavement ; and it was to an improved , he believed he might almost say a direct their atten

      perfect pavement , that he had now to - tion . First , however , he would remark , that in the metropolitan district under their active jurisdiction there were about 1500 miles of roadway , of which , in round numbers , half might be taken as macadamised and half as paved . The macadamised roadways produced a prodigious quantity of detritus . In Pall-mall , for example , a macadamised surface of 1388 yards had annually laid on it 139 cubic yards , or 270 tons , of Guernsey granite ; showing that the wear and tear , or in other words the production of detritus on this roadway was at the rate of 4351 bs . per square yard per annum . The cost of maintenance was at the rate of 2 s . 2 d . per square yard per

      annum ; but this cost , though very onerous , was insignificant compared with the loss resulting from the deterioration of property by the masses of mud and dust thus produced . The wear and tear of horseflesh occasioned by dust and-mud was also considerable . It was found that the different tractile-efforts required to move similar loads over macadamised roadways in three conditions , namely , when well swept , . when covered with dust , and when covered with mud , were expressed respectively by the figures 5 , 8 , and 10 . Again , the -sweeping costs of Pall-mall were l | d . per square yard per annum , thexarting away the mud at 2 s . 6 d . a load came to 2 d . per square yard more ; the watering , to lay the dust , cost a fraction less than 2 d . per square yard

      annually . These costs in the aggregate were enormous ; and constituted a burden on the ratepayers the full amount of which had never yet , ho believed , been reckoned up . Different tradesmen of whom he inquired had estimated their losses by mud and dust , at sums varying from 10 / . to 50 / . per annum ; and Mr . Sowerby , the large silk-mercer of Ecgent-circus , had told him that , taking London all through , 10 ? . per shop per-annum-wouW-be .-ii-Jv . e . xy _ . mpderatp _ . ayerage _ estimate of the loss by deterioration ' thu 3 occasioned . They would " see , therefore , that this was a very grave question indeed ; the aggregate loss in the metropolis from this cause amounting to hundreds of thousands per annum . As for the effect of this road-driftwhen washed into the

      sewers , ho could speak to it , for he had a few days since gone down into the sewer under Pall-mall to see for himself . It was impossible to conceive a more hideous spectacle . The sewer was on the old " Roman grandeur" principle , 6 feet high by 5 . G wide , having a pretty fair slope varying from 1 in 30 to 1 in GOO , but fi lled to the height of 2 feet with hardened road-drift , which had covered the mouths of tho drains on both sides , including those of the Athenamm , the Travellers ' , and the other palatial clubs . To afford an outlet to the drains of these institutions a ditch had actually been dug along the middle of tho hardened road-drift ; with cross ditches to the house-drains mouths ; and so sluggish was the oozing of the filth along these ditches that it had in many places risen four feet high in tho sewer ! this

      Such was tho subtcrrancun condition of palatial street—Pall-mall ; such was the secret squalor of our gilded clubs ; a squalor mainly due , as they would see , to excess of road-drift . Efforts were being made to improve tho scour o ( this sower by deepening its outfall and equalising its declivity ; but it would bo impossible to keep it frco from sediment ho long as it remained liable to bo thin gorged with detritus ; mid let them boar in mind that tho cleansing and Hushing costs entailed on them by this state of things amounted to no loss than 20 / . por mile of sower per annum ; or , in tho aggregate , between 19 , 000 / . and 20 , 000 / . n yeni \ Ho would now turn to tho gninito block pavement , which produced loss detritus than macadam , afforded an easier draft , and only wore down 1 inch in frpm 5 to 20 years , according to tho traffic ; and which , though it cost four times as : __ . _ : — , 1 — * Wo undorntaiNl that in coiittotiuoncu of ? . Ir . Wavd ' n . suggestion . Mr . Francis , thocomuiit luaiml'stotnrcrof Vnuxhull , lasNonl ; to Gronobjo fora , f | ii . T , ut , il , y of tin ; material In ( ju

