Quick Concrete Repair Jobs NEW ORLEANS, LA.-One of the most difficult problems in street paving is how to make the small repairs in the different types of paving and provide an adequate foundation similar to that of the original pavement. In order to overcome this difficulty, the municipal repair plant in New Orleans has devised what we call our concrete service outfit, which consists of a 4ton truck with a platform body on which is built, behind the driver's seat, a place for tools, three small bins for aggregate (having a total capacity of one cubic yard), a space for carrying cement in sacks, and, on the rear end, a 3-foot concrete mixer, as shown in the photograph.

The crew is usually composed of five men, who are able to take care of the cutting out and placing of between 25 and 35 square yards of concrete per day on patch work distributed over a wide area; on straight work, such as concreting trenches, they

rendered, the Fire Division in Columbus has maintained for some time a system whereby the record of each piece of hose is kept on an 81⁄2 x 11-inch card with the heading shown above. Prior to the use of this card, we knew when a hose was first put in service and when it was discarded, but we were unable to ascertain to what wear and tear the hose had been subjected.

Under the card system, the officer in charge makes a record of every time the hose is laid out and of whether or not water is pumped thru it. When new hose is placed in service, each length is given a number. When hose is placed in the wagon, the number of each length is noted by the of ficer in charge of the station. On arriving at a fire he lays out a certain number of lengths of hose. Upon his return to headquarters he refers to his list, and notes the numbers of the lengths that were used. The proper record of service is then made on the card.

Hose placed in service in the outlying districts is not subjected to as great wear and tear as hose used in the congested districts. The latter is therefore discarded sooner. The card record enables us to make comparison as to the actual service rendered. We have been using this method for the last two years and find it very satisfactory.

S. F. RODGERS, Secretary, Fire Division.

Preventing Roof Fires Caused by

Burning Chimneys

ELGIN, ILL. The continued high price of anthracite coal in Elgin and vicinity was the cause of a very great increase in the use of soft coal last winter. Some grades of soft coal form a tarry crust in the inside of the chimney, which ignites very quickly when fires are rekindled in heating plants. Sometimes flames rush up the chimney, and sparks from the pitch ignited in the chimney are blown under shingles that are warped or curled slightly, and there find most excellent fuel in the fine inflammable dust. In this manner fires are readily started, and soon get to the dry attics.

Because of conditions of this nature, I had short notices printed in the daily papers asking house owners and tenants to burn out their chimneys while the roofs were too wet to burn. The idea was to kindle a fire of papers or wood so that it would create a flame which would reach up into the chimney and burn it out.

After these short notices were published in the daily papers, the number of small roof fires caused by sparks from chimneys decreased considerably, and it is believed that this suggestion resulted in the prevention of a considerable fire loss to the city. WILLIAM HAIBLE,

Fire Marshal.

It would seem that the same general reasons for the licensing and restricting of dogs should be applied to cats. As pets they have far less appeal than the dog. They are a source of danger in the spread of disease, even of rabies; they destroy useful birds, disturb sleep, consume food needed for human beings, and are frequently a

of their spreading contagious disease was well illustrated in Buffalo, N. Y., when the Board of Health took cultures from the eyes of a suspicious-looking cat and found diphtheria germs. People who wish to harbor cats should do so under supervision that will prevent them from becoming a danger or a nuisance to the community.

T is becoming more common every day for business firms to use the graphic method of setting facts before their executives in tangible form. While it is true that city engineers' departments have for years utilized graphs, and health departments in the most progressive municipalities now use pins and charts in tracing the course of communicable diseases, relatively few cities have employed these methods extensively in other departments. There is no reason why the superintendents of streets, schools, buildings, lights, waterworks, parks, fire and police should not also use these convenient and up-to-date methods.

It is supposed by some who have not kept in touch with the rapid strides made in the science of graphics within recent years that the preparation of charts and maps for this purpose involves a great deal of time and labor, as well as expert draughtsmanship. This is a mistake, however, for materials have been prepared which eliminate most of the labor and make the preparation and up-keep of graphic charts and maps not a matter of drudgery but of pleasure. Once started, only a few seconds each day are required for the proper posting of the facts. Graphic charts not only help the executive himself, but they are also a tangible method of showing to outsiders the results that he has accomplished. Moreover, they single out the important things so plainly to his office assistants that they can carry out much of the detail which he himself would otherwise have to take up.

