are paid by fees, which owners must deposit with their plans ; so that a very efficient inspection is secured without any expense to the public treasury, and there is, of course, no suspicion of bribery with inspectors of this character.
THE case of McNeil vs. the Boston Chamber of Commerce, in which suit was brought for damages on account of
failure to award a contract as promised, after repeated appeals, has been passed upon by tire full bench of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, which confirms the previous judgment, awarding fourteen thousand five hundred dollars to the claimant. It will be remembered that the Chamber of Commerce, after adopting plans for its new building, invited proposals for carrying them into execution, without, however, promising to accept any tender. The firm of McNeil Brothers, who are builders of the highest standing, together with some other contractors, who thought that there might be an intention to throw the work into the hands of particular parties, refused to estimate, unless the promise was made them that the contract should be awarded to the lowest bidder; and an assurance to that effect appears to have been given by certain members of the building-committee. The contractors in question thereupon completed and submitted their tenders, and that of McNeil Brothers was the lowest. Notwithstanding this, the contract was awarded to other parties. Mr. McNeil then brought suit for damages for violation of the agreement, under which the contract should have been awarded to him, claiming the contract price, at his estimate, less what it would have cost him to do the work; or, in other words, the profit which he would have made if he had carried out the work at his figures. In cases of violation of contract, this is the usual way of reckoning the damages; and the jury found that there was a valid agreement with Mr. McNeil, as with the others to whom the promise was made; that it had been broken, and that the profit which Mr. McNeil would have made was fourteen thousand five hundred dollars, which he was entitled to recover. According to the daily papers, the decision has rather upsetthe tempers of some of the members of the Chamber of Commerce, who are said to threaten that the Chamber will try to make the members of the building-committee pay the money out of their own pockets. This, it strikes us, would be a most foolish and unreasonable proceeding. No one pretends to doubt that the building-committee intended to act for the best interest of the Chamber; and after agents have been clothed with full discretion, it will not be found very easy to punish them for exercising that discretion, even if the Chamber should seriously attempt to do so. Even an unsuccessful attempt, however, would be a most unfortunate thing, not only for the Chamber of Commerce, but for other bodies. Hitherto, such corporations and associations have been generally well and zealously served, without cost, by their building-committees; but if a place on a building-committee is to expose people to heavy pecuniary loss, as well as to a great sacrifice of time and energy, it will be impossible to get members to serve on such committees, and constructions for the corporate benefit will have to be carried out in some way very different from that now customary, and probably much less satisfactory.
A CORRESPONDENT of the Scientific American gives an
intelligent account of the collapse of a kitchen boiler under his observation, but omits to mention how it might have been prevented. The boiler, which was supplied from a tank, under about eight feet head, had been successfully used for twenty years, but about a year ago, a new range was put into the house, having a water-back with much larger heatingpower. The consequence was, as plumbers and architects will understand, that steam formed in the water-back, and, escaping into the boiler and there condensing, produced the snapping sounds so familiar in hot-water house-pipes under an imperfect system of arrangement. On the morning of the accident, there was a particularly hot fire, and the bubbles of steam probably passed without condensing to the top of the boiler, and accumulated there, until a foot or two of the upper portion of the boiler was occupied by steam, under the tank pressure. While affairs were in this state, a hot-water faucet was opened in the laundry, with the usual result. As the hot water began to flow out of the boiler, through the pipe supplying the faucet, a corresponding amount of cold water entered the boiler from the tank. A very small amount of cold water, running down the pipe from the tank to the boiler, which was probably
placed, as usual, in the middle of the boiler, would cool the pipe enough to condense the steam on it, relieving the pressure, and admitting more cold water from the tank, to increase and complete the condensation. In practice this operation is instantaneous, the steam, under pressure, being replaced by a vacuum so quickly that the water cannot flow through the pipes fast enough to occupy the space, and, as in this case, the exterior atmospheric pressure, of fifteen pounds to the square inch, or seven or eight tons on the empty part of the boiler, is sufficient to crumple it up like paper. Twenty years ago, this was a common accident, and it still is so where boilers are supplied directly from the street mains ; but where boilers are supplied from tanks, as in this instance, it has long been usual to carry up an “expansion-pipe,” either from the top of the boiler, or from the topmost point of the hot-water pipes, which are themselves taken from the top of the boiler, about a foot above the top of the tank. The expansion-pipe being higher than the tank, the water does not run out of it, but bubbles of steam, if they reach the top of the boiler, escape immediately up the expansion-pipe, and are either condensed or issue - into the air over the tank. Often, where the water-back is too powerful for the boiler and its circulating system, steam and water bubbles can be seen issuing freely from the upper end of the expansion-pipe; but, if this is properly arranged, no steam can accumulate in the boiler so long as it is kept open.
