Scientific American Supplement, No. 595, May 28, 1887 by Various
page 34 of 135 (25%)
page 34 of 135 (25%)
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The reservoir discharges into two tunnels (see Fig. 11), driven one above the other through a hill into an adjacent valley. The lower tunnel contains three cast iron pipes, with a masonry stopping of 36 ft. long. Two of these pipes are 16 in. diameter, with regulating valves, and discharge into a well, from whence the water can be directed for the town supply or into the river. The third pipe, of 8½ in. diameter, is always open, and serves to remove any deposit in the reservoir, and to furnish a constant supply for the use of manufacturers. The author drew attention to the difference in the section of the Furens dam, Fig. 11, as compared with that of Alicante, and of Puentes, which is similar to the latter. These two last illustrate the ancient Moorish type, and the former that of the present day. The Gileppe dam at Verviers, in Belgium, Fig. 14, although quite recently erected, viz., between the years 1869 and 1875, differs very much from the Furens type, in so far as it is of very much larger sectional area in proportion to its height, but this is accounted for by the desire of the engineer, M. Bodson, to overcome the opposition to its construction, and meet the objections and combat the fears of those whose interests--and those serious ones, no doubt--would be affected in the event of its rupture, the body of water stored being 2,701,687,000 gallons, or about eight times as much as the capacity of the Furens reservoir. In addition to this, there was another reason, which was quite sufficient in itself to account for the extra substantiality of the dam. This reservoir is for supplying water to the cloth factories of Verviers, on the Belgian-German frontier. It is curved in plan to a radius of 1,640 ft., with a length of 771 ft., and the additional strength of the structure due to so flat a curve is probably slight. |
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