arV 19492 > ^ THE GIFT OF A-AM.'^ilr" Iljljlb. Cornell University Library arV19492 General information about the Department 1924 031 290 756 The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031290756 GE.NERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE Department of Street Cleaning New York City, New York MAJOR JOHN McGAW WOODBURY COMMISSIONEn CAPT. FRANCIS M. GIBSON Deputy Commissioner STREET SWEEPER AND HIS OUTFIT GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT OF STREET CLEANING New York City, New York MAJOR JOHN McGAW WOODBURY Commissioner CAPT. FRANCIS M. GIBSON Deputy Conimissiojter Prepared by Fred. L. Stearns, Asso. M. Am. Soc. C. E. with the Department of Street Cleaning from- yanuary, 1895, to yantiary, 1905 Department of Street Cleaning New York, N. Y. January, 1905 ? MARTIN B.BROWN i PRESS* NEWXXYORK (248-06-6,000) INDEX. I. — Cleaning of Streets 7 II. — Collection of Refuse 21 III. — Stables 31 IV. — Dumps 35 V. — Scows 39 VI. — Disposition of Refuse 47 (a) Garbage 48 (b) Ashes 49 (c) Light Rubbish 49 (d) Railway Removal 87 (e) Land Filling 87 VII. — Push Cart Markets 91 VIII. — Snow Removal 99 IX. — Louisiana Purchase Exposition. 109 X. — Inspection no CLEANING OF STREETS. The streets are cleaned by hand, with sweeping machines, and flushed with water. In hand sweeping a certain number of blocks are assigned to each sweeper. These he is expected to keep clean from 7 A. M. until 4 p. M.. excepting one hour at nOon, which he has for luncheon. This route varies in length from about 400 feet to I mile, depending on the amount of traffic, the width of the street, the habits of the people in the neigh- borhood, and whether the route is or is not near unpaved streets. The sweeper's outfit is a can-carrier, push scraper, push broom, short handle corn broom, short handle shovel, and, during the summer months, a hand sprinkling can. It is his duty, upon arriving at his route, to go over same quickly, picking up the litter, such as paper, pieces of wood, excelsior, etc. If his route is on an asphalt paved street, he then goes over it with a push scraper, and the remainder of the day the sweeper is expected to keep his route as clean as possible, using the most suitable implement he has for accomplishing this result. If the route be one with a stone block pavement, then the push scraper is not needed and the push broom is the principal article used for the clean- ing of the route. While snow is on the pavement the sweeper's duty is to keep the crosswalks clean for pedestrians ; the gutters open 8 so that water, either from a storm or from the melting snow, can have free access to the sewer catch-basin ; clear the snow away from fire hydrants ; pick up the litter, and sweep the streets as soon as the conditions permit sweeping. These men are required to work overtime when any emergency arises. The sweeper is required to wear a clean white uniform and a white helmet. He gets his pay weekly at some station near the section in which he works. There are 2,455 sweepers employed in the Boroughs of Manhattan, The Bronx and Brooklyn. The sweeping machine is used in the suburbs, where there is little traffic and the streets need cleaning but once a day or less. A'lan)- devices for sweeping and picking up the sweep- ings have been tried, but have not proved satisfactory for use in this city. On streets where there is a large traffic and the can- carrier is a serious obstruction, and the can on the curb is also a nuisance, then the sunken can-receiver is made use of to good advantage. The can-carrier wagon is used on streets where there is heavy traffic. It passes along with the other vehicles, there being men enough with small brooms and shovels to clean the street and deposit the sweepings in the cans on the wagons as fast as it is driven along. This wagon is also used where a parade is in progress, where the streets over which the parade must pass are required to be kept clean. There are 941 miles of paved streets in the three bor- 5 11 Sunken Can Receiver. 13 oughs mentioned above. Man}- of these miles are swept from once to four times each day. The 2,455 sweepers cover 1,581 miles each day, each sweeper averaging about .64 of a mile. Each day that the temperature will permit of washing there are approximately 75 miles of streets washed. This washing is accomplished by the use of hose and with flush- ing machines. The flushing machine uses much less water and can work on the streets at any hour of day, as, while flushing the street it passes along with the traffic. The hose in the street is a serious obstruction to vehicles. It is also difficult for pedestrians to pass along on the sidewalk without get- ting wet when the street is being washed with a hose. A person can avoid the spray from a washing machine, but the movements of the men handling the hose nozzle are so uncertain that pedestrians are in constant danger of being sprinkled. 