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"Features of the Mechanical Equipment of the Wingdale, N.Y., Prison Buildings"
Lewis F. Pitcher, New York State Architect
By George B. Nichols, Chief Engineer, N. Y. State Department of Architecture.
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For a number of years the State of New York has had numerous commissions and departments studying the problem of the proper housing of State dependents, particularly that division housed in the State's prisons. The outcome of these studies has been the development of two State prisons, one being constructed at Wingdale, to be known as the Wingdale Prison, and the other to be a new prison at Sing Sing.

In the development of a State institution it has been found by experience that at least forty percent of the total cost of the institution is required for the mechanical dependencies of said institution. In the majority of cases in intentional planning these items have been somewhat ignored, making it necessary, during the life of the institution, completely to remodel the system installed, and never having a completely balanced unit. This is particularly noticeable in the central heating plants in most of the State institutions, the original design for which was not adapted for the final institution, making it necessary from time to time completely remodel the central plant as the institution increased in size.

For the past six years the State Architect, Lewis F. Pilcher, has required that his Engineering Department accumulate such data as was available in all of the state intuitions so that in the planning of Wingdale Prison this data would be utilized, and the institutional mechanical equipment would, as nearly as possible, meet the wants for which each particular item was to be installed. It is believed that the buildings now under construction will fulfill these requirements to a great extent.

In the selection of the site for any institution one of the first problems that arises, which should be thoroughly investigated before the purchase of land, is that the site has available a suitable and sufficient water supply and that the sewage from the institution can be discharged into certain creeks or rivers without detriment to the surrounding communities, and that no objections or injunctions will be raised by surrounding property owners. It has been found in a large number of cases that objections by property owners have raised sentiment to such a pitch that it was impractical to proceed with the development of an institution.

At Wingdale these two points were carefully considered by the State Health Department and by numerous experts employed by the State. The water supply is to be taken from impounded water held back by a large damn to be constructed on the upper portion of the property, from whence the water will be delivered to mechanical water filters at the site of the dam, and from thence the water will be piped to the institution, delivering to same by gravity. The sewage from this institution will be delivered to a trunk sewer which will be lead to a sewage disposal plant consisting of screen chambers, Imhoff settling tanks, sand filters and chlorinating apparatus, from whence the purified effluent will be discharged into a nearby creek on the property.

The base of the design has been planned for an ultimate population of fifteen hundred prisoners, although the equipment at the present time is for a much smaller number. In the heating of an institution of this size there still appears to be a considerable difference of opinion existing regarding individual, isolated heating plants and centralized heating plants. It may be possible to find certain institutions with moderately sized groups, heating from a group central plant, where each boiler plant is of sufficient size so that fairly economical operation may be maintained. These cases, however, rarely, if ever, exist, as these small isolated plants are unable carefully to study the problem of combustion, ect., so as to produce a high efficiency. It is also unwarranted to stokerize such boilers on account of their size, thereby eliminating in most cases the use of soft coal on account of its objectionable smoke with hand firing; so that in practically all cases the boiler plant efficiency, obtained from a number of isolated plants, is far below one centralized heating plant under the direction of one high class engineer.

The amount of labor, also, can be materially reduced by one centralized heating and lighting plant, and all water of steam be brought to a minimum. It is also possible, in prison construction, by having a centralized plant, to have all of the operating labor done by inmates with the exception of one chief engineer and an assistant on each watch.

In the location of a power house the same should be situated in close proximity to the railroad so that the coal can be delivered as nearly as possible to the firing space in front of the boilers. The plant should also be located as nearly central to the group of buildings as practicable, making it possible to radiate from same to all of the groups by the shortest heating lines. Quite often in centralized plants that location of the power house has to be varied from the above position on account of the architectural surroundings.

In the heating of an institution a large amount of discussion has been carried over a period of ten years, in respect to the proper heating medium for group heating, whether the same shall be by steam (either gravity of vacuum) or by forced hot water.

After going over all of the literature and various plants installed throughout the country and abroad, the writer is convinced that any one of the above heating mediums or methods can be successfully undertaken at any institution.

There are a certain groupings of buildings and methods of administration which have a material bearing upon which system should be selected. The main point to decide is which system is the cheapest to operate during the life of the institution, including yearly charges on original cost, maintenance and yearly depreciation. One of the main considerations in central heating is that the system must be as simple as possible, and if a steam system is selected, all traps and moving mechanism must be accessible, positive in their operation and easily inspected.

Each of these systems has developed a certain number of advocates, and the writer is surprised to note the various arguments and discussions advanced, a large number of which are not based on actual operating facts and fundamental, established values. Any statement made that all types of institutions can be heated more successfully by one system alone is incorrect.

After going over the entire lay-out of the prison at Wingdale it appeared, on account of certain fundamental designs and conditions of administration, that a vacuum system of heating was preferable for Wingdale Prison. It would, however, have been possible to have heated this institution successfully by forced hot water, but the selection in system can only be arrived at after a careful balance of all the factors surrounding the institution in question.

There is one point that the writer wishes to bring out in favor of a hot water system which is that the deterioration of the piping system is undoubtedly a minimum on account of the same water being kept continuously in the piping, thereby reducing to a minimum the amount of activity of the water on the inner surface of the piping system. This, it is found, is a large factor in the up-keep of various institutional plants, as it appears that steam piping systems have to be renewed in a large number of localities at least once in about thirty years, and in a great many cases the return steam lines in a shorter period. This, of course, is dependent on the character of the winter encountered and its activity, and the amount of make up water required to take care of the losses in the institution. In a majority of steam tunnel systems it is found that the amount of make up water is surprising large. The writer believes, however, that if the institutions throughout the State would study this phase of the work more, these losses could be materially reduced, thereby prolonging the life of their heating distribution systems and equipment, and also reducing the annual coal consumption.