Methods of showing facts graphically

divide themselves into two classes, geographical and chronological.

Types of Maps in Use

It usually happens that there is some good map of the city available, one which can be either purchased locally or obtained thru the courtesy of the city engineer's office. Of course, very plain maps, without colors and showing only the outlines and the names of the streets, are best. The scale should be about 600 feet to the inch, or larger, but maps as small as 1,200 feet to the inch can be used in some cases. If the data on the map are shown in the street, as, for instance, water-main valves, a map should be selected with the names of the streets lettered on the map at one side of the street. On the other hand, a fire department would prefer a map with the names of the streets lettered in the streets themselves, so that pins representing the location of fires could be inserted alongside the street without obscuring the name of the street from view.

County officials can use the same devices to good advantage. Maps of counties are obtainable from the county surveyor and in many cases from the United States Post Office Department. These maps are to the scale of one mile to the inch and show all roads, railroads, rivers and practically every building. They are in plain dark lines on a white ground and hence are excellent for pin work. County maps can also be made up from the United States topographic sheets pieced together.

Map-Marking Devices

For permanent maps for illustrating work accomplished, gummed paper symbols are available in stars, circles, squares and other shapes, also in colors. They are not convenient, however, when the data have to be changed frequently.

On maps that must be kept up-to-date and on which the data are constantly being changed, various types of map-marking devices are now available. The old-style cloth-head tack, which defaced the map with a jagged hole and from which the color soon faded, has now been superseded almost entirely by a pin with a sharp steel needle point and a solid-colored glass head. This pin is made in sixteen distinct colors, as well as several sizes and styles. Small pins, about 1/16 of an inch in diameter, fit in very nicely on small-sized maps, but the size most commonly used is that with a spherical head 3/16 of an inch in size. In addition to this, there are glass pins with flat, rough heads upon which one can write, also numbered pins of the same material. For very large maps, celluloid pins are used, having a rough surface which can be written on.

Of course a pin will indicate only one fact at one point. Where it is desired to show more than one fact, a bead and a pin can be used, the color of the bead representing one type of fact and the color of the pin the other. For instance, a small red glass head pin stuck thru a large yellow bead might indicate that there was a leak in a water-main at that point, and that the leak has been stopped by turning off the water. As soon as the leak has been repaired, possibly in some temporary way, the yellow bead would be replaced by a blue

This saves one's

one, indicating that the repair was of a temporary nature. Instead of the beads, small rings of colored celluloid can be used. These are called map rings and can be slipped over the heads of the colored glass head pins.

Map Mounting

Where pins are to be used, it is very desirable to have the map mounted on some soft substance. While soft wood is often acceptable, and even some of the various wall-boards in cases where pins are not frequently used, a special type of mount has been devised which is of very great value. It is made up of layers of cellular cardboard faced with a thin layer of cork composition. This makes a mounting board about 5% of an inch thick, which is soft enough to make it easy to insert and remove pins but which holds them tenaciously so that there is no danger of their falling loose when the conscientious janitor removes the dust from the map. In this form of mount, the pin may be inserted in the same spot again and again without danger of its wearing a large hole. It is also customary to use a transparent map varnish over the map face so that it will not absorb dampness and dirt and can be readily washed clean with a damp cloth.

Special Chart Forms

For charting data by days, weeks, months and years, charting forms are available

loose-leaf book containing the more important charts, which should be kept up regularly so as to aid in making decisions quickly and in answering questions put to him by taxpayers of the community. These papers are letter-sheet size and can be filed with other typewritten matter or bound up with a typewritten report. A few graphic charts properly made and inserted as illustrations of the text help wonderfully to make an otherwise "bone dry" report interesting and easily understood.

There are also cards available with these same rulings, fitting the standard 4 x 6 files. Cards are useful where there is a vast number of items to be cared for.

these special rulings are. In decimally divided sheets, such as millimeter paper and paper divided into eighths and sixteenths of an inch, the heavy lines on the ruling never fall at the right places, and the result is that the chart is confusing both to make and to read.

It is said that during his stay in France, General Pershing always carried with him his book of graphics. In the same way the city official should always have at hand a

tape is pulled out to the desired place, and the needle point is pressed into the backboard.

In a more complicated form of mechanical bar chart, three or more overlapping colored tapes are used. By using this device, it is possible to set up quickly complex data, showing percentages or quantities of work completed or material on hand.

Another device, called a remindograph, is particularly useful in following up the