15 19 21 COLLECTION OF REFUSE. The City bears the entire expense of the collection of refuse. All drivers wear a brown uniform, a brown hel- met in summer and a brown cap in winter. The ash and garbage driver is required to have a short-handled broom and a shovel on his cart. This is for the purpose of tak- ing up any piles of street sweepings or to clean up any material that may be dropped from a can while it is being emptied. The driver is assigned to a route the average length of which is approximately one mile. He is required to remove all ashes, garbage and street sweepings on his route. The garbage is collected between certain hours in the morning and the ashes and street sweepings are gathered during the remainder of the day. His hours are from 6.30 a. m. until his route is cleaned. If he gets through before 4 p. m. his route is increased. The ashes are put outside the house in one can and the garbage placed outside the house in another. The paper cart driver collects the light rubbish along his route. Each house is supplied with a " P. & R." card, which is displayed in a place where it may be easily seen by the driver. The displaying of this card means that there is light rubbish in the house for which the driver is to call. There are 1,316 drivers in the three boroughs mentioned 22 above. They get their pay weekly at the stable where they are assigned. The horses travel an average distance of 20 miles each day. The driver is not allowed to trot his horse. The ideal style ash and garbage cart is one that will hold the proper sized load, that is water tight on sides and bottom, that is strong and light, that will tip at our dump- ing boards, that will prevent the ashes from blowing about the streets when loading and going to the dumping place, and is a sanitary wagon for garbage and ashes. In Commissioner Woodbury's address before the Acad- emy of Medicine he said : " You know the nuisance that exists with uncovered ash carts. You know how it all flies through the windows. The emptying of the can into the cart drives the dust of the ash all over the place. The new steel cart has a cover with the idea of a rolltop desk. There is a place for empty- ing the contents of the ash can into the cart. The cover is then slid down and the driver can go about his work without the winds blowing the contents of the cart about. This type of water-tight steel cart is the idea that has got to come for the transportation of the wastes of this city, so that the refuse when loaded shall be shut in and we will have a proper covered cart." Automobile ash trucks have been designed, but no builder would construct one unless they had a contract with the Department. The Department could not enter into such a contract. 23 25 27 CL a O 29 31 STABLES. The Department either owns its stables or leases them, and employs the force that takes care of the stables and horses. The stables are designed so as to give plenty of light and fresh air. The plumbing is the best possible, and the floors are either cement or well caulked yellow pine, admitting of thorough flushing every day. The stalls have movable slat floors that are removed daily while the flushing is going on. The wastes from the stable are removed daily, thus making the City stables in every respect sanitary and less objectionable than many private stables. There are twenty stables in the boroughs of Manhattan, The Bronx and Brooklyn. These stables are located so as to be convenient for the horses working throughout these boroughs. 33 o 35 DUMPS. The dumping boards are located along the water fronts. They are built ver)- rigid. There has not been an accident due to the dumping board falling, even though it has been built for years. Several devices for guard rails have been arranged along the backing log to keep the horse and cart from falling over onto the scow, but these have been removed. They proved an obstruction that delayed the work of loading and trimming the scows and of dredging under the over- hangs. The horses occasionally fall over the backing log. When they fall it is generally sidewise, and it is better to let the horse and cart fall at once to the scow than to have either horse or cart caught in this guard rail and be suspended in this helpless condition. Experience has shown that horses seldom die by falling onto a scow loaded with ashes, etc. A high backing log of 12 inches is required, and but few horses fall over them in the course of a year. The flooring of the overhangs is of 6 by 12 inch yellow pine. These planks can be taken up for dredging and be replaced even in icy weather without breaking them. The repair to this floor is very small. The dimensions of these dumping boards are made to suit the scows used. They are usually 70 feet long, 13 feet 36 overhang, and 15 feet above mean high water. The run- way should not rise over i foot in every 12 feet, with a clear width of 16 feet for driving. 37 39 SCOWS. The scows are of three kinds — flat, Barney dumper and Delehanty steam dumper. The flat scow is unloaded by hand when used for sea dumping and when used for land filling the orange peel bucket is employed for unloading. The Barney dumper consists of two boats placed side by side, touching at the bottom and separated at the top. The load is held between the two sections. This is used only for sea dumping. When the load is to be dropped the two sections are separated by means of hand power. The Delehanty steam dumper is of a catamaran type, with pockets for refuse suspended between the hulls. This is used only for sea dumping. It propels itself and dumps the load by steam power. Various designs for scows have been proposed or tried, but the three above mentioned have proved the best for the work of this Department. 