Journal of the Association of Engineering Societies . n use for a few months they began to leak very badly,and upon examination it was found that their bottoms were honey-combed by the teredo. Upon an examination of some old scowsbuilt of spruce timber, which had been lying alongside of the newones, it was found that they were also eaten to a considerableextent. The scows were withdrawn from service and replanked,and after being caulked, sheathing paper was placed over thebottom, and outside of this i-inch boards were spiked to the sidesand .bottom of the scows up to the light water mark. Afte
Journal of the Association of Engineering Societies . n use for a few months they began to leak very badly,and upon examination it was found that their bottoms were honey-combed by the teredo. Upon an examination of some old scowsbuilt of spruce timber, which had been lying alongside of the newones, it was found that they were also eaten to a considerableextent. The scows were withdrawn from service and replanked,and after being caulked, sheathing paper was placed over thebottom, and outside of this i-inch boards were spiked to the sidesand .bottom of the scows up to the light water mark. After thisno further trouble was had with them and no other scows appearto have been affected. One peculiarity of this worm is that it willnot bore from one plank into another, no matter how tight thejoint may be, but will always stay in the timber which it has firstentered. Relying on this fact, timber has often been protected bynailing inch boards on the outside of it, the worms entering theinch boards, but not crossing the joint into the main Fig. i. ACTION OF SEA WORMS ON FOUNDATIONS. 51 I have heard some statements that the worms had been foundin and around Boston at other points, but it has always been re-ported that they were dead. The teredo attacks hard woods, suchas oak and the like, often more readil}* than the soft woods. Verysoft wood like the palmetto it will not attack at all, while thelimnoria is much more destructive to the soft woods than to thehard. While it will readily eat the spruce piles, I have never seenan oak pile which was eaten sufficiently to injure the pile, and Ihave examined some piles which have been in place over fifty years. To protect our sea-wall foundations from these worms we haveto be very sure that the piles are completely covered by the riprapor filling around them so that the worms cannot get at them. Atthe pier built by the New England Railroad Company at SouthBoston, the material surrounding the heads of the foundation pilesat a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectenginee, bookyear1881
