WOODEN WATER PIPES.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXII, Issue 42744, 6 July 1905, Page 3

WOODEN WATER PIPES.

It is by no means uncommon in the city of London when a street is *up ’ to see lying along the curb a few length of wooden water-pipes which have been unearthed by the excavators. These are simply trunks of trees, generally about nine inches in external diameter, with the rough bark still visible on their surface, and with a b- ra of about four inches io diameter. One end of each trunk is hollowed out, while the other is pointed so that they

can be fitted into one another in a (continuous length. These pipes date back to the seventeenth century when a water supply was first brought to the metropolis from Hertfordshire by the New River Company, It is interesting to note that wooden pipes for the conveyance of water on a very - large scale are in use to day, not in our country bnt on the Pacific slope. These pipes some of which are many feet in diameter, are made of Californian red -

wood (Sequoia sempervirens), and are constructed with staves and hoops like an ordinary barrel. Where sharp turns are necessary an elbow-joint of cast-iron or of steel in the case of large - pipes, is introduced. These pipes t’ serve many imporrant industries, and one of their moat valuable features is that they can be transported piecemeal and put together when they reach their destination. The wood is of a very light weight, and is exceedingly durable.