File:History of the Panama canal; its construction and builders (1915) (14768215284).jpg

Identifier: historyofpanamac1915benn (find matches)
Title: History of the Panama canal; its construction and builders
Year: 1915 (1910s)
Authors: Bennett, Ira E. (Ira Elbert), 1868-1957
Subjects:
Publisher: Washington, Historical Pub. Co.
Contributing Library: Northeastern University, Snell Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries

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in favor of the gauges manu-factured by the Mosaic Tile Company, ofZanesville, Ohio. The gauges are now inuse in the Gatun, Pedro Miguel, and Mira-flores locks, and no doubt is entertainedas to their wearing qualities. This company supplied the vitrifiedfloor and glazed tiling used in the Gatunhydroelectric station; the Gatun, Mira-flores, and Pedro Miguel control house,and the tiling for the baths and lavatoriesof the Tivoli hotel. It also furnished the tiling used in thefloors and walls of the new administra-tion building, this selection demonstratingthat its worth had been established in theeyes of the canal officials. One of the difficult problems confrontingthe builders of the canal was to devise amethod for the preservation of the vastamount of costly steel work connected withthe construction. Climatic conditions onthe Isthmus are such as to make all steelsubject to corrosion, thereby greatly short-ening the life of the steel. When it isremembered that hundreds of tons of steel
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i. Laying Alpha Cement at Miraflores Spillway Dam. 2. Part of a single order of 20,000 barrels of Alpha Portland Cement. (Cement from the Alpha Portland Cement Company, Easton, Pa.) MACHINERY AND TOOLS 385 of a high grade were necessary for the work,and that the safety of vessels and cargoesmight be greatly endangered should anypart of the steel used give way on accountof the corrosive action of the water orclimate, the importance of finding the bestprotector for all the steel work will be read-ily seen. The forty-six lock gates present an inter-nal surface of more than 3,200,000 squarefeet, all strongly subjected to the deleteriousinfluence of the climate and water. Thesame is true of the dock gates at Balboa,the automatic gas buoys, and anchorageboxes. To replace one of the lock gateswould require a large expenditure of money,and cause a loss of much time, and mightmaterially interfere with canal naviga-tion for many days. Under all these con-siderations it became necessary to secur

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