[Illustration: GASFITTERS AT WORK.]
As there are now few large houses which are not lighted by gas, the
trade of the Gasfitter is one of considerable importance; and though the
materials used are generally bought ready made from the Brassfounders,
the glass-works, the Ironfounders, or the lead warehouse, considerable
skill is required, as well as some taste in properly adapting the
chandeliers and burners, and skilfully adjusting the tubes and pipes
so that they may easily be repaired, or any escape of gas quickly
detected. The various tools used by the Gasfitter are simple enough, but
careful practice is necessary for their proper use; and, as any flaw or
imperfection in the work may lead to very dangerous consequences, all the
operations should be thoroughly tested, and every joint and fitting in
the various parts made sound and strong.
Before the gas is taken into a house, or as it is called in the trade
“laid on” in the house, it is of course necessary to obtain the
permission of the Company to whom the works where the gas is made belong,
and to agree to pay for the quantity that is burnt, which is charged by
the thousand cubic feet, and varies in price according to the cost of the
coal from which it is made, and the difficulty of conveying this coal to
the works.
[Illustration: Spade. Crowbar. Rammer.]
The first operation is to take up the roadway in front of the house, in
order to connect the pipe which is to convey the gas to the meter with
that which conducts it from the works to the different streets of the
neighbourhood. For this purpose the _spade_ and _crowbar_ are necessary,
while sometimes the pickaxe also has to be used; and the _rammer_ serves
to beat the earth down more closely after the pipe is laid.
[Illustration: Brick Bit. Brick Auger.]
The pipe which is joined to the larger pipe, or _main_, is generally of
iron, and is made with a screw and socket, that it may not be easily
displaced by the pressure of the roadway or footpath, and this, passing
into the basement of the house, supplies the gas to the _meter_. The
meter is a mechanical contrivance, which is so constructed that the
quantity of gas passing through it is registered by a plate something
like a clock face, with a hand to point to the figures which represent
the number of cubic feet consumed. There are different kinds of meters,
and the construction of them varies very considerably, but they all
answer this purpose: so that when the inspector visits the house once a
quarter he may directly see what quantity is to be charged for. The pipe
leading from the meter is fitted with a strong tap, by turning which, all
the gas may be shut off from the tubes that convey it to the different
burners in the house, and from this pipe the smaller pipes (made of a
sort of solder or of lead) are taken to the various rooms. In order to
carry the tubes through a wall, it is necessary to use the _brick bit_
and the _brick auger_ for boring a hole to receive it, while to support
it against a wall or along the top of a ceiling the Gasfitter uses
_wall hooks_, the _hammer_ and the _tongs_ for holding and bending the
pipe to its proper direction. In kitchens and basement rooms the pipe is
generally carried from the meter up the wall and along the ceiling to the
place where the burner is to be fixed: but in upper rooms the pipe is
taken up the house wall, and carried under the flooring of the room above
to the centre of the middle joist, where a hole is bored quite through
the ceiling of the room below. For this purpose the _twisted auger_ is
generally used; and for the preliminary work of taking up the floor and
cutting a groove in the joist to receive the pipe, that it may not be
injured by the pressure of the boards above, the _saw_ and the _hammer_
are required.
[Illustration: Wall Hooks. Nuts. Grease Pot. Hammer.]
[Illustration: Twisted Auger. Saw. Blowpipe. Tongs.]
[Illustration: Waxed Rushes. Rasp.]
Of course one length of pipe is not sufficient to go to any great
distance, and a joint has frequently to be made, the solder used for
this purpose being so easily melted and so readily combining with the
pipe itself, which is of almost the same material, that the flame from
prepared _tow_ blown to an intense heat by the _blow pipe_ is sufficient
for the purpose. The rasp is used for filing the surface at the ends of
the pipes where they are to be joined, and the _waxed rushes_ to try the
joints in order to see that there is no escape of gas through some small
hole. When the pipes are all laid and brought to their proper positions
the fittings are fixed. Those which descend from the centres of ceilings
are generally called chandeliers, and consist of a tube of metal fastened
to the gas pipe, the end of which coming through the ceiling is furnished
with an iron screw to fit the end of the tube. This tube is placed within
a larger tube, from the bottom of which a still smaller one passes within
the first. The gas therefore descends the tube from the ceiling, and
enters the smallest tube, which communicates with the _burners_ that
spring from the largest. The larger tube is intended to receive water,
in which the end of the first tube rests, so that the gas is prevented
from escaping, while by a nice adjustment of weights running over pulleys
attached to the larger, the burners can be raised or lowered, as one tube
slides within the other (_see large cut_). The _taps_ are placed at the
burners to turn on or turn off the gas as it is required, and in order
to fix and screw these, as well as to fasten joints in the fittings by
means of _screw nuts_, the _pliers_ and the _wrench_ are used.
[Illustration: Wrench. Tow. Tap. Rimmer. Clamps. Pliers. Drill Stock.]
The _clamps_ are a sort of vice with grooved holes, for holding the taps
and metal joints firmly while they are filed or otherwise prepared; the
_drill stock_ is used for boring small pipes in order to make a branch to
some other direction, and the _drill brace_ is intended for boring the
main pipes, under which the large hooks are placed while a stock and bit
attached to the upper screw makes the hole; the ordinary _braces_ are
fitted to a _ratchet_ or cog wheel at one end, and are also used for
making incisions by being worked backwards and forwards.
[Illustration: Drill Brace. Braces. Stocks and Dies.]
The several kinds of _burners_ are pierced or cut in such a way as to
make the flame from the gas of different shapes, such as _fish tail_,
_cock spur_, _star_, or _argand_, the names of which tell pretty well
in what shape they appear. Small rooms are sometimes fitted with
“telescopes” instead of chandeliers, the telescope being one tube sliding
within another, and the space carefully filled with a properly adjusted
cork or some other flexible and impervious substance. Bedrooms, and
apartments where light is required at the walls or chimney pieces, are
furnished with brackets, which either simply project from the wall, or
are made with an arm moving on a ball and socket joint. The manufacture
of the various portions of the apparatus used in gas fitting will be
mostly found described under the trade of the Brassfounder.
[Illustration]