PLUMBING.
The art of working in lead is older than the pyramids. For thousands of years hydraulics and plumbing as an occupation engaged the principal attention of engineers. King David used lead pipe, so did Archimedes; the terraces and gardens of Babylon were supplied with water through leaden pipes. Steam fitting, with galvanized pipe and an elaborate system of connections and devices is a new department of mechanism—almost of the present generation—and at first sight would seem able soon to supercede lead piping of all kinds, but it is safe to say that nothing can ever take the place of lead, for this admirable metal can be made to answer where no other material can be worked; for instance, lead pipe can be made to conform to any angle or obstruction where no other system of piping will. Hence, plumbing as a useful and ornamental art will never go out of date, and engineers of every branch will do well to study its principles and methods so as to meet the ever-recurring and perplexing questions connected with sewerage, water supply, etc.
Every engineer should at least know how 1, to join lead pipe—to make a “wipe joint,”—as in a hundred emergencies this knowledge will be of worth. 2, how to make a temporary stopping of leaks; 3, how to bend pipe with sand or springs; 4, how to “back air pipes” from sinks; 5, how to use force pumps; 6, how to arrange the circulating pipes in hot-water boilers; 7, how to make solder; 8, how to repair valves, etc., etc.