The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-01-09
 7" FIRa PROOF y BUIEDtyGs.
Remarks by a Technical Contemporary
 From ina DooN,d


 from the Engineering Reeord.l
 The editorial comments of the Engi- neering Record on the burning of the Manhattan bank building, at Broad way and Bleecker street. in New York city, together with the detailed &C., count of the building and it's partial destruction, point to some important conclusions in regard to the tireproof construction of buildings which ought to be drawn from this particular ex- perience. Perhaps the first striking fea- ture of the whole matter is the demon- strated fact, long familiar to competent authorities on building construction, that iron columns, girders and floor beams, even when the latter are filled between with terra cotta or similar ma- terial, do not necessarily make a build ing fireproof, as essential as those ele- ments are in securing that end. This is no new thing to experienced engineers and architects although building own CTS and the public generally usually and persistently associate fireproof con- ditions with the mere presence of iron
 
 undoubted fact that neither iron nor baked clay will burn, but if they are sur rounded with sufficient eombustlble material which has been set on fire the iron and steel will eventually lose their carrying power if the confiagration is fierce enough. and the combustble ma- terial itself will be consumed. The plain conclusion to be drawn from this fact Is simply this, in order to make build ing construction freproof any sensible amount of conbustible material must be excluded, and all fireproof buildings constructed in accordance with the best modern practice involve just that fea- ture. Wooden partitions and double wooden floors with ample air spaces under them form standing Inducements to rapid conflagrations and should never be permitted in either fireproof or so- called slow burning construction.
 It has also repeatedly been shown that main supporting members of iron and steel should be encased with in combustible material, for without that protection the heat Of the burning con tents of the room may be sufficient to soften them until their carrying capac- ity Is materially impaired or destroyed. Many actual and experimental experi- ences, on the other hand, have demon strated the certain security of practical fireproof easing. Another essential fea- ture in fire resisting constructions is an from or steel frame with such well designed joints and connections that they will not part with or lose the larger portion of their sustaining power, even though much softened and twisted, Their characteristic of good iron or steel construction was almost or en- tirely absent in the Manhattan bank building, and 1t IS practically unattain- able when cast iron columns are used There are too many of tbe New York buildings in which this sound principle has been violated, although similar criticism cannot be directed to the same extent aga inst the high buildings oi Chicago The lateral bracjng so wisely employed in many of the best buildings of the latter city aids most effieciently toward the game end, but it is injudic- iously omitted in nearly all of the New York structures.
 | These are some of the main essentials l imperative in the attainment of a really | freproof character of building construc ton; they are already found in a con siderable number of the best moderr | buildings in both Chicago and New York, and their strict enforcement b! 1 incorporation in the building Jaws O large cities is only reasona ble wherever fireproof buildings are required. Tha enforcement would be a hardship tt none and it would afford security to all