The central heating and lighting plant for Wingdale Prison consists of two main rooms, namely, a boiler room and an engine and pump room. In the boiler room are located four 150 hp. return tubular boilers with reserve space for two additional boilers of equal capacity, the present boilers being furnished by the Ames Iron Works.

Various opinions have been raised regarding the type of boilers which should be installed. Of course, no hard and fast rule can be set, but in general central heating plants should consist of at least four units. It, therefore, the plant is less than 1000 hp. it would make the units approximately 250 hp. each, and this is a small sized boiler to adopt for the water tube type. This would have a tendency, therefore, for plants under 1000 total hp. to have boilers of the fire tube type. Plants of this kind are in general not warranted in installing overhead coal bunkers and coal and ash conveyors, as with the moderate amount of coal used and with sufficient prison labor the coal and ash can be handled direct from wheelbarrows or four wheel coal cars with side dump. There is, however, considerable to be said regarding the installation of simple, mechanical stokers, even in plants of this size, with plenty of labor, so as to reduce the smoke nuisance and make the boilers as efficient as possible. In this plant, however, no stokers have been provided at the present time. Undoubtedly these will be installed at some future date.

The engine and pump room, for prison work, should be combined in one large room so that all prisoners operating the plant can be completely under the control and observation of the engineer or guard. Two additional small rooms were provided, one for general storage of supplies, and an engineer's office for the keeping of all records, etc. In the engine room provision has been made for the installation of four direct connected A. C. 2,300 volt 3-phase engine-driven generating units with direct connected exciters, together with main switch board. At the present time two generators, one being 50 K. V. A. and the other 75 K. V. A., are being installed, space being provided for two future units of equal capacity, the units being arranged with cylinder heads facing each other, thereby making a large open space in the center for the desk of the operating engineer.

In the pump room are located the boiler feed pumps, open feed water heater, vacuum heating pumps, auxiliary feed water tank, vacuum return tank, with numerous traps, ect. All of the feed water to the boilers will be delivered through a V notch meter indicating the flow and also provided with a recording mechanism so that the total amount of water fed to the boilers for any given period can be determined, making it possible to definitely know each day the amount of water evaporated per pound of coal, or the efficiency of the plant.

So as to fully utilize the exhaust steam from the engines during the summer and to properly control the temperature from one central point, a central hot water heating system was installed in the pump room with distributing mains to the various buildings for domestic hot water service, thereby placing same directly under the control of the chief engineer. This plant consists of two domestic hot water heaters, water tube type, each with a capacity of 5000 gallons per hour, together with a storage tank of 700 gallons. From the storage tank the domestic hot water is supplied to the buildings, from each of which is a small return circulating line, the circulation being kept up by two motor driven centrifugal pumps located in the pump room.

From the power house there is installed, underground, in tile conduit the following service lines: one low pressure heating main to utilize the exhaust steam from the engines; one vacuum return line; one medium pressure steam main for cooking and sterilizing purposes, which will be run at approximately 40 pounds; one medium pressure return line; one domestic hot water line and one domestic circulating line. Sufficient expansion chambers are installed along with the above lines. At each building the domestic hot water and circulating lines are cross connected, and no circulating line is run inside the building as it is believed that there will be a sufficient draw to keep the domestic hot water warm up to the fixtures without undue waste.

At this prison two types of cell blocks are being built, one known as an Interlocking Building, in which there are day and dormitory rooms on each floor with a certain number of outside cells. The day dormitory rooms are to be heated by direct radiators and also to be furnished with forced ventilation. The outside cells are to be heated by forced hot air rising through vertical ducts and distributed in a horizontal air duct in front of the cells, and also provides a good circulation of air.

The inside cell block building is heated by direct radiators located along the outside walls and at the level of the lower tier of cells. From each cell, however, there is a vertical tile duct leading to a horizontal exhaust duct running the length of the attic, which duct is connected to a motor-driven exhaust fan, thereby drawing fresh air from the space in front of the cell through the cell door into the cell, and exhausting from the cell in the above-mentioned flue. It can, therefore, be seen that the amount of air entering each cell is directly under control of the employees of the prison.

One of the unique features in the sanitary work and conforming with modern practice is that each cell is provided with a separate toilet and lavatory with push button valve control, the calves being located in a V-shaped pipe chamber running vertically and located between adjacent cells so that one pope riser serves two cells on each floor.

The day and dormitory rooms in the interlocking building will be supplied with the usual toilet and locker rooms. In the basement of the interlocking building and cell block building are large shower rooms, tile walls, with sufficient shower heads running along two sides of the room, each side being controlled by a mixing valve under the direct control of the guard and near the entrance door. Considerable discussion arose whether it was necessary to have partitions between the shower heads, and it was decided that this was not advantageous to the proper administration of a prison.

The mess hall has been provided with three refrigerating rooms cooled by an isolated refrigeration plant, motor driven, located in the basement, of sufficient capacity also to make a certain amount of cake ice.

All the cooking will be done by steam as experience has demonstrated this to be the most satisfactory method in a institution of this nature.

The main feature to be considered in the mechanical installation of a prison is that all equipment used must be simple, rugged and long-lived. It should also be taken into consideration that this class of building is generally constructed for over a hundred years' service and there is no reason why the type now being erected should not last longer. Therefore, all mechanical equipment should be of the best.

While it is not possible in an article such as this to describe in any great detail the features entering into the design and installation of the mechanical equipment of all the various prison buildings, it is felt that the matter presented is sufficient to convey the salient points to be considered.

The drawings accompanying this article illustrate various phases of the heating, lighting and plumbing equipment of several of the buildings, and are worthy of careful study.