CHAPTER IX Introduction of Water Filters—Striking Example of the Effi- (Part 7)

America, the Aztecs of Mexico built an aqueduct to supply the ancient city, built on the site of the present City of Mexico. How long the aqueduct supplied the city before Cortez, in his expedition to conquer Mexico, destroyed the works, in 1521, nobody knows and the truth will probably never be told. The fact of the existence of such a structure is interesting chiefly as showing that in the matter of supplying communities with water the ancient tribes of Mexico and America had made considerable pro- gress long before Europeans set foot on shore. It was in Mexico, too, that the next aqueduct in point of time was constructed. This work was built during the period be- tween the years 1553 and 1570, under the supervision of Friar Francisco Tembleque, a Franciscan monk, and served for about two centuries to carry water from the mountain Lacayete to the city of Otumba, state of Hidalgo, district of Apan, a distance of 27.8 miles. The aqueduct, which is known as the Zempoala, in- cluded three arched bridges of a maximum height of 124 feet. This aqueduct is further interesting from the fact that the original agreement, under which the work was performed, is still in existence, a copy of which was pub- lished in the Engineering News, 1888, from which the following copy is taken. The first bridge contains forty-six arches, the second 74 FITS OR Ves Ole S AeNpi i awslel Oa thirteen arches and the third sixty-eight arches. The length of the longest bridge is 3,000 feet and the span of the arches at the springing line is fifty-six feet. About five years were required to build the principal part of the aqueduct which is carried on arches. Contrracr UnpbER WuicH AQUEDUCT WAS BUILT I, Friar Cristobal y Chanriguis, preacher and secretary of this holy province of the holy evangel, certify that Father Luis Gerro, preacher and guardian of the Convent of All Saints, Zempoala, has presented to me a patent in favor of natives of said town, whose legal tenor is as follows: We, Friar Juan De Bustamanti, Commissioner General of the Indes of the Ocean Seas, and Friar Juan De San Francisco, Provincial Master of the province of said holy evangel, and Friar Deigo Nolivarte, and Friar Juan De Gavna, and Friar Antonio Centad Rodriquez, and Friar Bernardino De Sahagun, subordinate of priests of said province of the holy evangel, declare: That inasmuch as you, the Governor Alcaldes and principal officers of the town of Zacoala, have agreed, for the love of God and because of our intercession, with the same officers of the town of Otumba to give to them half the water which you have in your town of Zacoala for the use and benefit of the inhabitants of Otumba and for the use of the monastery of our order founded in that town, in which you do great good to them and to our said monastery, because of our intercession as stated; and, inasmuch, moreover, as you, the said people of Zacoala, with much labor and for the good of your souls, agree to join with the people of the Flaquilpan and Zempoala in the place where you are erecting an All Saints Monastery, at which point you agree to remain and work and not to depart for the reason that you are removed from your own houses; on order to labor for the good of our souls and in return for the labor which the priests have in visiting you. And whereas now you will soon have together a monastery for the friars of our order, in which must be administered for all the holy sacraments; therefore, in return for this benefit and work we promise you that in all our time we will not cease to give friars for said monastery, and for the whole length of our lives we will aid you in your prayers in all the agreed respects; and for the time to come after our lives, in considera- tion of said benefit, we will petition the said Commissioners General and Provisional Masters that they will severally and collectively adhere to the agreement, and always have the charity to furnish friars in the Monastery of All Saints, as now in view of the great and good work which you have done through our intercession, both in giving the said water and in aiding the said work to supply it. And if by chance HISTORY OF SANITATION 75 there should happen to be so few priests that it is impossible to spare them from the house of Otumba that they shall place friars in said Monastery of All Saints first and let the loss fall upon other places than Zacoala and the Monastery of All Saints, in all of which places you are entitled to be taught by our priests. We will beg of our successors in charity to favor us in these said respects, in return for your faithful labor and agreement in our behalf, and so we sign this agreement, made this seventh day of February, 1553. Then followed signatures. From Stereograph, copyright 1908 by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. (See page iv) SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTER. Introduction of Pumping Machinery into Water- works Practice—The Archimedes Screw—Use of Pumps in Hanover, Germany— First London Pump on London Bridge—Savery and Newcomen’s Pumping Engine —The Hydraulic Ram—Pumping Engines Erected for the Philadelphia Waterworks —Pipes for Distributing Water—Hydrants and Valves for Wooden Pipes—Data regarding the Use of Wooden Pipes—Modern Pumping Engines. ATER wheels for raising water were in use at such an early period that the exact date of their inven- tion will never be known. The earliest known or approximate date for the invention of a water-raising ma- chine extends back to about 215 years before the birth of Christ, when Archimedes, the Greek mathematician, who was killed at the taking of Syracuse by the Romans, invented the Archimedes screw. This