41 43 a. £ 45 47 DISPOSITION OF REFUSE. Before the wastes of this city were collected separately practically all the mixed material was dumped at sea. No attempt was made to cremate this mixed waste, as is the custom abroad and in a few cities on this continent. Since the material has been collected separately, the garbage of the boroughs of Manhattan, The Bronx and Brooklyn has been reduced at Barren Island under a con- tract. In the boroughs of Queens and Richmond the garbage, often mixed with rubbish, has been cremated by the City and not under a contract. Tests for cremation of garbage have been conducted by Department employees, and it was found that it required i pound of coal to cre- mate 9 pounds of garbage. This garbage was of the wettest kind, liquid dripping from same. Commissioner Woodbury, while making an address be- fore the American Society of Civil Engineers, said: " The problem of garbage disposal is a vexing one. By the reduction process phosphates and grease are obtained. By incineration of garbage it is claimed that heat can be obtained, and that this will generate power ; but all experi- ments in New York City show that it takes fuel to burn our garbage in a sanitary manner. The question of cost is important. The best or most scientific and sanitary process is not the best financially." 48 (a) The garbag^e taken to Barren Island Reduction Plant is loaded by hand onto a conveyor that carries it to large tanks. It is here cooked with steam. The con- tents of these tanks are then run into presses. This re- moves the grease and water. The residuum from the presses is then dried in rotary drying cylinders, and is a base for fertilizers. The grease being lighter than water, rises to the surface of the basin and is run off to be used in the trades. (b) The ashes are collected separately and used for fill- ing in land. No attempt has been made to incinerate the ashes. They are already in a sanitary condition and make excellent land-filling material ; also a good filler in concrete. Major Woodbury, in an address before the City Club of Chicago, said : " The steam ash which comes from the factories and large business buildings is being sold now, bringing quite a return, for the making of concrete side- walks, bridging between the steel beams of fireproof build- ings and cement floors." (c) The light rubbish, when dumped on scows, makes a very bulky load. This light material, when dumped at sea, floats back again to litter the beaches. The light rubbish is collected separately for the purpose of sorting the articles of value, with the intention of incinerating the remainder. There was no definite in- formation as to the cost of this process of incineration of rubbish alone, so the remainder of this rubbish, after sort- ing, was also used for land filling. Experiments were commenced at once to solve the incinerating problem. 49 bl) 51 53 o o 55 57 bl) bi! 59 The cost of disposing of this waste material always comes up first, the sanitar)- method second. An incinerator was constructed at Forty-seventh street, North river, for the incineration of this light rubbish. Improvements were made on it as fast as the needs became apparent. The problem is now solved. Incineration of rubbish is the sanitary method and it saves the City money over other methods of disposal. Commissioner Woodbury makes the following report to the Academy of Medicine : " This is what we are burning in the furnace — beds and bedding, mattresses, washstands and bureaus, boxes, barrels, everything, and you know quite as well as I do the type of mattress and bedding that comes to me from the tenement districts, soaked with disease, worn out, rotten with typhoid fever, scarlet fever, diphtheria, every sort of illness or pathological germ, that you know very well never comes to me at the dumps until it can be no longer handled anywhere else." In Major Woodbury's report to the Mayor he said: " The incineration plant at Forty-seventh street dump began to run regularly at the first of this year (1904). This plant has been in operation during the whole year, and has marked, in my opinion, a line of departure from the prevailing practice which the City will have to under- take in order to properly serve the interests of the public." " The development of the work of burning refuse in the incinerator built by the Department upon the Forty- seventh street pier. North river, has shown conclusively, as may be noted below, the economy of incinerating the 60 city's waste. It is my opinion that a number of incin- erators should be added to the plant of the Department at various localities in the city, so as to avoid the long haul of the city's waste to the water front before it can be dis- posed of." The Forty-seventh street incinerator destroys the waste left from over one hundred loads of rubbish a day after the articles of value have been sorted. The average weight of a load is approximately i,ooo pounds. The average bulk is approximately jY^ cubic yards. From a test it was found that i pound of refuse would evaporate 1.5 pounds of water, and that 232.7 horse power was pro- duced per hour. The grates are of cast iron. The furnace is constructed of red brick lined with fire brick. The temperature aver- ages 2,000 degrees. Natural draft is used, the stack being 114 feet high. With natural draft less skilled labor is required. Forced draft used part of the power that is produced. Forced draft may ruin the furnace if neglected by the workmen. Forced draft is needed if ashes are to be cre- mated with other mixed material. There are advantages in natural draft for the burning of garbage or rubbish. The question is often brought up by representatives of cities of this country, could we not incinerate all the waste in a mixed condition? The writer has given this matter considerable thought, has conversed with experts and read articles written by men of experience; has had charge of the cremation of mixed garbage and rubbish in the Bor- ough of Queens for two years, and has