The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1875-09-23
A MECHANICAL TnIUmPU.
Moving . Lefty Fourteen loch
wall WitAeat Diseurbing .
Brick.

Moving . L0fty rourteen Inch
Wall WilAoae Diseur0ing =
Brick.
A careful survey that was recently
made showed thar the wall Of the
brick building la West Twenty
fourth street. New York, encroached
eighteen inches upon the neighboring
lot. The land trespassed upon is
owned by the Catholic society. St.
Vincent de Paul, and is part of a
pretty wide piece of property ex.
tending through from Twen,y-third
to Twenty-fourth street. On the
Twen,y-third street front the church
Of the society stands, and it is pro-
posed to erect on Twenty fourth
street a pastoral residence and
school house. To accommodate these
buildings the society needs every
inch Of their land, and they therefore
bade Mr.. Mott, the owner Of the en-
croaching building, remove his wall.
The wall is sixty-6ve feet in height,
sixty feet in length and Of an average
thickness of fourteen inches, and the
ordinary method of tearing down and
building new wall would hays en-
tailed heavy expenses arfi much
time. The building was being used
as livery stable, and Mr.. Mott was
unwilling to vacate the premises for
so long time as he was told would
be necessary. The builders whom
he consulted, Weeks & Brothers,
urged him, however, to allow them
to attempt to move the wall bodily,
aud, with his consent they finished
the undertaking yesterday morning.
They had previously severed the con-
nec,ion Of the west wall with the
north and south walls, and had taken
from the last two about two feet of
brick and mortar. They had also
sawed off from the floor timbers
lengths Of eighteen inches, and had
sharpened the new ends of the tim
bers, SO that they might fit into the
old beam holes, on the moving up Of
the wall. Then, at height Of abmt
four feet above the foundation stones,
Mr.. Weeks had pierced the wall, ut
intervals Of six feet, and had inserted
in each hole SO made, a double set of
heavy needle-beams. The lower
beam of each set had been firmly i'm
bedded in earth work, aud the upper
beam, upon which the weight Of the
building was to rest, was much
shorter than the lower, but otherwise
it corresponded in size; and the two
lay with their vertical faces in the
same plane. The horizontal faces
which were brought in contact were
planed smooth and creased. Then
the brick work supporting the wall
had been taken away, and the weight
OF the whole structure rested on the
needle-beams.
Tuesday morning at half past five
o'clock large screw jack was lashed
to the upper side Of the-lower beams,
which, Ms has been said, were much
longer than the upper beams, SO that
the end of each screw pressed against
the end of an upper beam in such
way that the jacks, when operated,
made the beams, with the whole wall
on top of them, slide along the
creased surface Of the lower beams.
There were ten Of these ewjacks,
and man stood at each one with
lever in his hand. At signal given
by Mr. Goodwin, who superintended
the work, the ten men with their
levers worked the jacks in unison. 81
that no part Of the wall should be
pushed forward more rapidly than
the other. The greatest nicely was
demanded, for the great wall, more
than sixty feet square, was balanced
on an edge only sixteen inches wide,
and jar, however slight. would have
turned it over to bury the men work
ing at its base. 1t is the first time
thar the moving of n detached wall
has been attempted in such way,
and number of distinguished build
ers and officials Of the building de-
rar.meut attended. The work was
slow Y and carefully done. Several
times the ,eks were stopped, and
lines were dropped from the summit
to the base, only to show thai the
wall remained plumb, and delicate
measurements were taken to re,ain
the face of the wall true. 1t was
nearly ten o'clock when the work was
finished, and then the wall stood ex-
actly upon the line marked by the
surveyors, and the floor timbers rest
ed in the old beam holes. Nothing
remains to be done but to close the
narrow gaps at the corners of the
building, and to build new founda-
ton under the wall. The weight Of
the wall exceeds two hundred and
seventy tons.-Nec York Tribune.