{"id":2520,"date":"2007-11-27T12:20:26","date_gmt":"2007-11-27T16:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=2520"},"modified":"2007-11-27T12:30:34","modified_gmt":"2007-11-27T16:30:34","slug":"where-nyc-manhole-covers-come-from","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/11\/27\/where-nyc-manhole-covers-come-from\/","title":{"rendered":"Where NYC manhole covers come from"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/graphics8.nytimes.com\/images\/2007\/11\/26\/nyregion\/26manh3_190.jpg\" align=\"right\" height=\"220\" width=\"190\" \/>Yesterday&#8217;s New York Times had <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2007\/11\/26\/nyregion\/26manhole.html?em&amp;ex=1196312400&amp;en=aedc2501bef5bb6f&amp;ei=5087%0A\">a piece<\/a>  (and a neat audio slide show) on the the origin of that city&#8217;s manhole covers. Foreign worker safety is an issue at the Indian foundry.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Eight thousand miles from Manhattan, barefoot, shirtless, whip-thin men rippled with muscle were forging prosaic pieces of the urban jigsaw puzzle: manhole covers. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Seemingly impervious to the heat from the metal, the workers at one of West Bengal&#8217;s many foundries relied on strength and bare hands rather than machinery. Safety precautions were barely in evidence; just a few pairs of eye goggles were seen in use on a recent visit. The foundry, Shakti Industries in Haora, produces manhole covers for Con Edison and New York City&#8217;s Department of Environmental Protection, as well as for departments in New Orleans and Syracuse.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The scene was as spectacular as it was anachronistic: flames, sweat and liquid iron mixing in the smoke like something from the Middle Ages. That&#8217;s what attracted the interest of a photographer who often works for The New York Times &#8212; images that practically radiate heat and illustrate where New York&#8217;s manhole covers are born.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>When officials at Con Edison &#8212; which buys a quarter of its manhole covers, roughly 2,750 a year, from India &#8212; were shown the pictures by the photographer, they said they were surprised.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Foundries are interesting places &#8212;  I was on a public art jury earlier this year, and one of the artists up for the job &#8212; she makes giant bronze sculptures &#8212; described the Toronto-area foundry she works with terms similar to this article, including &#8220;Middle Ages.&#8221; She said nothing about bare feet though.<\/p>\n<p><em>Photo via NY Times <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday&#8217;s New York Times had a piece (and a neat audio slide show) on the the origin of that city&#8217;s manhole covers. Foreign worker safety is an issue at the Indian foundry. Eight thousand miles from Manhattan, barefoot, shirtless, whip-thin men rippled with muscle were forging prosaic pieces of the urban jigsaw puzzle: manhole covers.<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/11\/27\/where-nyc-manhole-covers-come-from\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Where NYC manhole covers come from&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[7447,7449,393,3131,1803,1125,469,7450,1228,21,811,7446,5281,1245,19,7448,7451],"class_list":["post-2520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-infrastructure","tag-con-edison","tag-foreign-worker","tag-india","tag-machinery","tag-metal","tag-new-orleans","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-citys-department-of-environmental-protection","tag-new-york-times","tag-other-cities","tag-photographer","tag-shakti-industries","tag-syracuse","tag-the-new-york-times","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-area-foundry","tag-west-bengal"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Where NYC manhole covers come from - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/11\/27\/where-nyc-manhole-covers-come-from\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Where NYC manhole covers come from - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yesterday&#8217;s New York Times had a piece (and a neat audio slide show) on the the origin of that city&#8217;s manhole covers. Foreign worker safety is an issue at the Indian foundry. 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