The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1875-10-06
a Mechanical Triumph.

A careful survey that was recently
made showed that the west wall of the
brick building No. ia West Twenty
fourth street encroached eighteen inch
es upon the neighboring lot. The
owner of the lot needed more room,
and therefore babe Mr.. Mott, the own
Ell of the encroaching building, remove
his wall. The wall is sixty five feet in
height, sixty feet in length, and of an
average thickness of fourteen inches.
and the ordinary method OF tearing
down and building a new wall would
have cntailed heavy expenses and
mnch time. The building was being
used as q 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 e. Brothers.. urged
him, however, to allow them to at
tempt to move the wall bodily, and
with bis consent they finished the IN
dertaking yesterday morning. They
had previously severed the connection
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 timber lengths of eighteen
inches, and had sharpened tile new
ends of the timbers so that they mis hit
fit into the old beam holes on the NOV
ing up of the wall. Then, at a height
of about four feet above tile foundation
stones, Mr.. Weeks had pierced the
wall at intervals of six feet, and had
inserted in each hole so made double
set of heavy needle beams. The lower
beam of each set had been firmly i'm
bedded in earthwork, and the upper
beam, upon which the weight of the
building was to rest, was much shorter
than the lower, but otherwise it CORE
sponded in size; and the two lay with
their vertical faces in the same plane.
The horizontal faces which were
brought in contact were planned 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.
Yesterday morning, at half past tive
o'clock, large screw.jacks We're dashed TO
the upper sides of the lower beams.
which, as 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 sucl. a
way that the jacks when operated made
the beams, with the whole wall on top
of them, slide along the creased suri.;ce
of the lower beams. There were len
of these screwjacks, and a man stood
at each one with lever in his hand.
Alta signal given by MIR. Goodwin, who
superintendent the work, the ten men
with their levers worked the jacks in
unison. SO that no part of the wall
should be pushed forward more rapidly
Than another. The greatest nicely was
demanded, for the great wall, more
than sixty feet square, was balanced
on an edge only sixteen inches wide.
aud jar, however slight, would have
turned it over to bury the men working
at its base. 1t is the first time that The
moving of a detached wall has been ut
tempted in such way, and a number
of distinguished builders and officials
of the building department attended
The work was slowly and carefully
done. Several times the jacks were
stopped, and lines were dropped from
the summit 10 the b.se, only to show
that the wall remained plumb. aud
delicate measurements were taken 10
retain the face of the wall true. Ii was
nearly ten o'clock when the work WAS
and then the wall stood ex.,ct-
" upon the line marked by he survey
ors, and the floor timbers rested in i've
old beam holes. Nothing remains TO
he done but to close the narrow gaps AT
the corner of the building, and to bniltl
It new foundation under the wal.
The weight of the wall exceeds 27Oi
tons. : New York Sun.