r
IE Italian Government has ordered further excavations to be made on the Pass of the Great Saint Bernard, where, last September, w^ere found the remains of a Roman temple, which was readily identified as the temple built about 15 b. c., and dedicated to Jupiter Poeninus, or the Alpine Jupiter. It is supposed that the outbreak of the war with the Germans, at that period, led to the strengthening and enlargement of the town which had been established at Augusta Pretoria, now Aosta, on the south side of the pass, and the construction of military roads in different places across the pass to the Rhone valley, and in various directions beyond, for facilitating communication between Italy and the garrisons in Switzerland and on the Rhine, and that the building of the temple was a result of the prosperity which these active operations brought to the province. For many j ears, it must have been much frequented by Roman soldiers and travellers, and many coins have already been found among the ruins, dating from the time of Augustus to that of Theodosius I; while one silver coin of Charlemagne’s time has been found. In the tenth century, however, the building, which had, of course, long been deserted, and seems to have suffered from fire, was pulled down, to furnish materials for the celebrated Hospice. It is curious to reflect that the same marble slabs, wdiich, as part of the temple of Jupiter, no doubt excited the admiration of the travellers over the pass, for a thousand years, and were then utilized for one of the noblest charities which the Christian religion ever suggested, are likely, just at the expiration of their second millennium of usefulness, to be abandoned once more, and this time, perhaps, forever, to the wild solitude which reigned about the pass before the Romans and Carthaginians climbed over it to attack each other; but the construction of the Saint-Gothard tunnel was soon followed by the definitive abandonment of the hospice, hardly less famous than that of the Saint-Bernard, on the mountain above it, and the Simplon hospice seems destined to meet the same fate within the next two or three years; while the Saint-Bernard tunnel, which has already been surveyed, is likely to be the next after that of the Simplon.
A DEVICE for investigating abnormal noises in machinery is described in the Wiener Bauindustrie-Zeitung, which is
worth remembering. It often happens that a creaking or pounding is heard about a steam-engine, or other piece of machinery, showing that something is wrong with it, but the din and confusion all about are so great that it is impossible, without repeated trials, to find where the noise is produced ; and, meanwhile, the bearings may be seriously cut by some hard substance accidentally introduced, or a joint broken asunder by a neglected pounding. The first thing is to shut out the workshop noises, and this is accomplished by stopping one ear with cotton, and placing in the other one end of a rubber tube. The other end of the tube is then moved about over the machine to be investigated, when any abnormal noise is at once detected, and referred to its proper place.
THE case of McNeil vs. the Boston Chamber of Commerce, in which suit was brought for damages on account of
failure to award a contract as promised, after repeated appeals, has been passed upon by tire full bench of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, which confirms the previous judgment, awarding fourteen thousand five hundred dollars to the claimant. It will be remembered that the Chamber of Commerce, after adopting plans for its new building, invited proposals for carrying them into execution, without, however, promising to accept any tender. The firm of McNeil Brothers, who are builders of the highest standing, together with some other contractors, who thought that there might be an intention to throw the work into the hands of particular parties, refused to estimate, unless the promise was made them that the contract should be awarded to the lowest bidder; and an assurance to that effect appears to have been given by certain members of the building-committee. The contractors in question thereupon completed and submitted their tenders, and that of McNeil Brothers was the lowest. Notwithstanding this, the contract was awarded to other parties. Mr. McNeil then brought suit for damages for violation of the agreement, under which the contract should have been awarded to him, claiming the contract price, at his estimate, less what it would have cost him to do the work; or, in other words, the profit which he would have made if he had carried out the work at his figures. In cases of violation of contract, this is the usual way of reckoning the damages; and the jury found that there was a valid agreement with Mr. McNeil, as with the others to whom the promise was made; that it had been broken, and that the profit which Mr. McNeil would have made was fourteen thousand five hundred dollars, which he was entitled to recover. According to the daily papers, the decision has rather upsetthe tempers of some of the members of the Chamber of Commerce, who are said to threaten that the Chamber will try to make the members of the building-committee pay the money out of their own pockets. This, it strikes us, would be a most foolish and unreasonable proceeding. No one pretends to doubt that the building-committee intended to act for the best interest of the Chamber; and after agents have been clothed with full discretion, it will not be found very easy to punish them for exercising that discretion, even if the Chamber should seriously attempt to do so. Even an unsuccessful attempt, however, would be a most unfortunate thing, not only for the Chamber of Commerce, but for other bodies. Hitherto, such corporations and associations have been generally well and zealously served, without cost, by their building-committees; but if a place on a building-committee is to expose people to heavy pecuniary loss, as well as to a great sacrifice of time and energy, it will be impossible to get members to serve on such committees, and constructions for the corporate benefit will have to be carried out in some way very different from that now customary, and probably much less satisfactory.
