Engineering Construction in India

Abstract

IN Engineering of April 4 there is an article on a welded water main in Burma which gives an interesting illustration of the growing self-sufficiency of India and Burma from the point of view of engineering construction. Forty-three miles of water main 4 ft. 10 in. in diameter were required for the city of Rangoon. The steel plate was rolled by the Tata Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. at Jamshedpur, and shipped to Rangoon, where the fabrication was effected by Messrs. Braithwaite, Burn and Jessop Construction, Ltd. The main was made in lengths of 25 ft., each length of pipe consisting of three plates in the circumference, the plates as rolled being 62 in. wide by t7p in. thick. After the plates had been bent to one-third of a circle, each set of three was assembled in six rigid rings spaced equally along the length of the pipe and supported on rollers. An automatic carbon-arc welding head, of the ‘electronic tornado’ type, mounted on a small carriage, was then run along the longitudinal seam at the bottom of the assembly and the pipe rotated for the welding of the two remaining seams in the same position. The inside seams were butt-welded. They were not completely welded from the inside only, a second run on the outside surface of the pipe with an automatic carbon-arc welding-head being required to complete them. The fabrication of this water main necessitated the employment of 500 men, all but ten of whom were native workers. It is noticeable that the time taken for completing the contract was six months shorter than the scheduled time, this being due to the adoption of welding for the construction.