The following extract is taken from the articles on the plumbing in this house that appeared in the sixth volume of the Sanitary Engineer:

Figure 129 represents a portion of the kitchen, showing the range and boilers, most of the water-pipes, and the sink. The sketch was made before the hood over the range was in place, as it would have hidden the greater part of the boilers. The inside is plastered on a perforated lining of galvanized-iron separated from the outer shell of copper to prevent radiation of heat from the range and boilers into the room. The hood is very heavy and is supported from the floor-beams above by galvanized-iron hangers of an ornamental pattern. Hot air and odors from the range are removed into a chimney-flue through an opening partly seen behind the left-hand boiler.

The range has two fire-boxes, square in horizontal section, and each fire-box has two water-backs, so arranged that either fire-box will heat water for either boiler alone or both together. Each water-back is shaped like a short piece of angle-iron, lining two adjacent sides of the fire-box, while the two opposite sides are lined with the corresponding water-back, so that each fire-box is surrounded on all sides by water-backs.

There are two boilers, as will be seen, hung in a horizontal position over the range. That on the left, marked a, is designed to be supplied from the street-pressure, and the other, a1, from the tanks in the top of the house. These boilers are made of very heavy copper, weighing about 360 pounds each, and are supported on brass "cradles" attached to the brass rods b b. It will be noticed that each boiler has four pipes, c, c, c, c, to the range. This is to provide for the heating of water for either boiler by one fire-box; one pair of each set of pipes crosses to the fire-box below the other boiler, or, in other words, each fire-box has a pair of pipes from each boiler. These pipes are of heavy brass, like all the water-pipes shown, and are one and a half inches in inside diameter. Each has a stop-cock just below the boiler, as shown at d, operated by wrench-handles, put on only when occasion requires their use. The 1-inch pipe e, entering the extreme left-hand c-pipe (being the supply from the street-pressure boiler to one of the water-backs in the fire-box below it), is the return or circulation pipe from the plate-warmer in the butler's pantry, directly over the kitchen. The main circulation-pipe f(also 1-inch), for the street-pressure boiler, enters the third f-pipe from the left, which is the supply from the street-pressure boiler (on the left) to the right-hand fire-box. The 1-inch pipe g (the lowest of those on the right) is a continuation of the lower horizontal part of f, and is for emptying the street-pressure boiler. The 1 1/4-inch pipe h, coming to the extreme right-hand c-pipe, is the circulation for the tank-boiler, a1. The 1-inch branch i (not shown as large as it is proportionally) is for emptying the tank-boiler. The 1 1/2-inch pipe j, entering the right-hand boiler, is from the tanks, while k is from the street. It is two inches in diameter at its entrance, diminished to one and a half inches after the two 1-inch branches k3 k3 have been taken from it to other fixtures. It continues this size, in k1 to the boilers. The 1 1/4-inch pipe k2 goes to fixtures in other rooms. The main hot-water supply /, from the street-pressure boiler, is 1 1/2 -inch, diminishing as it sends off branches, l1 being 1 1/4-inch, l2 1-inch, and l3 (to the butler's pantry-sink) 1/2-inch. In like manner the several pipes marked m, m1, and m2 are the hot-water supplies from the tank-boiler, being of the following sizes, respectively: 1 1/2-inch, 1 1/4 -inch, and 1 -inch. These supply-pipes from the tank-boiler go to all fixtures needing hot water above the first floor, which, with the basement, is supplied from the street-pressure system. This arrangement was necessary from the fact that the public supply is uncertain above the first floor in this house. Though it may never be necessary, an interchange of this system (so far as is possible) is provided through the 1 1/4-inch and 1 1/2-inch pipes n and o, connecting the street supply-pipe k with the tank supply-pipe j. By opening the cock on n water is admitted from the street supply-pipe to the tank-boiler, and by opening that on o water from the tank supplies all street-pressure fixtures, check -valves p p on both n and o preventing the water from flowing the wrong way.

Figure tag.