The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-28 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 28, 1853.

INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS—Jan. 25.

James Meadows Rendel, Esq., President, in the chair.
The discussion on the preservation of timber was re-
newed, by the exhibition of specimens of timber, ren-
dered inflammable, by Sir W. Burnett's process (chloride
of zinc). It was stated that in the most intense fire
timber, or even linen, so prepared, could only be charred,
and would never burst into flame. The President ful-
filled his promise of procuring, from Southampton, por-
tions of unprepared and creosoted timber, which had
been attached to the worm-eaten piles of Southampton
Royal Pier, in February, 1848, below the level of high
water of spring tides. The specimens showed that,
whilst the unprepared and the " Payneized" timber was
entirely converted by the, worm into a mass of disinte-
grated fibre, the creosoted timber had not been touched
by those insects. An offer was made to attach, in an
identical position specimens of timber prepared by any
process, and to bring them after a given time before the
institution, to enable the merit of the system to be practi-
cally ascertained. The President directed attention to the
Dublin Exhibition and Mr. Roney (the secretary) stated
that the undertaking was progressing most favourably.
The original size of the buliding would be nearly doubled,
and, to meet the additional outlay, Mr. Dargan had in-
creased his donation from 20,0001. to 50,0001. It was
believed that the department of machinery in motion
would be quite as interesting and attractive as that in
the Great Exhibition of 1851, in London. The Society
of Arts had determined that their East India Exhibition,
and all the influence of their body, should be transferred
to the Dublin Exhibition. There would also be a me-
diaeval court, and an archaeological collection, which
would show that Ireland, though of late years not pro-
gressing so rapidly as this country, was, in former times,
a country possessing high attributes of civilisation.
There would also be a fine collection of ancient and mo-
dern pictures of every school. Mr. Roney concluded by
soliciting the members to aid, the exhibition by the loan of
models, whether working or stationary, and of works of
art, of which great care would be taken. The paper read
was, " On the construction of fire proof buildings," by Mr.
James Barrett, Assoc. Inst. C.E. The author first intro-
duced some remarks on the use of timber, for building pur-
poses, referring to its injurious effects in weakening the
walls of buildings, its combustibility, and its liability to
dry rot and the ravages of insects. The great loss of
life and the vast destruction of property, resulting from
its too common use in buildings, rendering essential
some strong measure, by which the public safety would
be insured. The iron-girder and brick-arch system of
construction was then referred to, and the evils which
might result from the adoption of that principle were
exemplified by reference to the fall of the cotton mill, at
Oldham, in 1845 ; where the lateral thrust of one of the
arches having fractured a cast-iron beam, had caused the
sudden destruction of the entire building. The author
contended, that a system liable to produce such calami-
tous results, could not be regarded with that degree of
confidence which should be felt where many lives and
much property were at stake. The paper then proceeded
to describe the system of fire-proof construction, which
had been to some considerable extent adopted, as a
substitute for the usual methods of building, and as a
remedy for the defects complained of. The chief objects
to be accomplished were described to be, making each
floor of the building fire-proof, so as to prevent the com-
nication of fire from story to story, avoiding all lateral
thrust or weakening effect upon the walls, secaring the
building from the effects of dry rot, giving increased
durability to the structure, and rendering it at the same
time practically sound proof ; combining these advan-
tages, at the same time, with simplicity and economy of
construction. In accomplishing these objects, joists of
wrought or rolled iron, of an improved form, combining
lightness with great strength and economy, were used ;
and by the employment of layers of incombustible mate-
rials' chiefly concrete, supported by and consolidated
with the joists, a strong and solid fire-proof foundation
was obtained; upon which any description of finished sur-
face, adapted for a floor or roof, might be laid. The
various parts of the structure having been minutely de-
scribed, it was stated that, in point of strength, the floors
even of an ordinary dwelling-house, constructed on this
principle, would, if crowded to the utmost possible extent, be
loaded with only one-fifth of their breaking weight. The
various applications of the system to such building as
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these consisted of the use of girders of cast-iron, with
minor joists of the same material; of boiler-plate girders
combined with cast-iron joists, the whole of the additions
to Guy's Hospital having been built in this manner; and
of boiler-plate girders combined with rolled iron joists ;
the latter method providing for every possible con-
tingency, whether as regarded width of bearing,
strength of floors, or liability to impact, or vibration ;
and in cases where the use of columns could be ad-
mitted, to shorten the bearings, both girders and joists
of rolled iron were employed ; this latter applica-
tion referring chiefly to mills, warehouses, manu-
factories, and similar buildings. The fullest details
were given of the actual, as well as the relative cost, as
compared with other floors, under all circumstances ;
and it appeared, from a detailed comparative statement
of the cost of different floors for domestic buildings,
given in an appendix to the paper, that substantial and
well-constructed timber floors were actually more
costly than the fire-proof floors finished with a sur-
face of cement ; and that the fire-proof foundation,
finished with the ordinary boarded surface, was, on the
average, very little more expensive than ordinary
timber floors. -A
comparative statement of the cost
of a floor for a mi 1, or factory, formed in three dif-
ferent ways—namely, with timber, with cast-iron girders
and brick arches, and with girders and joists of
rolled iron, showed a decided economy in the use of
the latter system, as compared with cast girders and
arches. The author, in conclusion, referred to the diffi-
culties attending the introduction of any innovation in
the ordinary arts of life, and cited instances where great
improvements were only fully recognised after the lapse
of years, when prejudices had died away. He stated
the subject to be one of great importance, considered
merely in a commercial point of view, from the fact of
nearly half a million sterling being annually paid, in
London alone, for fire insurance, exclusive of the duty,
addi,ng the well-known fact, that upwards of 1,000
fires occurred annually in the metropolis, and that
more than half of those which reached the structure of
a building were considered to have originated in defeco
tive, cr overheate4l chimney flues, acting upon the tim-
bers. It was contended. also, that whilst the general
adoption of a system of fire-proof construction would
prove a remedy for that fruitful source of crime, incen-
diarism, it was a question, if insurance companies them-
selves would not ultimately be considerable gainers,
and it was added that, though in the course of his
remarks objections had been stated to the use of cast-
iron girders and brick arches, yet that it was rather
to bring fire-proof construction within the reach of every
one,' than to offer any particular system, in opposi-
tion to other methods, that the plan had been intro-
duced. This plan, however, was not to be looked upon
as a mere theory, but as one the value of which had been
practica • lly demonstrated for many years, and applied
to every variety and description of building ; and it
was not one of its least recommendations, that its
adoption would greatly extend the use of a material, the
whole of the cost of the production of which was
spent in employing home labour. In the lobby,
one of Jennings' sluice valves was exhibited ; the im.

