Came across this pic & explanation and wonder if anyone has ever actually seen one and how long did they last?
That is great!:-D
People sure dressed funny in those days.
1985, Sulphur, Oklahoma:
We were working on a sewer rehab for the City of Sulphur. The Public Works Director (and also the backhoe operator!), Pauly, and myself needed to find the manhole in the intersection.
We had 1929 FAP SH plans that showed its location and a 1950 something resurfacing project that noted a piece of plate steel that had been placed over it. After a little digging we found the plate and actually torched several pieces of steel out to reveal a timber MH cover similar to your picture. This one differed in the fact that it had been constructed out of several layers of 3x10 bridge deck timber, cut to shape and spiked together. The moist wood smelled like the devil hisself..
I would assume that the cover was well over sixty or seventy years old. A close inspection revealed the spikes that held it together had been hand forged. It was in surprisingly good shape. I believe the timber had been creosoted, probably from an old bridge deck.
I think the timber cover wound up back at the maintenance yard as a trophy.
The 250-pound figure for a manhole lid sounded high to me, but I looked it up and it's about right for a 26"x1-3/4" cover.
No manhole covers, but we still occasionally come across wood waterlines.
We vacuum excavated a wood electric conduit a week or so ago on K Street near Connecticut Ave.
Why do you say that? I still wear a suit and tie when I pop manhole covers to get inverts.....don't you?
> Why do you say that? I still wear a suit and tie when I pop manhole covers to get inverts.....don't you?
Yup, but I stopped sending dogs down to track the pipe direction a few years back after the SPCA started picketing outside my office. Shame, I had to lay off three good sewer hounds and they've been collecting unemployment ever since.
Kinda wondered that one too. And the 250 lbs of metal in the concrete collar. That's a lot of re-rod
On the positive, this was for a war housing project and they were saving the metal for war purposes, so they came up with wood. I guess some engineers are smart....;-) (too bad our current administration can't be so forward thinking)
Early '80's I ran across some old wooden water main, and sanitary sewer from a downtown renovation project (town was circa 1860's). They cleaned pieces up and put in a glass display and likely are still on display at Northville, MI public works.
I don't mind working in the suit and tie so much, but those patent leather shoes give me nasty blisters.
Va va vooom. What manhole cover?
I also thought she was cute!
We did a bunch of rehab work in an old mill villager that had rectangular manholes and rectangular wooden covers. We basically abandoned nearly the entire system because of decay. After a decent rain the woods were full of raw sewage. All the lids had decayed to practically nothing.
A friend of mine made a double thickness plywood cover for a manhole in his back yard. Scoop up the dog poop, lift the lid, and drop it in. Of course the cast iron lid was still there, just set aside.
Andy
I'm sure that nobody here saw the dog.