      much as macadam to lay down ( say 12 s . per square yard instead of 3 s . ) , cost only £ th in annual repairs ( say 4 d . instead of 2 s . per square yard ) . This granite pavement produced a series of evils peculiar to itself . He would not dwell on its noisiness , which deteriorated adjacent house property ; nor on its unevenness , which battered carriages to pieces , and ruined the feet of horses . For though the losses thus occasioned amounted to many hundreds of thousands . per annum , they came less within his present scope than evils of a more strictly sanitary nature , and more directly connected with the sewers . Such , for example , were what he would call the interstitial ditches of the pavement ; those chinks between the stones which were constantly filled with a mixture of granite dust , horse-dung , and soot , producing an irritating dust in dry weather , and in rains swelling up and covering the surface with that thin , black , foetid slush , known as London mud . Few people , perhaps , were aware how wide an evaporating surface these chinks or little ditches , severally so insignificant , formed in the aggregate ; nor had the vast weight of their collective contents of stagnant refuse been computed . A medium paving-stone presented a surface 10 inches long by 5 wide ; and he had found , by measurement in a number of streets , that the chinks averaged an inch in width ; so that to each stone of 50 square inches corresponded no less than 16 inches of interstitial space . The foul evaporating surface was therefore 22 per cent , of the whole superficies of the roadway ; or 3910 square yards ( more than 4-5 ths of an acre ) per mile of ordinary roadway 30 feet wide . The stagnant matter in these little ditches , taking its mean depth at only half an inch , would measure on each mile of roadway 54 £ cubic yards ; a considerable per centage of which , be it remembered , was fermenting dung . If , then , calculations were applied to the whole of the paved camage-ways of London , it would be seen how many thousand tons of filth lay stagnant under our feet , and over how vast an acreage that evaporating surface was extended . He would not , however , dwell any longer on old evils , but would proceed at once to describe the new remedy . This , like many other valuable inventions , had been discovered by accident . The proprietor of an asphalte mine at Val de Travers , in Switzerland , had observed that the small pieces of asphaltic rock which fell from the carts and were crushed beneath the wheels had produced two smooth tracks or tramways of extraordinary _ hardness and durability . On comparing these accidentally-formed tracks with asphaltic roadways of the ordinary kind , made with melted asphalte mixed with sand , & c , the superiority of ' . the former , in all the qualities characterising a good road surface , was placed beyond a doubt . A length of road , laid down experimentally with the natural bituminous rock , broken to small fragments and well rolled , turned out as hard and perfect as the accidental trams . Within a few hours of its completion , four years ago , it was traversed by heavy waggons from the mines , dragged by long teams of horses ; and from that day to this it had remained in use , resisting the most violent extremes of temperature , and the most heavy and continuous traffic ; producing neither mud , nor dust , nor detritus of any kind , ; perfectly noiseless and free from vibration ( so smooth , indeed , that it is proposed for use in lieu of railways in Switzerland ); and presenting , of course , no joints for the retentionof-stagnant filth . The - cost , of laying it , two inches thick , on a si : i-inch substratum of concrete , had only been two and a half francs per square metre , or about two shillings per square yard ; two-thirds of the price of ordinary macadam , and from one-sixth to onetenth the price of granite pavement , according to its quality . Its perfect success had induced M . Merian , the engineer of tho roads at Ncufuhatcau to lay out a road on the same plan from Locle to La Chaux dc Fonds ; and the municipality of Paris , on the favourable report of their road engineer , M . Darcy , had laid down a trial length of this compressed , unmeltcd , bituminous rock pavement in the Rue Bcrgfcrc . He had been in Paris lately , and had taken pains to observe tho behaviour of this piece of road , under all trials , and in all weathers . It was impossible to conceive a moro admirable pavement . It was as smooth as a billiard-table , yet not in the least degree slippery . A certain dull elasticity , which hindered it from chipping , also seemed to give the horses ' feet a firm hold on its surface . The wheels rolled on it as silently as on a planed floor ; and in rainy weather it was merely wet , while the stone pavement was deep in mud , and tho macadamised boulevard w as trampled to a perfect slough . Ho had ascertained that the cost of laying such pavement in London would bo about twelve shillings per square yard—a price rather below tho average cost of ordinary granite pavement—while its maintenance could bo contracted for at tho rato of ten per cent , per annum on tho first outlay . Ho hoped it would bo shortly tried in one of tho City streets of severest trallic ; and should it prove as * successful hero as cl .-iowhorc , tlio day of its introduction would bo tho < lnto of a now epoch in sanitary improvement—not only superficial but subterranean . , . ,, In conclusion , Mr . Ward thanked hid colleagues for their indulgent attention , and expressed his conviction that « n energetic punsuanco of tho policy he had ventured to sketch would rolievo that Commission from tho unpopularity under which it had hitherto laboured , and . secure thorn tho highest reward which public mini could ilosiro —tho approbation of their followcitizens . \

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 10, 1855, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10021855/page/9/