Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. LXVIII, Sept. 1910 | Page 4

Street Pier.--For the receipt and disposal of materials at the
35th Street pier, four stiff-leg derricks, operated by electric hoisting
engines, were installed. Two were used in lifting the muck buckets
from the wagons and dumping their contents on the scows for final
disposal (Fig. 4, Plate LVIII); and the other two were fitted with
clam-shell buckets for unloading sand and broken stone from barges
and depositing the materials in large hoppers, from which they were
drawn into wagons for transportation to the various concrete plants. A
large part of the cement (all of which was supplied by the Railroad
Company) was also unloaded at the 35th Street pier and hauled directly
to the work, the surplus being stored temporarily in the Company's
cement warehouses on 32d, 33d and 35th Streets, near First Avenue,
from which it was drawn as required. On the dock was located the main
powder magazine, a small concrete structure. Considerable use was
also made of neighboring piers for unloading electric conduits, lumber,
steel, etc.

[Illustration: FIG. 1. SPECIAL STEEL BUCKET PLAN OF BUCKET
END VIEW SIDE VIEW OF BUCKET SECTION AT A-A]
Tunnel Plant.--The spoil buckets, designed by D. L. Hough and George
Perrine, Members, Am. Soc. C. E., were a novel feature of the work.
These buckets are shown in detail in Fig. 1 and various photographs.
They were of 3 cu. yd. capacity and were split longitudinally, the two
halves being pinned at the apices of the ends. For lifting, they were
suspended from eyes at that point, and, when dumping, trip ropes were
hooked into eyes at the bottom of each side; lifting the trip ropes or
lowering the hoisting rope split the bucket, as shown in Fig. 4, Plate
LVIII, and dumped the contents. They were transported in the tunnel on
flat cars, and in the street on wagons, both cars and wagons being
provided with cradles shaped to receive the bottom of the bucket.
In the tunnels the loading was done with air-operated steam shovels,
four (Model 20) Marion shovels being used at various points of the
work. In Fig. 1, Plate LIX, one of these is shown loading the bucket.
The cars were hauled by General Electric, standard, 10-ton, mine
locomotives, the current for which was taken at 220 volts from a pair of
No. 00 copper trolley wires suspended from the roof of the tunnel. The
collector was a small four-wheeled buggy riding on the wires and
connected to the locomotive by several hundred feet of cable wound on
a reel for use beyond the end of the trolley wire. Two 8-1/2-ton,
Davenport, steam locomotives were also used in 32d Street, toward the
end of the work, after the headings had been holed through and the
tunnels would quickly clear themselves of gas and smoke. The steam
shovels were supplemented by two Browning, 15-ton, locomotive
cranes, which handled the spoil in places where timbering interfered
with the operation of the shovels. All tracks were of 3-ft. gauge
throughout and laid with 40-lb. rails.
Practically all the heavy drilling was done with Ingersoll drills (Model
E 52), the trimming being largely done with jap and baby drills. A large
number of pumps were used at various points on the work, and
practically all were of Cameron make, the largest ones at the shaft
being 10 by 5 by 13-in. The grout machines were of the

vertical-cylinder, air-stirring type.
SHAFT SINKING.
The sinking of the Intermediate Shafts was the first work undertaken by
the contractor.
The 33d Street Shaft was 34.5 ft. long, 21 ft. wide, and 83 ft. deep. The
rock surface averaged 5 ft. below the ground surface. Sinking was
started on July 10th, 1905, and was completed on October 3d, 1905, the
rock being hard and dry. The average daily rate was 0.73 ft. and an
average of 17.1 cu. yd. were excavated per day, with two shifts of 8 hr.
each. The first shift started at 6 A. M. and the second at 2.30 P. M.,
ending at 11 P. M. These hours were adopted in order to avoid undue
disturbance during the night.
[Illustration: PLATE LIX, FIG. 1.--AIR-OPERATED STEAM
SHOVEL USED IN TUNNEL.]
[Illustration: PLATE LIX, FIG. 2.--TIMBERING IN TOP HEADINGS
ABOVE I-BEAMS.]
[Illustration: PLATE LIX, FIG. 3.--FIRST SECTION OF CONCRETE
LINING AT FIFTH AVENUE.]
[Illustration: PLATE LIX, FIG. 4.--TIMBERING AND RUBBLE
MASONRY OVER I-BEAMS.]
Before blasting the first lift of rock, channel cuts 5 or 6 ft. deep were
made along the sides of the shaft, in order to avoid damage to the walls
of neighboring buildings. Timbering was required for a depth of only
10 ft. below the surface of the ground.
A drift, 30.6 ft. long, 17 ft. wide, and 27 ft. high, connected the south
end of the shaft with the tunnels. The