The San Francisco call., 1896-03-22
WILL Be MADE
IN THIS CITY.
Contract Let for Steel Work
of the New Call y
Building.
TWO THOUSAND TONS.
Claus Spreckels Prefers to Pat.
ronize the Home Manu-.
factories.
THE PACIFIC ROLLING MILLS.
Scores of Men Will Be Kept Busy
for Months Turning Out the
Great Girders.

A contract for over 1000 tons Of steel
beams and girders was let yesterday to
| the Pacific Rolling-mIlls. This is by far the
largest contract for steel work ever let in
! this City or on this coast.
1t will be used in the superstructure of
the largest steel building on the coast, and
one of the largest steelframed buildings
| in the world-the new CALL building.
| The closing of this contract means
good deal to San Francisco, particularly
TO the iron and steel .workmen. In exact
figures the contract calls for 2200 tons of
steel. The manufacturing of this quantity
of steel will keep the rolling-mills running
full force for the rest of the year 1t is ex-
pected.
In the letting of this contract Claus
Spreckels has only followed out the char
acteristic policy adopted by him in the
construction OF all his other buildings
that of patronizing home industry wher-
ever possible. In order to carry out this
policy Mr.. Spreckels instructed Reid
Brothers, the architects of THE. CALLS
magnificent new home, to design the
shapes of the steel beams and girders
needed in such, way as to meet the re-
the work to be done in this City. In the
buildings previously erected by Claus
Spreckels this was, comparatively speak
ing. not such difficult thing to do. In
the case of this gigantic nineteer-storied
structure with its knotty problems in en-
gineering, wind resistance. weight distri-
button and the still more complex archi-
tectural problems that may scarcely be
stated in non-technical terms, it was no
easy task to design the shapes instead of
permitting the ordinary shapes to guide
the construction.
But the task has been accomplished, ana
if builders and architects were inclined TO
pay more attention to the limitations and
peculiarities of the local factories a great
deal of material heretofore supposed to be
only practicable when produced abroad
can be purchased in this City, thus giving
work to great many more men.
The accom- panying illustration is an out
line of steel work in the plan and eleva-
ton as taken from the architects draw
ings. There is bewildering maze of steel
beams and girders here, yet the problem
presented in this great network of heavy
metal was by no means as great a task as
that presented by the necessity of securing
for this nineteen stories of steel and stone
sure and solid foundation.
There was a deal of preparatory work
necessary for building of this magnitude,
and most of this preparatory work is row
completed. First of all, at distance of
twenty-five feet below the level of the
street a platform OF concrete two feet
thick was spread over the entire surface to
be occupied by the building and project
ing nine feet beyond this area at all four
sides. This projection was necessary in
order to prevent the great weight of the
superstructnre from bearing with undue
pressure on the sand beneath the founda-
ton.
On this fiat and perfectly level surface of
concrete were laid courses Of fifteen.inch
steel beams, spaced at an average of seven
teen inches apart. This space between the
beams was carefully filled in with con-
crete. On top of this surface of concrete
and beams, at right angles to the beams,
the work OF laying still another row of
fifteen-inch beams is now progressing.
When these beams have been placed and
the abutting pieces firmly riveted so that
each makes continuous girder from one
side of the foundation to the other, the
spaces UCtMtcn tliCLl Will d1SO U6 lllicu
with concrete.
Again, at right angles with these beams
and dire city under the center of each of
the eighteen columns will be placed the
bases. These bases will be formed of
20-inch steel beams firmly riveted together,
and the spaces between them filled with
concrete. On these solid foundations will
be placed the true columns, the bases of
which will be made of cast iron of 5000 |
pounds weight each. Upon these column
bases will rest the great columns them
selves, each of which will support burden
of 600 tons.
All this preparatory work has been SO
carefully planned that with the help of
the projecting nine feet of foundation, the
great load which each column will be re-
quired to support will be carried gradually
downward in such a manner that no single
square foot of the underlying sand will be
loaded to greater extent than the weight
of two and a quarter tons.
In less than a month all this preparation
work will be completed and the building
of the superstructure will commence. 1t
will require about two weeks to erect the
framework of the first or main story, and
after that the great towering structure will
proceed skyward at the rate of one story
a week, and the entire superstructure will
be finished by the middle of October.