Morning journal and courier., 1882-07-14
Protection Against Tornadoss.

 West are calling out plans of protection against them. J. A. Jameson writes to the Chicago 7fibuaae:;
 s'It seems to me clear that slight expen allure of money would furnish safe place of refuge for its inmates to every home, every schoolhouse, every church in the States likely to be visited by tornadoes. l recon mend the erection, under every house occu- pied by human beings, of place of refuge of bricks, or blanks, or timber, with cover roof distinct from the floor of the overly. house. Where there is a cellar, 1t alone might suffice or there might be built place of refuge in one corner of it. For certainty of protection this refuge should come but little above the surface of the ground, and 1t should have strong door opening outward I also recommend the digging of cave or hole in the ground, like well, If nothing else could be done-preferable on the nor therly slope if knoll. Generally this place of refuge should be placed under the south western corner of the dwelling-ho or in that corner of the cellar"
 Mir. G. P. Randall in published letter, says
 Assuming that one of these buildings is to be constructed on stone or brick founda- tion, would build the superstructure of light timber work in the usual way, but would make the stills continuous from end to end, and frame them well together. Next would prefer to have the studding framed in to the sills with mortise and tenou; then, in- stead of the cheap, fimsy, outside boarding of this frame, so generally applied, would cover the outside of it with two thicknesses of common boards latticed that is to say |: Put on the first tier of boards making an an gle with the sill and studding of about forty five degrees; cut them off flush and even with the bottom of the sills and the top of the plates, and nail them without stint. Then I would put on another thickness of boards over the first, but reversing the lncll
 LI-- Al q first set at right angles, or nearly so; and then spike these last, we'll as the first, at the crossing of every sill, plate and stud, and
 with large twenty or thirty penny spikes and it should be borne in mind that sufici- ency of spiking Is the essence of strength in such 8 construction.
 'tWith all sides of a house so constructed it might be blown over and over. and rolled by the wind from Kansas to Illinois, with little risk of breaking apart but, as the family ln occupancy might get demoralized in the jour ney, I would not recommend this mode of travel, and to prevent it would secure the building to the foundations by series of strong bolts with T heads at the bottom, to be built into the walls they go up; and these could be made to pass through and grapple the sills, and be secured to the latter by the ordinary nuts and washers. Thus 1t is plain that, before the building could be wrenched from it's foundations, those foun- dations would have to be lifted out of the ground and demolished, and will stake my reputation as professional architect on the assertion that such 8 construction, put to- gether with judgment and care, will defy the winds of any tornado that will leave brick or stone building standing in its track. If ! wanted to build for security, should much prefer .. house so built than one of brick or stone.
 But suppose you -csl:cot have this brick or stone foundation to anCSor the super ckr +o rhCf1s
 next best thing, which would be timber platform made of some durable timber bur l jed sufficiently deep in the ground, and GOV cred over with other timbers of plank, and on top of this O sufficient depth of soil to weigh it down; and to this sub earth con- ! struction would connect the sills of the SUI perstructure by means of iron bolts, as with the stone walls.
 ''If the proprietor would make this con- struction as cheap as practicable, and at the ! same time utilize the part underground as | we'll as the superstructure, let the house be commenced by excavating for a cellar, and | outside of the sills of the superstructure ! two inches then lattice board it from the in- l side of the sill in the ground up past the out ! side of the sill of the superstructure to the plate, and spike it very thoroughly to the sill | at the bottom of the cellar and in this way 1 get good cellar until this boarding and tim l ber-work decays and with as much, or near \ ly as much. security as if the superstructure was bolted to foundation of stone, and | with much less expense. The lower stills
 being outside the boarding, and several feet
 below ground-packing the earth tight out
 side and on top of the lower sills-the whole l structure would be anchored down with all
 the tenacity and weight of foot or more of
 this earth all around the outside of the build ] ing. very little thought on the part of the proprietor will indicate how these lower sils
 may be still further weighted down by laying plank timber with one end on top of the lower sill and the other running four six 1 feet into the earth out tide the building. The
 laying of these lower sills in trench below
 the bottom of the cellar is chieay to prevent
 the earth outside the building from forcing
 the boarding and timber-work into the eel l lar.
 l "A safe refuge might be made in the eel | lar by the addition of second set of wills just 1 below the main sills of the superstructure covering these all over with plank. Especial | ly would this be an additional safeguard ir 1 the cellar of a brick house. one corner oi
 it, where by the aid of sufficient supports the
 falling brick walls might be prevented from
 falling upon and crushing out the life of iti
 inmates"