The New York Subway

and Twelfth Avenue. The plans were adopted after a thorough study by the engineers of Interborough Rapid Transit Company of all the

ver built, and the study of the designs of other power houses throughout the world was pursued with the principal obj

contained within an operating room placed beside a boiler house, with a capacity of producing, app

General Plan

ting section 117 feet. The operating room occupies the northerly side of the structure and the boiler house the southerly side. The designers were enabled to employ a contour of roof and wall section for the northerly side that was identical with the roof and wall contour of the southerly side, so that the building, when viewed from either end, presents a symmetrical appearance with both sides of the building alike in form and design. The

tor; two condensing equipments, two boiler-feed pumps, two smoke-flue systems, and detail apparatus necessary to make each section complete in itself. The only variation is the turbine plant hereafter referred to. In addition to the space occupied by the sections, an area was set aside, at the Eleventh Avenue end of the structure, for the passage of the railway spur from the New York Central tracks. The total length of the original five-sectio

OF POWER HOUSE

ied by the chimney bases. By this arrangement it was possible to place all the boilers on one floor level. The economizers were placed above the boilers, instead of behind them, which made a material saving in the width of the boiler r

erating room there is placed, for each engine, its respective complement of pumping apparatus, all controlled by and under the operating jurisdiction of the engineer for that engine. Each engineer has thus full control of the pumping machinery required for his unit. Symmetrically arranged with respect to the center line of each engine are the six boilers in the boiler room, and the piping from these six boi

en very hot during the summer season. The placing of the economizers, with their auxiliary smoke flue connections, in the economizer room, all symmetrically arranged with respect to each chimney, removes from the boiler room an element of disturbance and makes it possible to pass directly from the boiler house to the operating room at convenient points along the length of the power house structure. The location of each chimney in the center of the boiler hou

oncrete foundations for the reciprocating engines contain each 1,400 yards of concrete above mean high water level, and in some cases

TION OF P

. At the river end the excavation was, at some places, almost entirely through the fill and mud and was made in a cofferdam composed chiefly of sheet piles. As it was impossible to drive these piles across the old timber crib which formed the old dock front, the latter was cut through by a pneumatic caisson of wooden-stave construction, which formed part of one side of the cofferdam. At the river end of the cofferdam the rock was so deep that the concrete coul

ngular concrete tunnel, through which the underground coal conveyor

el

used as bearing walls only for a few of the beams in the first floor. Although structurally a single bu

h special bracing in the boiler house to accommodate the arrangement of boilers. The columns are mainly of box section, made up of rolled o

flat portion of the roof, the three upper tiers of the engine house forming galleries

to suit the particular requirements of the imposed loads of the boilers, economizers, coal, etc., while the engine-roo

The bottom of the bunkers are at the fifth floor, at an elevation of about 66 feet above the basement. The bunkers are constructed with double, transverse, plate girder frames at each line of columns, combined with struts and ties, which balance the outward thrust of the coal against the sides.

ENERAL PLAN OF COAL BU

E-GENERAL PLAN OF M

ow clear for a symmetrical arrangement of the boilers and economizers from end to end of the building. The platforms are framed of single-web girders 8 feet deep, thoroughly braced and carrying

eet above the engine-room floor, are provided the two longitudinal lines of crane runway girders upon which are operated the engine-room cranes. Runway

galleries on the north side are somewhat irregularly distributed, but are equivalent to uniform loads of 250 to 400 pounds per square foot. In the boiler house the weight of coal carried is about 45 tons per longitudinal foot of the building; the weight of the brick chimneys is 1,200 tons ea

use Supe

ship of the plant by the city. Several plans were taken up looking to the construction of a power house of massive and simple design, but it was finally decided to adopt an ornate style of treatment by which the structure would be rendered architecturally attractive and in harmony with the recent tendencies of municipal and city improvements from an architectural standpoint.

ronts. The westerly end of the structure, facing the river, may ultimately be removed in case the power house is extended to the Twelfth Avenu

o the water table, above which they have been laid up with a light colored buff pressed brick. This brick has been enriched by the use of similarly colored terra-cotta, which appears in the pilasters, about the windows,

g just inside the building, the entrance proper is the doorway immediately beyond the track, and opens into th

except for a brown border and base. The offices, the toilets and locker rooms are finished and fitted with materials in harmony with the high-class character of the building. The masonry-floor construction

d machinery portion of the plant the stairways, railings, and accessories are plainly but strongly constructed. The main stairways are, however, of somewhat ornate design, with marble and other trim work, and the railings of the main gallery

im

e boilers included in the section of which it is the center, these boilers having an aggregate of 72,000 square feet of heating surface. By these dimensions each chimney has a fair surplus capacity, and it is calculated that, with economizers in the path

s are, in each case, carried on six of the building columns (the three front columns of two groups of boilers on opposite sides of the center aisle of the boiler room), and each platform is composed

are in the outside dimension at the base, changing to an octagonal form at a point 14 feet 3 inches above the base. This octago

ree feet of brickwork, and designed to prevent any flaking at the outside. At a level of three feet above the bottom of the brickwork, a layer of water-proofing is placed over the interior area and covered with two courses of brick, upon which are built diagonal brick walls, 4 inches thick, 12 inches apart, and about 18 inches in height. These walls are themselv

f the interior of the shaft, this latter being bonded to the red-brick walls to a point 6 feet below the top of the octagon, and extended above for a height of 14 feet within the circu

the chimney by 6 inches at all points, is provided in connection with the roof framing. This is covered

und the circumference of the chimney top. The cap is of cast iron, surmounted by eight 3 x 1-inch wrought-iron ribs, bent over the outlet and with pointed ends gathered together at the center. The lightning condu

nstructed of the radial perforated bricks. The lightning rods

Rive

be brought to the northerly side of the recently constructed pier at the foot of West 58th Street. Th

e pier, there is a system of screens through which the intake water is passed. On each side where the water enters the screen chamber, is a heavy steel grillage; inside this is a system of fine screens arranged so that the several scr

ter from the condensers away from the cold water intakes at the screens. Two water conduits are employed, in order that one may be repaired or renewed