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Chronological List of District Heating
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The Dubuque Steam Supply Company was organized in May 1879 and began service in October.
The company's finances were hurt by the cold winter of 1880-1881 but managed to operate until 1894. Before closing it was organized several times and was renamed the Dubuque Consumers Steam Supply Company.
References
1879 The Daily Herald, May 20, 1879
Dubuque Steam Supply Company organized 20 May 1879
1879 Engineering
News 6:168 (May 24, 1879)
It is stated that steps are being taken to organize a company to heat
Dubuque by steam under the Holly process. The franchise has already
been purchased, and a location for the works is now being decided upon.
1879 The
Daily Herald, June 3, 1879.
Geo. B. Burch, et. al. of the Dubuque Steam Supply company petition for
permission to lay pipes underground in the various streets of the
city. Granted and ordinance committee instructed to draw up
ordinance regulating the same.
1879 Engineering
News 6:184 (June 7, 1879)
Dubuque, Iowa is to be heated by steam on the Holly plan. A company
has been formed, with a liberal amount of stock for that purpose.
The Davenport Democrat is noting this fact says: "The time is coming
right along when city heating by steam will be as common as city lighting
by gas. There is nothing more probably--and there is money in it to
the companies and the consumers."
1879 Engineering
News 6:331 (October 11, 1879)
The fourth and, for the present, the last boiler has been put into the
Holly establishment on Iowa Street. They are monsters in size, being
five feet in diameter by sixteen feet in length, each having a capacity to
generate heat enough every twenty-four hours to warm a space equal to one
and one quarter million cubic feet. A little arithmetic will show
the enormous capacity of the four. They are now being furnished with
their beds and fire-places. The furnaces are made by Thomas Murphy,
of Pittsburgh, and are his own patent. They work automatically, and
by their ingeneous manner of construction reduce the coal to coke, and
then feed the fires with it freed from carbon and other objectionable
properties. By this new process the furnaces become smokeless, a
boon that will be appreciated by the public generally, and especially by
those who live in the near neighborhood of the steam-generating
house. Each furnace, one to each boiler, has a capacity to reduce
half a ton at once to pure coke. The smoke stack is eighty feet
high, with walls from sixteen inches to two feet thick, and a four-foot
flue separated from the walls by an air-space. It is a compact piece
of masonry. Then thousand feet of mains are laid already and about
three thousand more feet will be laid before winter comes in. In
addition to this, laterals have been placed, making connections with
thirty consumers, and abut as many more will be put in connection this
season. Considering the short time that has elapsed since the work
was begun. the managers of this enterprise have fairly entitled
themselves to the palm for push. Mr. Massey, who seems to be the
driving spirit of the construction, expects to have everything in
readiness to steam up between the 10th and 15th of October. Dubuque
Herald.
1880 The
History of Dubuque County, Iowa
Pages 665-666: Dubuque is entitled to a great deal of credit for her
enterprise. There is no city in Iowa that can compare favorably with her
in point of public improvements. There is no city of her size in the
United States that can produce finer residences or more substantial
business blocks, while in the matter of streets she has no equal in all
Iowa, and few superiors in the United States.
In keeping with the steady step of progression that Dubuque ever maintains
is the inauguration of the steam-heating project.
Here, again, the Key City shows her enterprise and her determination to
keep ever in the van of progress. Indeed, this enterprise was started and
pushed forward with so little commotion that one-half of the citizens of
Dubuque did not realize when the great city was heated by steam from
Dublin to Eagle Point, and from the river to West Dubuque.
The new building of the Steam Heating Company is located near the corner
of Sixth and Iowa streets. In the basement the boilers are located, and in
the upper stories the varied machinery necessary to disseminate the steam.
The company use four large boilers, with which to generate the steam. This
is an unusually large number, and will furnish ample steam to heat the
entire city. The machinery is all of the most improved and latest
manufacture, and such that it may always be relied upon to do its work,
and do it well.
Citizens have thought so little about the matter, hardly believing it to
be a possibility, that they have never learned the many advantages to be
derived and enjoyed by this new steam-heating project. The operation is
similar to that of lighting a city by gas. From the building where the
steam is generated, large main pipes are laid along the leading streets of
the city. From these mains, feeding pipes run and connect with any store,
office or residence where the steam is wanted. The supply of steam may be
regulated by the user, to suit his or her own convenience.
There will always be a sufficient amount on hand for use, and parties
having pipes in their houses or places of business can use as much or as
little as they choose—just as they would use gas.
Besides the advantages of having no fires to build, and security from
conflagrations, there are others—no dust, no ashes, no smoke or cinders ;
the rates of insurance have been lowered.
In case of fire, every house has the means to extinguish it right at hand.
Perforated pipes may be placed in the rooms of the house, and when the
flames break out the steam can be turned on, and the fire quenched. Steam
may betaken from the mains and used to run fire engines with. In this way
fire engines may be made much lighter and more easily and rapidly
transported. Every house will be supplied with hot water at all times. All
the cooking can be done by steam, and there will be no more worn and weary
women roasting over hot stoves to prepare the daily meals. In fact, the
advantages to be derived from this new enterprise are almost without
number.
The Company was organized May 20, 1879, with the following officers who
still serve: George B. Burch, President; John N. Manning, Superintendent;
A. J. Van Duzee, Treasurer, and A. Palmer, Secretary.
The capacity of the boilers is 4,000,000 cubic feet per diem, with which
1,500,000 cubic feet of air can be heated. The pipes start from the feeder
near the corner of Sixth and Iowa streets, on Iowa to Sixth, to Main from
Second, to Fifteenth, to Locust, to Ninth, to Bluff, to Sixth, to Main, to
Locust, to the works. In addition to the advantages cited, steam can be
furnished to drive forty engines of twenty-five horse-power each, and to
other uses that will be developed in time.
1881 "Failures,"
The Inter Ocean, June 29, 1881, Page 2.
Dubuque, June 28 -- The Steam Supply Company of this city, running for the
past two winters, has failed.
1884 "The
Distribution of Steam in Cities," by William P. Shinn, Vice
President New York Steam Company, Transactions of the American
Institute of Mining Engineers 12:632-638 (February 1884) | also here
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Page 635: System has been in operation for five winters, with two
and one-eighth miles of mains, and seven 50 horsepower boilers. The
company is supplying 250 horse-power of steam to 140 customers for heating
purposes only. The plant was constructed too cheaply, and has not
been a financial success. It is now earning a small surplus, and
consumers are all delighted with the service.
1885 Steam
Using: Or, Steam Engine Practice, by Prof. Charles Augustus
Smith
Page 291: Details on Lockport, Dubuque, Auburn, Detroit and
Milwaukee.
1894 Dubuque
Daily Herald, May 13, 1894
The Steam Heating Company has closed down for good!
Dubuque
Steam Supply Company, Encyclopedia Dubuque
© 2024 Morris A. Pierce