provement was stated to consist in simplifying the con-
struction, by casting the "body" and "faucet" ends
in one piece, thus avoiding the use of bolts, nuts, and
joints. The slide was first fitted, and made to work
properly on the body of the valve ; it was then removed,
and with two gun-metal faces, was turned, ground, and
accurately fitted, The slide, through which a small hole
had been previously drilled, was again placed in the
valve, the two faces were introduced, and all firmly
bolted together: The joints of the faces, which were

dovetailed to the body, were then made with lead, or

with iron cement ; the bolt was removed, the hole
plugged, and the valve was completed at considerable
saving of tine and cost. These valves were stated to
have been extensively used under considerable pressures.

The following paper was announced to be read at the
meeting of Tuesday, February 1 :—" On the Pneumatics
of Mines," by Mr. Joshua Richardson, M. Inst. C.E.

RAILWAY SHARE MARKETS.

LIVERPOOL, JAN. 27.

STOCK EXCHANGE.—The market has been fiat all clay,
and quotations are much the same as yesterday. The day's
transactions are thus reported :—Lancashire and Yorkshire,
791 9; London and North-Western, 121; Manchester,
Sheffield, and Lincoln, 301; Midland, 77i c; North British,
9 1-16 - South Eastern and Dover, 23j ; York, Newcastle,
and Berwick (G.N.E. purchase), 2j d ; Manchester, Shef-
field, and Lincolnshire (101. shares), 11j ; Demerara, 21 d.