 |
|
Page: 
|
|
I was visiting Washington D. C. with the family. We stayed right near the Smithsonian Institute and spent our days walking through museums and breathing in the history and having a fine time. The sight of the homeless people sleeping in the streets moved me, as it always does, and I took especial notice of the poor souls who guarded their places over the steam that escapes from so many grates in the sidewalks. D. C. has one of those old district steam systems. Most folks don’t give it much thought, but you know me. I’ve just got to go look it up. Just can’t help myself.
In the middle of the magazine, I came across an article titled, “See Economy in Central Station Heating of Capitol Buildings.” The words of the Dead Man who wrote that story brought me back to our family trip. The steam I saw then had been leaking from those pipes for nearly a century. Here was an article that spoke of the promise of that soon-to-be-installed system. The Dead Man wrote it during a time of great energy consciousness. There was waste in government, silly waste, but the engineers had a plan to make things right. I want to share that article with you. Take a walk with me, back to 1905.
“The large building west of the White House, occupied as the headquarters for the State, War and Navy Departments, consumes 6,000 tons of anthracite coal a year. Twelve of the twenty-four boilers are used for power and lighting; their exhaust steam goes to the sewer.
|
So I started looking and found what I wanted in one of my old magazines, a Domestic Engineering from April 8, 1905. Ever see any of those old trade magazines? They’re gorgeous. They have these old ads with pen-and-ink drawings of long-forgotten products, and they’re filled with promises of comfort and ease. I love the polite way they went about selling their goods back then. The future looked so bright in 1905 America. So much invention going on!
“Extravagant waste of coal and unnecessarily large labor cost in the operation of the power and heating plants of the buildings in the Executive group at Washington are pointed out in the report of the engineers who have recently completed an investigation of those plants under the direction of Professor Woodbridge, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.| Dan Holohan - [Intro] | [Email] | [Website] |
| The views expressed in this article are those of the individual author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of MasterPlumbers.com |
