New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-08-16
EXPERT views As TO THE CAUSE.
THE ENGINEERING NEWS" SAYS THE COLLAPSE
WAS DUE TO THE WEAKNESS OF A
CAST-IRON COLUMN

THE ENGINEERING NEWS SAYS THE COLLAPSE
WAS DUE TO THE WEAKNESS OF
CAsT-IRoN COLUMN
In an article on the recent collapse OF the Ireland
Building which caused the death of fifteen WORK
men. THE Engineering News" after careful in
vestigation as 10 that led up to the acci-
dent will say edltorially in its next Issue:
Whatever the actual cause Of the accident may
have been. feature In the construction OF we
building has been revealed on the remoVal OF ,ne
debris Which itself may be sufficient TO account Tor
the collapse of the building; and whch shou, qua
serve as n lesson and "A warning 10 architects anu
buiders Of iron structures FOR ali time to come
The column on me ski moor, ,bn roa} was
found by representative OF this journal CIhe
Engineering News) broken square acapsS in h
die on the exterior surface ~ pppe shoucd II
perfect casting. but the fractured surface shower II
10 be about as bad "A specimen OF cas-iron pipe as
could possibly be made without showing nawS on
surface OF inspection. The metal was haru anu
was nominally three-onarter inches thick. was only
nne-sxteenth inches thick on one side ana lilne
threequarter inches thick on the opposite s'de
was honeycombed with blowholes and showed cold
shuts and seams. , , - ~
enabled to frame the following theory OF the cause
of the disaster subject to the correction on inc as
The sections of the several floors which fell in
contained elevator shaft. which open space or
apsed sections. The other portions OF the flooring
containing beams and thing. weighing approx,
bring heavier load on the side of the column op,
posite the elevator shaft than on the side toward
of the column one of the floors being loaded
with plaster in bags. the bags, may have been
concentrated on one portion OF the floor. thus
greatly increasing the eccentrcity of the loading
The load of the plaster itself without considering
the eccentricity of It's position, may have been
greater than the breaking load Of the column, and
Judging from the column itself 1t would appear
unsafe to carry the weight of the Tiled floors floors
alone. which We're above it, and of the roof with
out the additional load of the plaster bags. If
this column the sixth floor was the FIRST part
of the structure which failed, that portion OF the
seventh and eighth floors and OF the roof which II
sustained would Immediately fall upon the sixth
floor. giving shock TO every column In the tier
below II and to the foundation. The blow upon
the sixth floor would be far more than ii could
stand, and in succession each floor down TO the
first would give way with the increasing momen-
OF all the superstructure until the last blow,
the mass of falling material struck the ground
floor would with the force of a tremendous
pile-driver 10 force the lowermOst column through
the stone and concrete foundation into the earth
below.
The prime cause of the accident appears to
have been the weakness of the cast-iron column.
The secondary cause may have been the over
loading OF the upper floors with plaster in bags.
and the concentrating of this load in such way
that it would bring an eccentric load upon the
column.
The only excuse for the use Of cast-ron columns
is that they cheaper-though very little
cheaper-than steel columns. 1t is high time that
the law made the use Of such columns in tail
buildings impossible