Steam boiler- Unusual piping

[Neal Lewis]

These are pictures of a one pipe steam system from the 1940's. The condensate line has some unusual piping and is connected to the steam mains in a weird way. Also, there is a air/steam vent on the floor under a radiator. Never seen that before. Anybody familiar with this type of piping?

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[Bill Kibbel]

I can't make any sense of the piping. I can only make a wild guess without seeing more of the system.

My guess is that someone tried to solve banging or mains sloped wrong by adding short drip lines from the mains to the dry return. I've only seen that done with steam trap or drip trap devices.

The Hoffman vent might be a type that should be installed at a specific elevation above a return.