Philadelphia, Baltimore, and elsewhere, usually
in perfectly sound condition. It was commonly made of logs of spruce,
yellow pine, or oak, from 12 to 18 ft. long, 12 to 24 in. in diameter,
and with a bore from 3 to 6 in. in diameter. Some 6-in. pipe taken up in
Philadelphia had an external diameter of 30 in. The ends were usually
bound with wrought-iron collars, and adjacent lengths were connected by
an iron thimble driven into the end of each piece.
A few years ago the writer took up more than 2000 ft. of wood pipe of
this kind, which had been laid in saturated soil about a century
earlier. It was of Southern pine logs, about 16 in. in diameter, 14-1/2
ft. long, and had a 5-in. bore. Joints were made with tapering cast-iron
ferrules 9 in. long, and connections to smaller service pipes were made
with similar but smaller ferrules of cast brass. The wood was apparently
as sound as when it was first laid.
The use of flat iron for wrapping or banding pipe is believed to be
wrong in principle. Round iron furnishes the requisite strength with the
least exposure to corrosion, and ensures a more perfect contact with the
wood.
In a 42-in. stave pipe laid by the writer for the Water Department of
Atlantic City, N.J., the lumber used was Washington fir, cypress having
been found difficult to procure in sufficient quantity, and redwood
being more costly and no better.
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