(Published In 1892.)

The plumbing in the residence of R. A. C. Smith, Esq., in West Seventy-second Street, New York City, of which Mr. Smith himself was the architect, was executed by John Renehan, of New York City, and conforms to the current practice in careful metropolitan work. It has, however, special provision for local vents, for the disconnection of the sewer system for an interchangeable service of the kitchen and laundry boilers, and some other details and arrangements. Some of the these may be held to illustrate one of many practical solutions of the general problem which is more or less modified in the familiar requirements and conditions of all large cities, and is similarly handled by different designers. Each designer may have a particular style, excel in some individual detail, or more carefully provide for emergencies or conditions generally neglected Thus, while no important part of the work under consideration may be said to be novel, it has an individuality, and the frequent description of different instances of the same standard class of work emphasizes its important features and may be held to be suggestive of combinations, variations, and possible merits or faults which, although they may seem evident in the finished work, are not accomplished without study and the aid of comparison.

The house is a brownstone building about 25 feet front and four stories high above the basement. The plumbing comprises a sink in the cellar, laundry boiler and three tubs, kitchen boiler and sink, a servants' water-closet and bath in the basement, a toilet-room with urinal and hot and cold water washbowl, a butlers' pantry sink and plate warmer on the first floor, a bathroom with water-closet and washbasin and two washstands on both the second and third floors, and a 1,000-gallon storage tank, a maids' slopsink and a washbasin on the fourth floor. The soil pipes are of calked cast iron and the vents and water pipes are of screwed galvanized iron, except where they are exposed in the upper stories, where all the metal-work is silver-plated. All the soil and vent pipes were subjected to the water and smoke test. The trap vents are carried above the overflows, and all the soil pipes and traps are accessible through screw caps, Y's, etc. for cleaning.

A diagram plan of the hot and cold-water pipes on the basement ceiling is shown in Fig. 1. Here B is the kitchen boiler and B1 the laundry boiler, C is the main cold-water supply, R R1 ranges, L L L laundry tubs, V and V1 local vent pipes, T T1 and T2 are trap vents, H H1 hot water from the boilers, E E1 hot-water circulation pipes, A and G hot water and circulation connections between boilers, R R1 and R2 are risers, S the kitchen sink, F and F1 smoke flues, and D and D1 ventilation ducts.

In the perspective of the hot-water circulation system, Fig. 2, I and I1 are sediment pipes, J is a cold-water supply, L is a check valve opening upward, K is a cleanout, M is a receiver, and O is a ventilating register to the duct D1. The other reference letters have the same significance as in Fig. 1. and in both Figures the water pipes are shown by single heavy lines, the trap vents by broken single lines, and the local vents by double lines.

By the location of the smoke flues F F1 adjacent to the ventilation ducts D D1 it is intended to promote circulation in the ducts by radiation of heat from the flues. Pipe V is commanded by cleanout K and terminates in an open receiver-bell M, beneath which a gas jet heats the air and causes it to be drawn out of the servants' bathroom just above the water-closet seat. Pipe V1 terminates in a tin box set in a wall flue in the first-floor toilet-room. This box, accessible through a glass door, contains a gas flame and has an open pipe at the bottom through which air is drawn up through the urinal bowl.

Although the house is provided with a storage tank for future need, if required, it is at present unnecessary, as the city pressure is sufficient, and the double laundry boiler is connected up for a single pressure, though it is so connected with the kitchen boiler that either of them could be used under street and the other under tank pressure, and they could work separately or alone to supply the basement and upper floors.

The arrangement by which one pipe A is made to serve for supply and delivery for the tank is shown in Fig. 3. The filling is through branch B and a ball cock, and the drawing is through the same city pressure or pump pipe, and the U branch C, which is made to have an upward flowing current so that the check valve D closing downward will prevent any discharge of water from A, and the consequent overflowing of the tank through its delivery.

The chamber washbasins are situated in pairs between the front and rear rooms, and their arrangement is shown in Fig. 4. Valves A and B are set in the waste and vent pipes respectively, and are intended to be closed when the rooms are left long disused, so that by this means all danger of sewer connections through broken trap seals is obviated. If any obstruction occurs in the waste, it is likely to be at or above the trap, and if, as is frequently the case, it is due to gummy accretions on the internal surface, valves A and B can be closed and the pipes filled up to the top of the overflow with a strong potash solution, which will usually cut them out clean.

The fresh-air inlet for the main house trap is on the walk near the curb in the front area and is shown in Fig. 5, A being the inlet and T the trap. The pipe terminates in an open vertical leg about 12 inches long, which is set in a brick well W and protected by an iron grating B, removable by turning hook C with a key. The well W may collect considerable dirt and rubbish without obstructing the inlet. The main trap T is commanded by cleanout D, and the house sewer from the trap to the street sewer is commanded by another cleanout E. A little way above trap T, Fig. 5, the house sewer, in following the cellar wall, had to be carried through the cold-air chamber Z, of the ventilation system, and as this room is exposed to a current of the coldest external air, a special masonry wall W, Fig. 6, was there built up around it to protect it and an extra cleanout R was provided to command the built-in pipe.

The details of support for the main house sewer pipe F, Figs. 5 and 6, are shown in Fig. 7. The pipe is carried in wrought-iron yokes G, which are screwed into sections of old pipe H, which, with the cast flanges I, make solid pillars easily cut to any desired length. Where pipe F is near the wall, brickbats J are filled in alongside and plastered over to form a smooth sloping top K, which presents a neat finish and prevents the lodgment of dirt and rubbish.