box boilers made by Lewis M. Ellison, consulting engineer. The ordinary type of boiler, states the folder, seldom averages more than 60% efficiency. These tests showed that with the regular grate Kewanee fire-box boiler an efficiency ranging from 62.39% to 68.6% could be secured. With Kewanee smokeless boilers the lowest efficiency obtained was 73.86% and it ranged from that figure to 81.38%. Full details of the tests are included, covering some 52 items. Another recent folder issued by this company states that 143 miles of buildings in Chicago are heated with Kewanee steel boilers. It is also stated that for 25 years the company has been making Kewanee boilers of steel and a careful record of repairs shows that repairs average $1.50 a year per boiler. PECO VACUUM SYSTEM OF STEAM HEATING and its general advantages are covered in a well-designed catalogue issued by the Pitts PECO THERMAL VALVE. burgh Engineering Co., Pittsburgh, Pa. The principal elements of this system are the Peco thermal valve, controlling the steam supply to the radiator and designed for onepipe as well as two-pipe systems; and the Peco vacuum trap for withdrawing the air and water. The company also makes an interesting type of float valve for the same purpose of removing the condensation and air, and other accessories that go to make up a complete modulation and vacuum heating systems. The Peco thermal valve has a diaphragm on the return side of the seat which closes against the steam, instead of being in the steam. This prevents the collapse of the diaphragm through pressure, and also adds to the sensitiveness of the trap. The diaphragm is filled with a chemical liquid when under a vacuum. This insures an even expansion governed by the temperature applied. This expansion member being filled, it cannot be affected by pressure as the fluids cannot be compressed, nor will a vacuum affect it, as the fluids cannot be stretched. A large section of the catalogue is given over to some of the more important installations of the Peco system. Size 6 x 9 in. Pp. 39. How To TELL GENUINE WROUGHT-IRON PIPE is the title of an interesting folder received from the A. M. Byers Co., Pittsburgh, Pa., calling attention also to some notable service records to the credit of Byers wrought-iron pipe. The procedure is to cut three or four sample rings, preferably from different pieces of pipe. Submerge one ring in a solution consisting (by volume) of 25% hydrochloric acid, C. P. 1.19 sp. gr.; 25% sulphuric acid, C. P. 1.84 sp. gr.; 50% water. Leave in solution about 1 min., rinse sample in cold water and then in alcohol. Examine ring at both ends to discover bright streaks, which are indications of steel. Three or four rings cut from different pieces of pipe will usually show steel scrap, if it is present. File a flat on the outside of the ring where the steel, according to the end indications, is most likely to be found. Stop filing when the steel band or bands are half filed away. Re-etch the flat, keeping the sample in solution 1 min. or as long as necessary to bring out the steel bands in strongest relief. If in doubt as to whether or not the bright streaks are steel, polish the surface, etch with 5% picric acid solution in alcohol, and examine under a microscope. Another recent folder issued by the A. M. Byers Company shows an impressive array of Pittsburgh buildings equipped with Byers pipe. Plan to Establish New York Heating Center in Grand Central Palace. A project is being developed by the management of the Grand Central Palace, Lexington Avenue and 47th Street, New York, to establish a new heating and ventilating center in that building. The idea is to divide one or more floors into offices, located along the outside walls and reserve the central portion of each floor for a display of heating and ventilating apparatus. Each floor of this building contains 50,000 sq. ft. The furniture manufacturers' exchange is located in this building and it is proposed to model the proposed new heating exchange on the same general lines. Dunham Co., C. A. Economy Pump Machinery Co.. Foster Engineering Co. Fulton Co., The Garden City Fan Co. Johns-Manville Co., H. W. Knowles Mushroom Ventilator Bristol Co., The Buffalo Forge Co. Braemer Air Conditioning Corporation 68 Carrier Engineering Corporation Central Heat Appliances Clarage Fan Co. Connersville Blower Co. Davis Regulator Co., G. M. Detroit Lubricator Co. Dole Valve Co. Front Cover 9 6 89 Second Cover 3 90 69 Front Cover 14 87 83 78 Front Cover 5 70 67 80 72 . Fourth Cover Co., Front Cover 8 Third Cover 3 Front Cover 12 82 12 81 7 85 87 81 74 88 Front Cover 85 90 67 88 .71, 73, 77, 83 65 76 85 87 77 88 Lavigne Mfg. Co. Ross Valve Mfg. Co. Standard Thermometer Co. Syracuse Faucet & Valve Co. AMERICAN RADIATOR COMPANY Sales branches and showrooms in all the large cities Please mention THE HEATING AND VENTILATING MAGAZINE when you write. Cooperstown, N. Y. APRIL, 1917 1123 Broadway, New York Up-to-Date Methods of Selling Steam How the Largest Central Heating Company in the United States Goes After New Business. By CLAUDE HARTFORD, Sales Engineer, Contract Department, New York Steam Company. When the New York Steam Company, which, by the way, is the oldest public service corporation in the city and the largest central station steam company in the world, passed into the hands of the new interests that now control it, two years ago, one of the first things that happened was the total rehabilitation of its plants and distribution system. This was followed, in short order, by the organization of a "Contract Department," in which a system was installed for maintaining a complete record of data relative to both new and old business. So much new business has been obtained under this method and so well distributed a load secured that the details of the system should prove of value to all who are interested in the sale of district heat. The inception of the plan is due to Charles H. Gillham, vice-president of the company, whose long experience in the central heating field recently in New York and previously as vice-president of the Central Station Engineering Company, of Chicago, has enabled him to incorporate the best features of other heat selling schemes in the method here described. In presenting the company's sales record system, it should be understood that the company operates two systems in New York City, one in the down-town financial district where steam is served to a majority of the most important business buildings; and the other uptown, serving what has been described as "the most exclusive residential district in the world." It may not be generally known that in the down-town district most of the office buildings have their own plants for the generation of electrical current for both power and light. These buildings take steam from the street service to drive their generating engines. After years of service, this method has proved both practical and economical. Due to the increased demand for such service, a new station is nearing completion at Burling Slip and Water Street, of 24,000 H.P. capacity, which is the last word in engineering, from the standpoint of both construction and operation. Due to the division of the company's service into two systems and to the different class of service rendered, for the most part, by each system, it was necessary, in the first place, to have the sales records divided in the same way. A card and map system is used, Figs. 1 and 2 being reproductions of the front and back of a typical card. These cards measure 5 in. x. 8 in., being of standard size for filing. For the up-town district a salmon-colored card is used, while that for the down-town district is buffcolored. On the face of the card, as will be noted are recorded all the necessary data, as shown under the various headings. At the top of the cards, in the center, will be seen the letters "P" and "Q." "P" indicates a prospect and "Q" indicates a consumer. Metallic signals are employed to designate the classification of any particular card. In the illustra tion, for instance (Fig. 1), the signal is over "Q" showing that this particular party is a consumer. Other signals are provided for use on the cards. A green signal indicates a power consumer; a yellow signal indicates a heating consumer; a red signal shows a power prospect and a blue signal stands for a heating prospect. As every card has one signal on it and that one is placed on either the "P" or the "Q," the contrast of consumers against prospects in the card file is readily seen. There is a card for every building plot on every main. The cards are filed alphabetically by streets, the street names |