apparatus, un- like pumps of later date, was operated indepen- dently of the atmospheric pressure, and by using a number of the screws in series, water could be raised to any desired height. The Archimedes screw was not adapted for rais- ing large quantities of water, however, so that Greek and Roman cities never were supplied with Savery’s Engine 77 78 HISTORY OF SANITATION water by means of engines. It remained for Hanover, Germany, to install the first pump of which we have knowledge, for supplying a town or city with water. In Germany, waterworks were constructed as early as 1412, and pumps were introduced in Hanover in the year 1527. In London, England, the first pump was erected on the old London Bridge in 1582, for the purpose of supplying the city with water from the Thames and distributing it through lead pipes. There are only meagre accounts of the Hanover and London Bridge pumps to be had, however, and no illustrations showing their construction. The oldest known print of a steam engine is in the Birmingham public library,* and shows a machine built in 1712 by Savery and Newcomen. A search made by Zhe Lingineer of London, has brought to light an old engraving dated 1725, and entitled ‘The Engine for Raising Water by Firey= “itis unique in containing the first illustrated description of a steam engine. This machine is somewhat dif- ferent from that portrayed in earlier engravings, for the boiler is fed with a portion of the hot water coming from the bottom of the cylinder or hot well. This fixes the date of the improvement described by Desagaliers in his Ax- perimental Philosophy as follows: ‘‘It had been found of benefit to feed the boiler warm water coming from the top of the piston, rather than cold water, which would too much check the boiling and cause more force to be needful. But after the engine had been placed some years, some persons concerned about an engine, observing that the Newcomen’s Engine * Engineering Record, Oct. 21, 1905 HISTORY OF SANITATION 19) injected water as it came out of the induction pipe was scalding hot, when the water coming from the top of the piston was but just lukewarm, thought it would be of great advantage to feed from the induction or injected water, i Bection through the ENGINE HOUSE of the CENTRE SQUARE Water Worxs PHILADELPHIA | Supply from thi Soe fowth Section Through the Engine House of the Centre Square Water Works, Philadelphia and accordingly did it, which gave a stroke or two of advantage to the engine.” At about this time or late in 1700, a Frenchman, Mont- golfer, invented the hydraulic ram. This machine, while simple in construction, is one of the most efficient water- 80 HISTORY OF SANITATION raising devices made, and in the later improved designs amount actually to hydraulic engines. That pumping en- gines of this period and steam boilers to operate them were of crude design there can be no doubt, indeed, many years later, in 1800, when waterworks and a pumping sta- tion were introduced in Philadelphia, the pumps and boilers were of the crudest design. A sectional illustration of the pumping house, taken from Volume 17 of Anugzneer- ing News, conveys a fair idea of the design of the pumps. The engine was built mostly of wood and had cylinders 6 feet long by 38% inches inside diameter. A double acting pump had a cylinder of 18% inches diameter and 6-foot stroke. In these engines the lever arms, flywheel shaft and arms, flywheel bearings, the hot well, hot and cold water pumps, cold water cistern, and even the external shell of the boilers were made of wood. The boilers were rectan- gular chests, made of 5-inch white pine planks of the general dimensions shown in the illustration. They were braced on the sides, top and bottom with white oak scant- ling, ro inches square, all bolted together with 14-inch iron rods passing through the planks. Inside the chest was an iron fire-box, 12 feet 6 inches long by 6 feet wide and 1 foot 10 inches deep, and 8 vertical flues, 6 of 15 inches and 2 of 12 inches diameter, through which the water circulated, the fire acting around them and passing up an oval flue situated just above the fire box and carried from the back of the boiler to near the front and then returned to the chimney at the back, These wooden boilers were used at the Centre Street waterworks from 1801 to 1815, but did not give general i S Warer level! | Wooden Boilers used in the Philadelphia Water Supply HISTORY OF SANITATION 81 satisfaction on account of the numerous leaks. They were operated at very low pressure, averaging not over 2% pounds per square inch, but even at this extremely low pressure were found unsatisfactory. During the early days of water supply, following the period of aqueducts, lead was the material commonly used for water supply mains. Later, however, pipes made of bored-out logs were used and continued in service up to the year 1819. The water mains used in Philadelphia were made of spruce logs, reinforced at the ends with wrought-iron bands. A section of one of these old Phila- delphia water mains, which is still in a good state of preservation, is on exhibition in the Builders’ Exchange of that city. So far as is known, Philadelphia was the first city in the world to adopt cast iron pipe for water mains. Cast iron water pipes were laid in Phil- adelphia in the year 1804, ante- dating their use in London, Eng- land, by a few years. The durabil- ity of wood pipe is rather aston- ishing when the short life of logs exposed on the surface of the earth is consid- ered. After lying : : Section of Bored Out Log Laid in Victoria, B. C., in buried int he 1862 and taken out 1900 earth for fifty or sixty years the wood pipe used in the Philadelphia water- works was sold to Burlington, N. J., in 1804, and remained in constant use there until 1887, when larger mains were required. 