New-York tribune., 1872-01-30
INVENTIONS, Etc.
tJRF.pRooF BUILDINGS,

Eions. which have so largely auuo" ="
the value of our city property, mas recently
patented in Europe some Nhuaoie IMPROVE
,nonts in the construction of buildings TO
secure tbem against fire. One part OF bis ill.,
ventions consists in making hollow brick or
,ile which he fills with water, made solid by
an inexpensive process. which holds the
Amid as eflcctually as if frozen as much
water bcing contained in cubic foot of this
material as in a cubic foot of the most solid ice.
These water-tiles are to be of any required
shane and size, glazed OF unglazed, ornamental
or plain. expensive or cheap, and are 10
be laid as flooring, like cncaustic OF marble
filing: or (Which the inventor prefers,)
sre to be set like the glass of his illuminating
gratings in cast-irOn frames; in which form,
roofs of any kind may he made of them with
tile same facility as those which arc now
constructed of his patent lights" A Man
sard roof, constructed of these water gratings,
may be covered with ornamental slate, II
desired though it is the intention of the m
ventor to make them sufficiently ornamental
in themselves. Another and very singular
water grating is one which gives light as well
as water; this is made of alum crystailized
within the openings of an iron grating upon
wire netting in its center. These alum panes
are protected against the weather by IN out
side layer of thin glass, or by coating OF
transparent varDish. A floor composed OF the
water-brick and laid in the ordinary way,
would very much resemble the Old-fashioned
French floors of Octag0n-shapcd tiles, about
six inches in diameter, aud the effect OF a
fire npon il would be to crack the brick and
iberate the steam which would then ex-
tinguish the flames
Mr.. II. has also patented, under GER
tain conditions and forms, the use of
non -eflOreScing salts, the most valuable
being alum, not only for the water it
contains but for the tenacity with which,
until exposed TO fame or tre-heat, the water
is retained According to one part of his in
yentiOn, alum is reduced to fine powder and
intimately mixed with plaster of Paris in GER
tain definite proportions, in which state it is
put up in merchautable shape as "new man
"ufacture.a This fire-extinguishng compound
may be used between the floor and ceiling as
"deafening," either in It's dry state or as "a
concrete; OF it may be nodded into any con-
Vonient shape and size, and laid in between the
beams Under another combination, alum and
hydraulic cement are ground together, put up
I'm merchantable form as a new manufacture,
and sold to be used dry. And still another
compound is a mixture of alum, asbestos and
plaster of Paris, TO be used wet, made into a
mortar and plastered upon suitable lathing;
the layer being placed behind the " scratch
"coat" with An inch or 40 of space between
the two. These compounds are also TO be sub
jected to hydraulic pressure after the manner of
making dry-pressed brick and brought into
market in several convenient forms.
Thus far, these Improvements apply TO dwell
ings as we'll as stores. The following have more
especial reference to the latter: 1t is we'll
known, particularly to Fire Insurance Com
panies that one source of danger il our great
merchant stores comes from the large openings
underneath the central skyhght, cut through all
the floors from the roof down to the basement
story. a fire, once inside of such building,
.. sweeps through it with resistless fury. Mr.
/ H. proposes to close these openings at night
N by horizontal revolving shutters, which being
v moved upon "ways," may be opened and shut
with the greatest ease, and in less time than
is required to raise and lower the vertical ones
that close the windows. He also proposes,
where skylghts of either thin or plate glass
in large strips are used, to protect them by
revolving shutters. Where these skylights are
used to form roof over the rear-extension of
the principal story, he uses stationary fire.
proof shutters in the form of Venetian blinds
placed underneath the light, the Stats being
silvered upon one face SO as TO be set at an
angle during the day, and used as q "daY-
"hght reflector" to illuminate the central por-
tiOn of the store. These Improvements also
extend to the construction of revolving shut
tiers generally, feature III Mr.. HIS inventions
being a tubular revolving shutter, the Stats
being hollow and filed with the sodifed
water already mentioned, except that for these
shutters the compound is identical with the
asbestos fre-prOOf safc-flling, patented by Mr..
Theodore Hyatt, and which is represented TO
us as capable of resisting Il higher degree OF
heat and for longer time than any compound
yet discovered
One thing more seems worthy of notice:
a new method of making iron roofs and
floors BY the ordinary method of con-
struction, the iron, in the form of beams, is
placed at intervals with intervening spaces
that are closed by brick arches. These impose
n permanent load upon the beams, and con-
sequeDt loss of effective strength, besides act
ing destTuctively upon them when heated, as,
I'm case of fire, the weight Of the arches upOn
the metal then sOftened by heat, acting with
enormous leverage with each increment of de-
Election. Upon Mr.. Hyatt's method, the metal
is distributed over the entire space i'm the form
of light thin tubes (preferably cylindricaD, laid
side by side This construction, the inventor
claims, having no dead weight, gives AS its !
product the whole strength of the iron as its |
effective ability TO carry load, and makes a !
floor all beam A euIious fact occurs in this |
cOnstructOn-the amount of metal required for |
a HOor made unOn this nTiucnle il the sauo