Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1896-06-17
ONE MAN CAN LIFT IT.
REMARKABLE ENGINEERING SCHEME
FOR A NEW YORK SKYSCRAPER.

The New st. Paul Building to BE on n
Movable Foundation-To Be Twenty-six
Stories High-How the Wonderful Feat
Will Be Accomplished.
A 26 story skyscraper offAe build
ing is being built in New York on
movable foundation.
This building will weigh about 3d.
900, 900 pounds, and one man will DO
able to lift it with the aid of very
simple invention.
These statements seem absurd, but
they are true. The building is now be-
ing put up on the corner of Broadway
and Ann street, on the site of the ola
Herald building. and the architects OF
the building will tell you that these as
tonishing facts are true.
No architect ever attempted to con
struct a building this way before, al
though a somewhat similar device was
used ON the foundations of the famous
Eiffel tower in Paris with entire sue
cess.
The st. Paul building, which is to
tower above every other skyscraper in
the city, is to rest upon jackscrews,
which are to be operated by hydraulic
power directed by single hand. The
feat performed by Samson on one MEM
orable occasion will be outdone. Even
Atlas in his act of balancing the world
upon his head will have to look to his
laurels, for this structure, with its pop
ulation of several thousands, will actu
ally be balanced and raised or lowered
at will.
The importance of this undertaking
may be appreciated from the fact that
the building will rise 307 feet above
the Broadway level and will contain
25 full stories and an additional roof
structure equivalent to another. The
foundations, however, are not carried
down as deeply as those of several OF
the buildings erected during the last
few years. Instead of being founded on
solid rock, they will rest on concrete
beds and rolled iron beams planted in
the wet sand.
Buildings on such foundations settle,
but never evenly. The proposed arrange
ment will affect that tendency and keep
the structure perfectly level.
1t is this fact which has prompted
the introduction of this system of ny
draulic jacks, by means of which an av-
erage man will be able to excel every
feat of strength yet performed or mag
ined.
Forty-seven steel uprights, placed at
regular intervals over an area of $500
square feet, support the entire weight of
the st. Paul building. 1t is under these
uprights that the mechanism is being
introduced which will alter the level of
the building at any time during its con-
struction, or even after the whole of its
material has been placed in position.
The person who is fortunate enough
to catch glimpse of the foundations of
the st. Paul building as they at present
stand will notice at the foot of each of
these columns a support consisting of
rolled steel sections united at an angle
Between this conical support and the
base of each column are inserted half
dozen steel plates. 1t is the removal or
insertion of these plates which will al
ter the height of the building, either
raising or lowering it.
The actual work of raising the build
ing will be done by hydraulic jacks.
These are constructed on well known
scientific principle, by which the pres
sure exercised by lever upon the sur
face of water in steel compartment is
increased to an incredible extent by be-
ing conveyed through very small pipe
to another water filled compartment.
In the case of the st. Paul building
the second steel compartment will be
actually under the supporting columns
of the structure. The jacks wi be NOV
able, and while the work of raising the
building will doubtless be done by
number of men working together it
will still be possible for single man to
perform the operation alone. = New
York Journal.