Page images
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][merged small][merged small][graphic][merged small]

View of the Connecticut Avenue bridge, Washington, D. C., in course of construction. Note height of arch as compared with man at base.

centering, which could not have been prevented in any practical manner, it was decided to adopt the European system of building up the arches in alternate blocks, or "non-continuous," so that, after the alternate blocks were placed, the shrinkage in the timber was reduced to a minimum. When the key blocks were finally in place, the additional settlement caused in each of the five great spans was approximately one-eighth inch. The alternate blocks were ten feet long, measured in the direction of the axis of the bridge, and were the full depth of the arch (approximately 6 feet), and the full width of the structure (52 feet). Each block, therefore, contained about 110 cubic yards, and weighed 220 tons. In each arch there are sixteen such blocks which would make the total weight of the five arches 17,600 tons.

Sidewalks, each ten feet wide, will be carried on brackets projecting from the sides of the bridge at intervals of about seventeen feet, and secured to the masonry by iron rods run entirely through the structure and fastened to the brackets on the opposite side. These brackets project about nine feet, and are to be made of cast iron so as to reinforce the mas

onry to which they are attached. On the sidewalks there will be a suitable construction of steel supporting granolithic footwalks, and a railing, with proper lamps and posts-all designed to conform with the structure.

When the bridge was first considered, plans were received for steel bridges; but the engineers of the District considered that, as the Connecticut Avenue bridge is designed to adorn one of the most important avenues of the national capital-about five miles long, extending from close by the Executive Mansion to the limits of the District-it would be advisable to erect a bridge of a monumental character. The portion of Connecticut Avenue within the city limits contains some of the choicest residences in Washington and also many of the legations of foreign countries. Just beyond the bridge, on the north, is the Zoological Park, which attracts thousands of visitors. Considering the question of economy, the engineers decided that, since a steel bridge generally is in constant need of repair, and the usual outcome is the erection of a masonry or concrete bridge in its stead, it would be best to erect a bridge of this class at first.

[blocks in formation]
[graphic]

MONTICELLO, HOME OF THOMAS JEFFERSON.

In Albemarle county, central Virginia, near Charlottesville. Mr. Jefferson was third President of the United States, 1801-09. He died here, July 4, 1826.

ARLINGTON HOUSE, FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA.

Located in the midst of the National Cemetery, on the heights opposite Washington, D. C. Once the property of General Washington, it descended to his adopted son, Parke Custis, and was later the home of the Confederate General, Robert E. Lee, who married the daughter of Custis in 1831. It was at one time headquarters of the Union Army in the Civil War.

4

[graphic]
[graphic]

CHATEAU DE RAMEZEY, MONTREAL, QUE., CANADA.

Built in 1705, by Claude de Ramezey, Governor of Montreal. Here, after the capture of Quebec by the British in 1759, arrangements were completed for the withdrawal of the last French garrison from Montreal. In 1775, the Chateau was headquarters of the American Brigadier-General Wooster; and in 1776, under Gen. Benedict Arnold, the Commissioners of Congress Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll "of Carrollton"-held council within its walls. It was for years the official residence of the English Governors. Now used as an historical museum.

[graphic]

WASHINGTON'S BOYHOOD HOME IN FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA.

In this cottage, Mary Washington, mother of the first President, lived, and here she died, August 25, 1789. The house is now owned by the Society for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, and is still furnished very much as it was when Mrs. Washington lived here. The room in which she died, and her bed, are preserved intact.

Smoking the Pipe

By Chauncey Thomas

IPES are smoked by millions, always have been, and always will be; yet not one smoker in a thousand, or perhaps in ten thousand, knows the elements of a good pipe. Sage attention is paid to the pipe material-be it wood, clay, or corncob-all of which has little, if anything, to do with the qualities of a pipe; and practically nothing whatever is thought of shape and proportion, the two things that make a pipe good or bad. A two-cent postage stamp, spent with intelligence, will buy as good a pipe as there is in the world; everything added to that price is for ornament, vanity, and, especially, for ignorance. The corncob holds a high place among pipe-smokers, and deserves this place-usually for the best of scientific reasons.

The history of the pipe is as old as man, and has been written many times in all writable tongues. The earliest man

FIG. 1. A GOOD PIPE.

Note central location of draught, causing tobacco to burn uniformly and completely.

owned but three things-his stone ax, his stone knife, and his stone pipe. He had these before he had a wife. The common idea is that the pipe followed tobacco into use, and that both came from America. Such is not the case, how

FIG. 2. A WORTHLESS PIPE. Location of draught causes uneven burning, and accumulation of distilled matter.

ever, for pipes were smoked in Asia, Africa, and Europe, as well as in America, before man could spin. This much for pipe history; our present attention is on the difference between a good and a poor pipe in all ages, and what makes that difference.

I have known an engineer to talk by the hour over the draught of his fireboxes, and never once in half a lifetime think of the draught in his pipe that he smoked hourly. Yet the question of a good or a poor pipe is bound up in that single word "draught."

A pipe made on right principles is shown in section in Fig. 1. The bowl is as narrow and deep as is convenient; the hole in the stem meets the bowl at the very bottom and in the center, thus insuring a perfect and even draught, hence a complete and even burning of the tobacco. The "cake" prevents the fire

« PreviousContinue »