[Illustration: Pipe Trap]
[Illustration: P Trap]
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ornamental art will never go out of date, and engineers of every branch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.
[Illustration: S Trap]
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.