Huge Construction Project Carried on by University Now Complete--Many New Mechanical Devices Installed

Huge construction programs which the University has been carrying on are today fairly complete. The many new buildings have necessitated an extensive growth in the heating systems, the electric clock arrangements, and the telephone connection,. All the new material which has been installed is up to date, and at present the College can boast of an efficient and modern plant.

Clock System

One hundred eighty synchronous motor-driven, self starting electric clocks have been installed in buildings throughout the College. In an institution where thousands of people are meeting engagements every day, it is necessary to have the correct time available. The clock system now used is connected with the time pieces in the central power station which are checked by wireless from the U. S. naval Observatory at Arlington, Virginia and control the alternations of the current through connections to the turbine governors. The accuracy of the large 60-cycle electric networks is thus maintained within 5 seconds plus or minus. Even the smaller clocks are never more than 20 seconds off, and this accuracy is continually improving as interconnections between systems are added.

Current Interruptions

At times, however the electric company is forced of turn off the power on the line. Of course the clocks stop during this time, To take care of this exigency, separate clock wiring to which no other appliances can be attached is installed in a building which is to have a number of timepieces, and the clocks are fed through a control. The control includes a spring-driven clock (kept wound electrically) which will run during the failure of the electric supply and measure exactly the duration of the interruption. When the electric service is restored, the control cuts in a connecting motor generator set which drives all the clocks on the system at greater than normal speed until the lapsed time is made up. When the clocks are again thrown on the electric service.

During the recent construction period systems of these automatic self-resetting synchronous electric clocks were installed at the University, with controls sufficiently large to take care of any additional clocks likely to be added in their vicinity.

The telephone system has been greatly enlarged. At present there is a triple switchboard which is connected with 800 telephones in the various offices around the college. All calls within this system are free, and several thousand are made a day. All outside calls cost $.05 apiece, and of these there are approximately 1000 daily. The Central switchboard is connected by trunk lines to the new Biological Building, the H. A. A. and the business School and it is necessary to employ four operators to take care of this system.

This system will be still further enlarged next year when the dial system is installed and a new and larger switchboard is constructed. The branch boards in the Athletic Association and the Biological laboratory will be entirely abolished and these telephones will be controlled from the central office in Lehman hall. The number for the whole system will be Krikland 7600.

Steam is brought to the various buildings around the college in under ground tunnels which stretch for a distance of about three miles. It comes from the Cambridge Electric Light Company which is located on Memorial drive, south of Dunster House. The main tunnels of the distribution system are seven feet high and eight feet wide branch tunnels being four or five feet wide. The engineers in charge of the heating can walk all over the College is

These tunnels, and further there are little telephones connecting with every building, which reduces the number of men necessary for operation. In spite of this, 36 state licensed engineers have to be employed to work the system.

Economy Practiced

During the past academic year about 500,000,000 pounds of steam were used. Although the sounds like a very large amount, the heating costs nowhere near what it used to. In 1929-30 when the average temperature was 42.7 degrees, the total charges for heating were $42,371.84, whereas in 1932-33, with an average temperature of 44.1 degrees, the cost was only $29,796.15. This was accomplished entirely by careful study of the efficiency of the unit and a checking up of any losses due to faulty equipment. There have been no wage cuts at any time since 1929. To show the gains made more emphatically, it is pointed out that in the early twenties it cost $16,000 to heat Widener Library, compared with $8, 031,02 last year.

In its effort to regulate heating more closely, the Department has developed its own automatic control which consists of a thermostat, a single seated pressure-regulating valve, and an outdoor mercold thermometer. When the heat is turned on in the morning, the thermometer turns off the excess flow of steam and allows only enough to enter the building to maintain a constant temperature. If the outside temperature rises, the mercold thermometer still further shuts the regulating valve. This has greatly cut down the running expenses