Plumber

“ The boy who works continually on this kind of work soon comes to think that lead pipes are no longer in use. The writer has found that a boy who has learned to do nothing but screw-pipe work is absolutely lost and cannot perform the duties of a plumber, other than screw-pipe work. It must be borne in mind that lead pipe and cast-iron pipe work are being used today in all parts of the country and in some parts more than in others. Therefore, the boy must grasp all branches of the trade that he has chosen to follow and not be a one-sided man. Joint wiping belongs to the plumber alone. ”

“ A furnace man. Or a gas man—to read the meter.”
“Nobody’s glad to have him in their house,” grunted the Pixie. “But I get your idea. Why not a plumber to stop a leak? I have a fine plumber’s transformation among my charms. I’ll be the plumber and you can go as my assistant. Good idea, what?”
“The very thing,” said Wendell. ”

“ It gives connections, sizes and working data for all fixtures and groups of fixtures. It is helpful to the master plumber in demonstrating to his customers and in figuring work. It gives the mechanic and student quick and easy access to the best modern plumbing practice. Suggestions for estimating plumbing construction are contained in its pages. This book represents, in a word, the latest and best up-to-date practice, and should be in the hands of every architect, sanitary engineer and plumber who wishes to keep himself up to the minute on this important feature of construction. ”

“ Before you begin bending solid pressed pipes always put the thickest part of your pipe at the back. Lead, in a good plumber's hands, may be twisted into every conceivable shape; but, as in all other trades, there is a right and a wrong way of doing everything, and there are many different methods, each having a right and wrong way, which I shall describe. ”

“ Where local or State plumbing regulations are in force, and extensive repairs or alterations are contemplated, the householder should make sure that the work is duly authorized and is done by a properly qualified plumber. ”

“ In the window of a small plumber's shop in a back street near, stood on view among brass taps, rolls of lead piping and cistern requisites, various squares of coloured glass, the sort of thing chiefly used, I believe, for lavatory doors and staircase windows. Some had stars in the centre, and others, more elaborate, were enriched with designs, severe but inoffensive. I purchased a dozen of these, the plumber, an affable man who appeared glad to see me, throwing in two extra out of sheer generosity. ”

“ The installation of all good plumbing work should be in the beginning, in the plans of the architect, for it is difficult and quite complicated to put in plumbing installation after the house is well advanced. There is nothing quite so important to the [305] successful builder as the early consideration of pipe requirements. The plumber is equipped with the sanitary code, which, of course, the architect knows too, and any householder can get one to read and digest. However, with a licensed plumber, a good architect and a faithful builder, this is unnecessary. ”

“ Fig. 1.—Showing the Actual Arrangement of the Waste-Pipes and Vents about a Group of Plumbing Fixtures in a House in New York City. There are sixty-three joints. the more absolute becomes his power, with largely increased possibilities of extra charges.
Compare the plumber and his "helpers" with the young mechanics in almost any good machine-shop, and decide which occupation engages young men of greater intelligence and skill in manual work. ”

“ When hunting for the seat of trouble look at the spot where the pipe comes through the floor. A crack between flooring and baseboard may be the air leak that has caused the trouble. Next examine the pipe along an exterior wall or in the direct range of a window. Frozen pipes concealed in partition walls, unless they are accessible through a panel of removable woodwork, are not for the amateur. They are for a plumber who will know how to reach the trouble without doing other damage.
Many are the expedients that life in the country and friendly chats with your own handy man can teach you. ”

“ You want to be a good plumber to do it very well, as I think our students have found out. I think all who practise the art should go through the workshop and learn to cut the glass and to lead it up; it is not a very serious part of their training; it is not necessary that they should become expert plumbers, but they should learn how and why it is done. I should very much like to have an expert plumber and an expert glazier to do that part of the work for the more advanced students, so that they could get on more quickly with advanced work. ”

“ It may be said that it is possible so to arrange the fixtures and apparatus appertaining to plumbing that it is entirely safe. The question naturally follows, “How is this done?”
It may be said that good work is not a great deal more expensive than poor work. Again, good work is not always a question of money. It is one of knowledge or inclination on the part of the plumber.
[Pg 65] One in moderate circumstances, who builds a house to cost from twenty-five hundred to four thousand dollars, should have well water or city water, and hot and cold cistern water in the sink in the kitchen. ”

“ And afterwards I have several important drains to disconnect at the great new hotel in Christiania, and the most tremendous scientific safeguards to grapple with and overthrow. What a glorious thing it is to be a plumber and make a little extra work for oneself in the world! ”

“ This is a job for a plumber, as it must be done with a thoroughness that leaves no moisture behind. The average layman has neither the skill nor the tools for it. Therefore, if there comes a winter when snow, ice, high winds, and low temperatures cause you to wonder if living in the country the year around is quite sound and you decide that a few weeks in a nice city apartment would be a good idea, close your house, if it [Pg 133] seems more expedient than leaving a caretaker behind, but don't try to save the plumber's fee. Remember pipes, radiators, and valves cannot be mended. ”

“ E and F is a soil pipe 3, 4, 5, or 6 inches in diameter. Note, pipes draining water closets are called “soil pipes”; those draining other fixtures “waste pipes.” N and O represent water-closet flanges; F and H are roof connections; L exhibits double and single Y branches to receive waste-pipes from baths, bowls, or sinks. The plumber makes this connection, always trapping the lead waste-pipe and then soldering it to a brass nipple.
LEAD PIPE JOINTS.
Fig. 160.
It has been remarked that after learning how to make “a wipe joint,” everything is easy relating to the plumber’s trade ”

