Our Illustrations

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVII, Issue 12, 22 September 1906, Page 38

Our Illustrations

WAITAKEREI WATER SUPPLY. A VISIT TO THE MEPHAN'-FERGU-SON PIPE WORKS. Tlw huge steel mains which will carry the city's water supply, at the rate of live million gallons a day, from the Waitakcrei ranges to the Ponsonby reservoirs are familiar enough to those living in the western half of the city, a large number of the pipes having been placed alongside the roadway prior to laying. The pipes are entirely different to those ordinarily used, both in shape and in process of manufacture. They are of even diameter, having no flange at one end to receive the butt of the next; and instead of being made of thick cast iron, they are made of jin. wrought, steel, while a long bar runs down either side, forming the welding. It is these liars which give the name to the pipes--" locking bar ” —the bar, as its name implies, being used to lock together the edges of the steel plates which, curved to a semicircle, are joined together to form the complete pipe. The Mephan Ferguson locking bar steel pipe was used for the first time in New Zealand for Auckland’s new water supply, after having been thoroughly tested and approved in other parts of the world: and that the Auckland City Council might have an opportunity of examining the method of manufacture, its members, together with a number of business men, were invited to visit the works at New Lynn on Sept. 10, and see exactly how the contract is being carried out. Bis Worship the Mayor, Mr. A. M. Myers, and Councillors A. J. Entrican, R. Ttidehope, ,J. Court, If. M. Smeeton, M. Casey, A. E. Glover, R. Farrell, G. Knight, and W. E. Hutchison, together with Mr. 11. Wilson, town clerk; Mr. W. E. Bush, the eity engineer; and Mr. W. Carlaw, the waterworks engineer, formed . the municipal party, while Mr. W. H. Hamer, engineer to the Harbour Board, was also present, and the visit proved thoroughly interesting and instructive. The guests were met by the Ferguson Company directors, ami were shown over the works by their engineer, Mr. Smithies. The rough sheets of steel, as they arrived from home, were first inspect ed, and the whole process of conversion into the pipes was followed. A sheet of steel whs first passel between two heavy rollers, and the inequalities due to the exigencies of travel wore pressed out. It then passed between two cutting machines, separated by the exact length of the pipe, and these trimmed the ends die level, shearing through the tough steel with wonderful ease. Thence the plate travelled to the most wonderful machine in the mill, the huge dove tailing machine. The plate lies flat on this, while the machine triuis the edges, and simultaneously thickens each edge so that when the locking bar is used, the joint may become a dovetail—the strongest possible.

LUNCHEON AT THE WORK . The inspection over, the visitors were entertained at luncheon in a marquee erected on the grounds of the company, by Mr. Alexander Hatrick, of Wanganui, chairman of directors of the company. After luncheon had been partaken of, Mr. Hatrick proposed the toast, “Success to Auckland's new water supply.” The company had, he said, a lively recollection of the honourable and businesslike treatment which it received at the hands of the Auckland City Council on the occasion of the accept nee of tenders for the water mains. The Council was placed in the position of being called upon to decide whether a business principle should prevail or whether the Council should take advantage of a peculiar position and accept a tender which was informal although lower. This was sometimes done, but the members of the company had an abiding appreciation of the manner in which they were treated and the company had done everything humanly possible to show that the confidence placed in them had been merited, and that they appreciated it. The bulk of the machin-

ery had to come J’rom West Australia, the plates and lairs had to <*ome from the old country, and it was just twelve month's since their tender was accepted,so that no time had • been*, lost. The process was invented by Mr: Mepjian Ferguson, of Melbourne, primarily to provide for the Coolgardie water scheme, for the West Australian Government, 365 miles of pipes at a cost of some £3,000,000: had these pipes been of cast iron, they would have had to be 1-Jin. thick, and the cost would have been beyond the means of the Government. Mr. Ferguson had patented the machinery, not the pipes, and before the system was adopted by the West Australian Government it was submitted to experts in the Old Country, who endorsed it, and it w:fs then adopted. Since then it had been favourably commented on by the highest engineering authorities. The people of Auckland were to be congratulated in having effected a saving of a substantial sum of money, by using steel pipes, the saving being about £lB.OOO, ami the credit of this was largely due to Mr. Carlaw, the waterworks engineer. He could say this now that the contract was nearly completed, and in three weeks the pipes required would be finished. Mr. Carlaw had been firm, but he had been just. The company had received the contract for the Gisborne Waterworks at £38,000. and he believed that the nearest tender, for east iron pipes, was £69,000. In Wanganui their tender was £60,000, and the eost in east pipes would have been £ 100,000. Out of 1700 pipes tested in Auckland so far. only one had refused the test of the enormous pressure placed upon it. The Ferguson pipe carried with it to-day the hall-mark of the British Institute of Civil Engineers. His Worship the Mayor, Mr. A. M. Myers, in replying, said that the Council had not decided to give the contract to the present company until after the most grave and serious consideration, an immense amount of data and information being obtained. From the report of the engineer, and as far as their own observation went, in giving the tender to the Mephan Ferguson Company, they did the right thing. The Council had sufficient data to warrant them adopting the steel pipes, and he did not think they had any reason to regret it. Their action had been much criticised at the time, but they had a pipe not only equal but superior to the cast iron pipe, and a sum of £20.000 had been saved to the citizens of Auckland. As to what occurred when the tenders had to be decided upon, the Council did only what honourable and business men should do, and accepted the tender of the Mephan Ferguson Company. It was a matter for congratulation that the members of the syndicate were colonial gentlemen, and they had practically carried out the contract within the time allowed. Their visit had enabled them to see the busi-ness-like manner in which the work was carried out. They fdt that they were getting value for their money, and he had no hesitation in expressing the hope that the monetary result had been satisfactory to the Council. The Waitakerei scheme would give'five million gallons a day; the present consumption was three and a half millions, and it would probably be twenty years before they would need to enter upon the otherparts of the whole scheme. He concluded in proposing “Success to the company.” Mr. Hatrick returned thanks, and the party then returned to town. FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE HARBOUR. The waters of the Waitemata keep many secrets, some of which are being unravelled by the Harbour Board’s new suetion dredger. In transforming the quondam mud puddle of Mechanics Bay into a beach of shining shell and sand and coral, strange things are brought to light, and the picture we give this week includes kauri gum, chains, ropes, sacking, boiler fire bars, lead, old stove pipes and kerosene tins, a spring balance weigh scale, rowlocks, marlin spikes, saw blade, bricks, stones, iron bars, bolts, timber “dogs,” water-logged timbers, stones of all sizes ami weights up to 601 b, bricks, wire rope, and endless other curiosities. The keepers of the strangest secrets are, perhaps, the old revolver, grown thickly over with oysters, and the part, stock, and lock of a gun. Who knows what tale of tribal war or imperial struggle

ur Jjefsunal quarrel these could tell! .Who may ever «•/ w,Mkt t»®«edy was bidden in the part suit of clothes found [ n the pumpt The erosive action of the - sand is ; by •the worn edges oL.-t.wo eimber planks at .the side, and these only caught the spray from the pump for a little while. The apposite corners away from the discharge are sharp, and show every »aw cut. The two feet rules give an idea of sizes. Doubtless the fish that are pumped ashore alive wonder what strangely new water power is whirling them round pump blades and through many feet of piping, mixed up with stones, sand, and shell, to where the sea birds are waiting hungry for a meal at ihc shore discharge pipe mouth, where many a bird battle is waged over the astonished prey. Since the dredge has "been at work, over 100,000 tons of material have been, lifted and pumped ashore.