been connected 61 63 o o 65 67 69 7] o 73 75 with the incineration of refuse more or less for ten years. It seems wise to collect the ashes separately and use them for concrete work and for the filling in of land. The labor required to put the fine ash through the furnace is greater than that of collecting them separately. By keep- ing the fine ash out of the incinerator building you have a building that can be entered and inspected by citizens and a more healthful place for the laborers. The follow- ing are statements made by Geo. Watson, M. Inst. Mech. E., in connection with cremation: " When it is remembered that the combustible matter in the charge is, say, only one-third by weight of the whole (in mixed city waste) the claims which have been put for- ward of a commercial evaporation of 3 pounds of water to high-pressure steam per pound of refuse can only be regarded as ridiculous, for they would place the com- bustible portion of the material on a level with best Welsh coal. It is to be regretted that inventors have come for- ward from time to time offering guarantees of such results in regular working. Their claims can only be accounted for by their lack of experience. Failure in the fulfillment of such guarantees under contract have led to a serious reaction, and there is now a tendency to discredit altogether the possibility of steam raising from town refuse. As usual, the truth is found between the two extremes." " In wood-burning countries, and where closed stoves are used, not only does the absence of cinder mean a very poor fuel, but the fine ash (if collected with the refuse) has a tendency to surround and choke such combustibles as may be present, and to put out the fires altogether.'' 76 " Cinder is almost entirely absent from town refuse on the continent of Europe, where closed stoves are used, pro- ducing a fine, incombustible ash. I have frequently pro- posed that the fine ash, which requires no treatment, should be collected in separate bins in each house and not taken to the destructors at all." " Fume cremators, consisting of secondary fires in the flues, fed with coal or coke, over which the products of combustion had to pass, certainly rendered a continuance of working possible in many cases, but owing to the high cost for fuel they were not always regularly worked." " With refuse for fuel it is extraordinary how soon a high-pressure blast blows the fire into holes. With forced draft on the closed ash pit system a few minutes' use of the rake to fill up the blow holes will increase the draft gauge from }{[ inch to over an inch of water column. In some cases a draft of as much as 2 inches is used, but there are two great disadvantages to such pressures : First, that much more labor is required (almost constant trimming of the fires being necessary to fill the blow holes) ; and second, that the high blast sends up quantities of hot dust and sparks, which cake on the roof of the furnace and in the flues, necessitating constant cleaning." " Mechanical Stokers. — Many attempts have been made to effect the operation of stoking and clinkering by mechan- ical grates, but hitherto without much success. Mechan- ical grates of many kinds have been tried and large sums sunk in such experiments." 77 (rf) Railway Removal. — In territories where the haul to the water front is too long, as in the Borough of Brooklyn, the refuse is removed by a railway company. There are loading stations throughout the borough. The loads are dumped from the carts in these stations into large iron receptacles or into storage bins. The receptacles are loaded on cars by the use of traveling cranes and taken to the dumping places and emptied by means of derricks. Where there are storage bins the empty box cars are run under the storage bins and loaded through the top. The cars are taken to the dumping place and unloaded by hand. (e) Land Filling.— M.any acres of low land have been filled to grade and many acres of marsh land have been reclaimed along the water fronts. The best example of reclaiming land is now going on at Riker's Island. The ashes are removed from flat scows by orange peel buckets to cars or onto a conveyor, each of which carry this ash to the edge of an embankment and there deposit their load. Sixty-three and a half acres have been reclaimed on this island in the last few years, and the Department is about to begin filling in 179 acres more. Riker's Island is City property. 79 81 83 85 87 89 c 91 PUSH CART MARKETS. In certain neighborhoods people selling goods from push carts congregate in great numbers, forming the well-known push cart markets. The number increases, and these markets have become a great nuisance. Public traffic is practically discontinued and the services of the Fire De- partment are limited. The Commissioner of Street Clean- ing went as far as the law would allow to better the condi- tion in these market districts. He succeeded in getting the territory under Williamsburg Bridge for a push cart market, and required all the people selling fish in the streets m this neighborhood to go into this market under the bridge, thus making the streets more sanitary. This new market is washed with a hose every day, thereby making conditions more healthful. Commissioner Woodbury said, before the Academy of Medicine: " The whole street is literally covered. That is the tak- ing of the public highway for the purpose of private gain. The highway belongs to us all. It does not belong to any private citizen for his own usage. Here is where I have transferred part of them. We have taken all the fish sellers from the streets and put them into a fish market at the approach of the new Williamsburg Bridge." 