A CORRESPONDENT of the Scientific American gives an
intelligent account of the collapse of a kitchen boiler under his observation, but omits to mention how it might have been prevented. The boiler, which was supplied from a tank, under about eight feet head, had been successfully used for twenty years, but about a year ago, a new range was put into the house, having a water-back with much larger heatingpower. The consequence was, as plumbers and architects will understand, that steam formed in the water-back, and, escaping into the boiler and there condensing, produced the snapping sounds so familiar in hot-water house-pipes under an imperfect system of arrangement. On the morning of the accident, there was a particularly hot fire, and the bubbles of steam probably passed without condensing to the top of the boiler, and accumulated there, until a foot or two of the upper portion of the boiler was occupied by steam, under the tank pressure. While affairs were in this state, a hot-water faucet was opened in the laundry, with the usual result. As the hot water began to flow out of the boiler, through the pipe supplying the faucet, a corresponding amount of cold water entered the boiler from the tank. A very small amount of cold water, running down the pipe from the tank to the boiler, which was probably
placed, as usual, in the middle of the boiler, would cool the pipe enough to condense the steam on it, relieving the pressure, and admitting more cold water from the tank, to increase and complete the condensation. In practice this operation is instantaneous, the steam, under pressure, being replaced by a vacuum so quickly that the water cannot flow through the pipes fast enough to occupy the space, and, as in this case, the exterior atmospheric pressure, of fifteen pounds to the square inch, or seven or eight tons on the empty part of the boiler, is sufficient to crumple it up like paper. Twenty years ago, this was a common accident, and it still is so where boilers are supplied directly from the street mains ; but where boilers are supplied from tanks, as in this instance, it has long been usual to carry up an “expansion-pipe,” either from the top of the boiler, or from the topmost point of the hot-water pipes, which are themselves taken from the top of the boiler, about a foot above the top of the tank. The expansion-pipe being higher than the tank, the water does not run out of it, but bubbles of steam, if they reach the top of the boiler, escape immediately up the expansion-pipe, and are either condensed or issue - into the air over the tank. Often, where the water-back is too powerful for the boiler and its circulating system, steam and water bubbles can be seen issuing freely from the upper end of the expansion-pipe; but, if this is properly arranged, no steam can accumulate in the boiler so long as it is kept open.
r
IE Italian Government has ordered further excavations to be made on the Pass of the Great Saint Bernard, where, last September, w^ere found the remains of a Roman temple, which was readily identified as the temple built about 15 b. c., and dedicated to Jupiter Poeninus, or the Alpine Jupiter. It is supposed that the outbreak of the war with the Germans, at that period, led to the strengthening and enlargement of the town which had been established at Augusta Pretoria, now Aosta, on the south side of the pass, and the construction of military roads in different places across the pass to the Rhone valley, and in various directions beyond, for facilitating communication between Italy and the garrisons in Switzerland and on the Rhine, and that the building of the temple was a result of the prosperity which these active operations brought to the province. For many j ears, it must have been much frequented by Roman soldiers and travellers, and many coins have already been found among the ruins, dating from the time of Augustus to that of Theodosius I; while one silver coin of Charlemagne’s time has been found. In the tenth century, however, the building, which had, of course, long been deserted, and seems to have suffered from fire, was pulled down, to furnish materials for the celebrated Hospice. It is curious to reflect that the same marble slabs, wdiich, as part of the temple of Jupiter, no doubt excited the admiration of the travellers over the pass, for a thousand years, and were then utilized for one of the noblest charities which the Christian religion ever suggested, are likely, just at the expiration of their second millennium of usefulness, to be abandoned once more, and this time, perhaps, forever, to the wild solitude which reigned about the pass before the Romans and Carthaginians climbed over it to attack each other; but the construction of the Saint-Gothard tunnel was soon followed by the definitive abandonment of the hospice, hardly less famous than that of the Saint-Bernard, on the mountain above it, and the Simplon hospice seems destined to meet the same fate within the next two or three years; while the Saint-Bernard tunnel, which has already been surveyed, is likely to be the next after that of the Simplon.
A DEVICE for investigating abnormal noises in machinery is described in the Wiener Bauindustrie-Zeitung, which is
worth remembering. It often happens that a creaking or pounding is heard about a steam-engine, or other piece of machinery, showing that something is wrong with it, but the din and confusion all about are so great that it is impossible, without repeated trials, to find where the noise is produced ; and, meanwhile, the bearings may be seriously cut by some hard substance accidentally introduced, or a joint broken asunder by a neglected pounding. The first thing is to shut out the workshop noises, and this is accomplished by stopping one ear with cotton, and placing in the other one end of a rubber tube. The other end of the tube is then moved about over the machine to be investigated, when any abnormal noise is at once detected, and referred to its proper place.