“ He walked into a plumber's shop, but when he mentioned his business the plumber began pulling on his coat in a great hurry, gruffly announcing that he had to go to lunch. Anthony remarked politely that it was futile to try to sell a man anything when he was hungry, and the plumber heartily agreed. ”

“ About the Devil; and if this Mr. Faust
Has really made some new discovery
About him, it seems well that even the young
Should be informed of it.
[A number of detached men and women enter and
take seats silently. They are followed by two
plumbers in overalls, carrying the tools of their
trade still with them.
YOUNG PLUMBER
Whew, but the boss will skin us for this trick!
OLD PLUMBER
Go, if you like. But I intend to stay.
I have not been, through seventeen long years,
Philosopher myself, now to let slip
A chance of hearing such a talk as this. [83]
YOUNG PLUMBER
Oh, I won't go. ”

“ The time will come—it is almost here—when the demand from women for the high sink we have already indicated is going to be strong enough so that the Plumber's standards for cutting pipe will be changed to meet her demand. ”

“ The waste and overflow of all fixtures need considerable change to make them sanitary. The opportunity is, therefore, before anyone who will apply himself to this development. Much money, thought, and time have been spent by the manufacturers of iron enamelled ware and by the potteries to gather suggestions made by the plumber in regard to fixtures, and then to perfect them. To these manufacturers is due the beautiful design, stability, and perfect sanitary material which make up our plumbing fixtures of today. ”

“ Now as the Plumber has to do a great deal of his work in roofs and other places where he is liable to fall, he should be clear-headed, and able to go up a ladder or look over a ledge at a height from the ground without being afraid, and this is all the more necessary because he has to handle tools, and sometimes to pour melted solder out of a hot iron ladle while he is at his work on these places. ”

“ When the writer first started to carry the tools for a plumber and to prepare joints for wiping, the remark was often heard that joint wiping would soon be a thing of the past. I have heard this many times since from many different sources. Personally, I fail to see the passing of the wiped joint. More lead pipe is being made today than ever before, which goes to show that lead pipe is being used and the only successful way of joining is with the wiped joint. Some plumbers' helpers of today seem to think that joint wiping is of no account. ”

“ There were three plumbers (it always takes three plumbers to do a job; the first man comes on ahead to tell you that the second man will be there soon, the second man comes to say that he can't stop, and the third man follows to ask if the first man has been there) ; and that faithful, dumb animal kept them pinned up in the kitchen—fancy wanting to keep plumbers in a house longer than is absolutely necessary!—for five hours, until my uncle came home ”

“ So, as we now start on exercises of joint wiping, let the beginner constantly keep in mind that all boys must become perfectly skilled in the art of joint wiping before they can be considered plumbers. Keep in mind also that the examination that one must take to get a plumber's license contains an actual exercise in joint wiping. The one word of advice is not to get discouraged. Continued practice is the only way to success. ”

“ H HOW BEST to make small plumbing repairs is a problem that comes to most householders, as it is sometimes difficult to secure the services of a plumber. In such situations a little knowledge on the part of the householder often saves much delay, trouble, and expense. ”

“ Plumbing work recently overhauled and declared perfect by the plumber. Three foul pan closets and numerous other "conveniences," all leading to unventilated cesspool. In the bedroom occupied by the patient the "safe-waste" from a stationary basin was carried into the soil-pipe, constituting a direct inlet from the cesspool.
VI. Diphtheria.—Presumably "first class" residence. Kitchen and laundry wastes carried from basement into privy-vault, which was filled to above the level of the pipes. ”

“ A plumber at work on the roof had inadvertently come down leaving a fire, which had served to heat his soldering irons, unextinguished, which being blown by the wind, set the wood on fire, and the whole was burnt to the ground. ”

“ Finally the men came and began to fill the hole with new bricks. That evening the plumber walked into my parlor with mud and mortar on his boots, and informed me that by an unfortunate mistake the hole left for the boiler by the bricklayers was far too small, and he could not insert the boiler without taking the wall down again. ”

“ Then I monkey a little with the washer (still making those queer animal noises) , put on the faucet, run down cellar, turn on the water, run up from the cellar, and look at the faucet. Sooner or later the faucet always stops leaking. It is a mere matter of adjusting the washer; any handy man can do it with a little patience.
Winter in the country is the time and place to get acquainted with the plumber. ”

“ It is far from amusing to awake some zero morning and find the house without water because the well pipe has frozen. It can be thawed with a blow pipe but that means calling a plumber or a handy man who happens to have a tool of this sort. One such experience will keep you from forgetting or neglecting to provide a well cover. Similarly, if you are in doubt whether the pipes from water source to house are below the frost line, a carpet of leaves about two inches thick on top of the ground along the course of the water pipe, will obviate any such unhappy event. ”

“ It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten minutes. ”

“ A good plumber, before screwing up a piece of pipe, always stands the pipe on end and raps it with a hammer to clear the bore.
Figure 4, A, shows an ordinary half-inch lever-handle Fuller faucet which closes with the pressure. As shown in figure 4, B, the bottom of the spindle is eccentric, so that slight turning of the handle moves the rubber ball to and from the beveled seat. To replace the ball shut off the water to the faucet. Unscrew the body from the tailpiece with the hands or with a monkey wrench on the hexagonal part of the body of the faucet. ”

“ Most important from the hygiene point of view is the trap, which is a curved pipe permitting the last of a flow of water to remain in the pipe to prevent a back flow of sewage gas into the house. There are for use various forms of traps under different circumstances which, of course, are entirely the plumber’s business. ”