New-York tribune., 1903-04-12

| discover what appears to be an ordinary manhole.
of circular form and constructed Of brick and NOR
| tar A half-dozen pipes empty into 1t. and should
the furnace be lighted for the purpose Of drying
out the building. of the pipes will keep
pouring into It's dark depths trickling stream OF
| boiling tepid water with clouds of exhaust steam
| AS the elevators are In operation the
cylinders will also dispose of their exhaust water
| in the sink pit" Here, too. the rain from the
roof and other waste waters of the building that
| are not unsanitary will be permitted to run
There is device in building, however. which
! may put end TO the wooden pile foundation ana
its accompanying sink pit" 1t a kind of cement
pile, which is stouty built of iron steel and
cement that it be driven into the ground Ike
wooden picket The cement pile has been used
to some extent in England. France and Germany
for the construction of piers and It's Introduction
in this country has been delayed until recently by
| the inability of engineers to build a cement pile
which would not crumble under the stroke OF a
hammer.
Certain engineers of this CITY, however, say that
| they have found a cement pile which will both
stand the blows of the hammer and also pear the
burden of the loftiest building, whether IN wet or
dry soil. Experts say that this kind of founda-
on will last indefinitely, matter now the leVei
of the ground water may vary even In case IL
should be drained off and leave the soil dry as d
bone. In the excavation for an addition 10 'ho
Haenbeck Building at the southwest corner OF
Pearl and Park SITS. cement piles are no" Deihs
used for the first time in the building history OF
this city. What has still further interested the
builders of this city In regard as an ex-
pertinent is the fact that these cement piles are
being constructed and driven at a less cost liian
the old fashioned wooden piles
Tne Hallenbeck addition being constructed by
Walter Reid & Co., contractors, Of No. 15o Flrtn-
ave. The architect is H. C. Pfttman and the SUI
pervising engineer is F. A. Burdett- The introduc-
ton of this kind Of foundation here caused such
widespread interest among engineers that at the
driving OF the first cement pile Alfred Noble. chief
engineer OF the Pennsylvania Railroad; William
Barclay Parsons chief engineer of the Rapid Tran
sit Commission and Chief Engineer Miller of the
Buildings Department were present. All spoke in
praise of the cement pile under the blows OF the
hammer. Although complications erose over the |
driving Of the second pile and the work was In |
terrupted by Buildings Department officials. from |
fear the blows of the hammer the cement pile |
would shake down a nearby pile Of lumber and kill |
the workmen. the contractors who have charge Of |
the building say that they expect to go ahead and
complete the undertaking successfully.
The building which these cement piles are to |
support will stand a 20 by 81 foot plot and will
of the height the ten stored F1allenbeck
Building, which 1t adjoins the south. Sixty |
four of these piles IN groups of four beneath the |
northern wall and of six beneath the southern wall.
are being driven into a soil which IS permeated |
with eight feet below the floor of its base
ment Had wooden piles been used instead, the
excavation would have had to be carried down /
several feet below the water level. in order sub
merge their tops sufficiently. This would have en-
dangered the wall of the six story building TO the
south, whose foundation is six feet above the
ground water level. and compelled the contractors
to used measures to prevent it from falling
The cost Of snoring up this wall, according to the
engineer, would thus have made the ex-
pense of using wooden piles greater than the cost
OF concrete ones.
The concrete piles used In this building % |
feet long and foot square. They are composed of
one part cement, two parts sand and four parts
gravel, consisting of threequarter inch stones.
Along the outer edges of each pile. running its
entire length and terminating below in the sharply
pointed cast iron tip four 212-nch wrought iron
rods bound with steel wire bands at eight inch in
tervals The piles cast in long wooden moulds
On the site of the building. and permitted to set
Tor three weeks before being subjected to the
blows of the pedrivers hammer.
THE Engineering Record in its current number
contains a detailed technical article on the new