Essay by Dr. Charles T. Jackson, of Boston, Massachusetts : lead pipes used as conduits for drinking water : contrasted with pure block tin pipes : brief history of lead diseases, New-York, April, 1852.

  • Jackson, Charles T. (Charles Thomas), 1805-1880.
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Essay by Dr. Charles T. Jackson, of Boston, Massachusetts : lead pipes used as conduits for drinking water : contrasted with pure block tin pipes : brief history of lead diseases, New-York, April, 1852. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    the pipe in the morning before saving any water to use in cooking or for drinking. In this way the evil may be diminished, and much danger avoided. It is better, however, to make use of water pipes which do not form poisonous compounds by corrosion and solution of the metal; and none have been found so available as those made of pure Block Tin. I have had abundant opportunities of testing the action of waters upon these pipes, and have never found any oxide or other form of the metal in water con- tained in them. I have tried Cochituate Lake water, Boston well water, and sea water, and have kept those waters for three weeks in coils of block tin pipe, from Le Koy's Works, and on analysis of the waters, after they were drawn from the pipes, no traces of tin could be found in them. The pipe being then slit open and examined, was not found to be in the least degree tarnished or corroded. I am therefore fully convinced that pure block tin pipes may be safely used for the conducting of water into and through our dwellings, and that no injury can arise from any action of water upon that metal. It is essential, however, that the tin should be quite free from all alloy of lead, and that as little lead as possible should be used in soldering the pipe, for an alloy of lead and tin is acted upon by water, and lead with traces of tin is then dissolved by the water. There is no reason to believe that tin pipe will be corroded by the action of lake water, and hence if the exterior of the pipe is properly pro- tected from the action of nitrate of lime, sulphuretted hydrogen and other corrosive agents, which exist in the foil, that it will last for a great length of time. This protection is best made by laying the pipe in a wooden trough, and casting melted pitch, made of tar and rosin, around it; or the pipe may be bandaged with strips of stout canvas, laid on with hot pitch, and heavily coated with layers of hard boiled pitch. It is essen- tially desirable to protect the pipe from the lime salts and nitre which form close to the cellar walls of houses; the method above described will most fully serve this purpose. It should be an object with plumbers to learn the best method of execu- ting this work, rather than to find fault, and to throw all sorts of obstacles in the way of improvement, as many are disposed to do, the moment any innovation on old usage is attempted to be made. Besides the advantage of preventing the exterior of the pipe from cor- rosion, the pitch will serve also to prevent the freezing of the water in the pipe—for resinous matters are very poor conductors of heat. This coat- ing will also prevent any galvanic action from saline or metallic matters in the soil, and thus aid in preventing the corrosion of the pipe. I do not know that tin is more likely to corrode in the soil than lead;