93 95 97 99 SXOW REx\IOVAL. When snow begins to fall the street sweepers leave the work of sweeping the streets and keep the crosswalks cleared for pedestrians, remove the snow about hydrants, so the fire engines can get to them in case of fire, keep the gutters open in case a thaw should come, so the water can run freely into the sewer catch-basins. This prevents the flooding of streets and cellars, allows the water to pass oH the street surface before freezing weather occurs again. The heat of the sun at midday often causes the melting of snow and the water that does not run off freezes at night. The Department drivers, by direction of their foremen, haul away a few loads of snow each afternoon after they have taken away all material put out for them on their respective routes. When the snow has fallen to a certain depth, as fixed by a contract (usually 2)4 inches), a contractor goes to work piling and removing snow from the streets, according to the schedule furnished him. The contractor gets paid for the cubic yards of snow removed, the number of cubic yards being computed from the area cleaned each day. The depth of snow each day is fixed by the Weather Bureau. The snow is first piled, then loaded into wagons and dumped from a bulkhead or pier into the river. In some cases where the haul to the water front would be too long the snow is dumped in vacant lots. 100 The main thoroughfares are cleaned of snow first. The work then continues in the business and residential districts of the city. The work continues until every street is cleared of snow and ice. It often occurs that several storms come before the previous snow fall has been removed. At each new storm the work commences again at the beginning of the schedule. Under the previous system many officials of the Depart- ment were taken awa\- from their regular duties and had charge of the snow removal, and these officials gave out the City pay checks. This caused the Commissioner of Street Cleaning a great annoyance. Complaints were made by the press and citizens that the collection was neglected and that the City was being robbed by the Street Cleaning officials. The new system made the contractor the loser if any of the men handling the pay checks were dishonest. The City officers remained at their regular work, looking after the removal of wastes and the cleaning of snow from parts of the city by the City carts. Major John McGaw Woodbury, Commissioner of Street Cleaning, in his report to the Mayor, states : " The snow contract was formed in such a way as to enable us to make our house to house collection of garbage and ashes without disturbance." Mr. M. D. Bouton, Snow Inspector, states in his report to the Commissioner of Street Cleaning : " The removal of snow during the past year under the new contract area system has proven very efficient and satisfactory. The possibility of dishonesty under the old 101 T3 c 103 system is rendered almost impossible under the new, thus reducing by 90 per cent, the number of officers and men necessary for supervision, and thereby increasing by that amount the effective Department force engaged in routine duties during the winter." Commissioner Woodbury, in his address to students of Columbia University, stated: " The snow melting apparatus cannot compete with the horse and cart. The difficulty in melting snow arises from the fact that latent heat has to be overcome. This means heat, time and money." 105 107 109 LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION EXHIBITS. Mr. Daniel J. Curtin, Master Mechanic of the Depart- ment of Street Cleaning, reports to Commissioner Wood- bury: " The mechanical force of the Department, in executing these orders given by the Commissioner and his Deputy, succeeded in making a large portion of the articles exhib- ited at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, boxed the same and attended to the shipping and installation of the entire exhibit. Our exhibit seemed to be one of the chief points of interest in the New York City Building. Officials from all parts of the world and many persons interested in municipal affairs spent considerable time in the examina- tion of this exhibit, and made remarks that were of the highest credit to the Department of Street Cleaning." 110 IXSPFXTKJN. The Commissioner inspects the employees of the Depart- ment every quarter to see that they are able-bodied men, properly uniformed, and to address them with respect to their duties and actions, being employees of the City Gov- ernment that are constantly before the public eye. Mr. William Robbins, General Superintendent, in his report to the Commissioner, states : " The entire system of inspections which has been inaugurated b}' the Commis- sioner has had a tendency to cause a remarkable improve- ment in the work and the general appearance of the em- ployees ; for instance, during the last inspection in the three boroughs, not even a button was missing from any of the uniforms. The repeated assurance of the Commissioner that their positions depended entirely upon their good work has greatly increased the confidence of the men and incited them to renewed efforts to merit the approval of their superior officers." Mayor George B. McClellan accompanied Commissioner Woodbury at the last inspection. A scowman who had rescued a person from drowning was honored by being awarded a life-saving badge by the Mayor on this occasion. Ill 113 a 3 S o-