82 HISTORY OF SANITATION Portsmouth, N. H., used bored pine logs for mains from 1798 to 1896, when they were replaced with larger Valve for Wooden Pipes Used in the Philadelphia Water Supply pipes. When dug up, the logs were entirely sound and good for many years’ service. A few data regarding the use of wooden pipes might not be without interest, while at the same time pointing out the approximate dates when waterworks were constructed in several cities. Log pipes laid in Victoria, B. C., in 1862 and taken out in 1900 were quite free from decay but badly checked. Constantinople still receives part of its sup- ply through wood pipe. London had 400 miles of wood pipe in use for 218 years, from 1589 to 1807. When taken up it was found to be quite sound. Boston used one system of wood pipes from 1652 to 1796, then replaced it with another one which lasted until 1848. Denver, Colorado, has nearly too miles of stave pipe conduit and mains in use. All the water brought to Denver for domestic use passes through wooden pipe 37 inches in diameter, Hydrant fr which conducts it from Cherry Creek, which is Pipes Used about 8 miles from center of city. eae The hydrants and valves used in connection ply with wood pipes in Philadelphia were made of metal, and it is presumed that the valves and hydrants used in other cities were likewise made of metal. HISTORY OF SANITATION 83 Only one brief century has passed since waterworks pumping stations were introduced in the United States, but what wonderful improvements have been made in pumping machinery design within that short space of time! Steel and iron have taken the place of wood in the manu- facture of boilers and pumps, and instead of the leaky, unsatisfactory apparatus of other days, even when working under low pressures, we now have pumping engines which will work continuously month after month under several hundred pounds pressure, and deliver the daily volumes of from a few hundred to many million gallons of water. Modern Vertical Triple-Expansion Pumping Engine 2 MINUS © 255 O83 was © VEVINVOIV AHL > ONISSOND LOAGaADY « SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTER. Early British Sewers—Sewer in the Great Hall of Westminster—Shape of Early English Sewers—Adoption or Recommendation of Pipe Sewers—Early Paris Sewers—Paris Sewers of To-day—Lack of Sewage Data in America—Effect of Memphis Epidemics on Sanitary Progress. HE earliest mention we have of English sewers is AR contained in an old record of the fourteenth century, which informs us ‘‘ The refuse from the king’s kitchen had long run through the Great Hall in an open channel, to the serious injury to health and danger to life of those con- gregated at court. It was therefore ordered that a subter- raneous conduit should be made to carry away the filth into the Thames.” This description of the sewer from the Great Hall presents a vivid picture of the sewers of that day. At first the main sewers were natural water courses which, having become offensive, were arched over to shut out the sight and odor. Street gutters leading to those arched-over water courses became foul in turn, and were replaced by underground channels of the roughest brick- work or masonry. These drains which were square in cross section received and carried off slop water and rain water from the streets; the drains were constructed accord- ing to no regular design nor fixed principles, although usually they were 12 inches square and made by laying flat stones to form the bottom of the drain, then building walls of brick and topping off with flat stones, spanning from wall to wall. Excreta were collected in cesspools often built beneath the floor of the house. The introduction of the water closet about the commencement of the century, though it abated the nuisance of the latrine, aggravated 85 86 HISTORY OF SANITATION the evils of the cesspool by introducing a large volume of water far exceeding in weight the actual excreta, water- logging the subsoil. The difficulty and expense of empty- ing the cesspools were increased. Cesspools were therefore connected to sewers by house drains. The channels in- tended to carry off rain water became sewers. ‘‘ Sewers and house drains were constructed on no scientific princi- ple.* The walls were rough, irregular and porous. Natu- rally deposits took place in them; hand cleaning was con- sidered a normal incident to the history of the sewer, and irrespective of the volume of sewage to be conveyed, sewers were made large enough to admit the passage of a man to facilitate cleaning.” In 1852, the General Board of Health under the Public Health Act, made their first report to the British Parlia- ment, and advocated very strongly the introduction of smaller pipes in lieu of the large brick and stone drains then in use for house drainage. Prior to this date, the first report of the Metropolitan Sanitary Commission, Lon- don, appeared, which, while not to be taken as advocating exclusively the use of small pipes, yet pointed out the necessity of reducing the dimensions and altering the shapes of the old stone and brick structures. From this period, then, can be assumed the adoption and first use of earthenware pipes for house drains and public sewers. The construction of sewers in Paris dates from 1663, but the earliest of those still in use are not earlier than the beginning of this century. Before the great epidemic of cholera in 1832, the total length of sewers was not more than 21 miles. The sewers of Paris to-day aggregate over 750 miles in length, and constitute one of the sights of the city. According to Mason,+ ‘‘They may be inspected without charge on the first and third Wednesdays of each month in summer, by