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80
Recognising the importance of having the columns cast only
by the best firms, your Sub-Committee caused estimates to be
obtained from three well-known firms for the supply of from 65
to 70 ornamental cast-iron pillars, 18ft. high, including carrier
for lamp and canopy. The estimates received are as follows:—
£ s. d.
W. Macfarlane & Co., Glasgow 28 10 0 each
W. T. Allen & Co., 132, Queen Victoria St. 22 15 0 ,,
Crompton & Co., Limited, Mansion House
Buildings, E.C., and Chelmsford 24 14 0 ,,
Your Sub-Committee recommend (a) that the estimate of
Messrs. W. T. Allen & Co., to supply the columns, &c., complete,
at £22 15s. each, according to design submitted, be accepted, and
that, inasmuch as it will take at least two months from the date
of the order before even the delivery of the lamps can be commenced,
and considering the importance of carrying out the proposed
works in the streets during the vacation, when traffic is
light, an order be at once given for the supply of 60 columns at
the price named.
Your Sub-Committee also obtained, through Messrs.
Freeman & Co., an estimate from Crompton & Co., Limited, the
makers of the Crompton-Pochin Lamp, for the supply of from
(50 to 70 Crompton-Pochin 10-ampere arc lamps, as before
mentioned. Messrs. Crompton's price for these lamps, fitted
with the white Muranese globe, the framework of the globe being
all copper, is £15 6s. 10d. per lamp.
Your Sub-Committee decided to adopt the double carbon
lamp in preference to the single carbon, for two or three reasons.
This type has been generally adopted. They are supplied with
two sets of carbons, one set for every day use, to be trimmed
daily, the other set being a reserve, the burning capacity of each
set being about 14 hours. With this reserve, provision is made
for inclement or foggy weather, necessitating longer hours of
burning, and especially for any slight derangement of the lamp,
such as the carbons being out of alignment, which otherwise
might lead to an extinction. In double carbon lamps the arc on
either side is distant only one inch from the central position of
the single arc, and which would have no effect in the appearance
or the illumination of the lamp. There is also no special complication
in the working parts.