The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-20
BUILDING OF CONCRETE.
Beams of This Material I'm New Fac
tory Have Spans of Fifty-One Feet.

New York Times.
What is said to be the first structure
built entirely of concrete i'm New York is
now nearly completed tbs a two-story
creek, LOnd Island City, to be occupied by
the Central Felt and Paper Company, and is
of the usual low, wide-spreading factory
type. Aside from the fact of it's being the
only entire concrete building in this city
the new structure is interesting i'm respect
of its main room, which has clear span
fifty-one feet wide and rs feet deep, the
beams as well as the ceiling being con-
structed entirely of concrete.
The general nature of the soil i'm the ter
ritory in and adjacent to Long Island City
is generally known to be soft and spongy.
Ordinary brick and frame buildings ad-
joining the tracks of the Long Island Rail-
road have suffered considerably from vi
bration caused by passing trains In the
case of the concrete building the tracks
pass directly in its rear. The builders ma in
tain that its solidity is its principal feature
The foundations were made by driving piles
twelve inches apart over the entire plot.
On these was constructed solid floor OF
concrete eighteen inches thick.
The walls of the factory were made first
of rough plankS nailed to uprig'hts eighteen
inches apart. Into this trough the mix
ture was shoveled, pounded, and allowed
to set for three days. At the end of this
time the board walls were knocked off and
the solid wall of hardened concrete re-
manned. The problem of constructing the
ceiling over the large machine room, in
which are to be the huge rollers transform
ing the pulp into finishing paper, was the
most difficult which builders with concrete
have yet been called upon to solve.
Huge beams of solid concrete were
planned, fifty-one feet long, thirty inches
Deep and fifteen inches wide, to be placed
at intervals of sixteen feet along the en-
tire distance of It's feet. To build such an
enormous length of unsupported concrete
had never been attempted before. Timbers
were set up the floor of the machine
room reaching to the level of the ceiling
On these uprIghts were laid fifteen inch
planks, and boards thirty inches wide were
nailed to them. Into these long troughs
the concrete was then shOveled. Favorine
weather caused these beams to set In
less than three days. The uprights were
knocked from underneath them, the bot
tom and side planks of the trough dropped
off, and the finished concrete beams. over
fifty feet in length, were fast TO the con-
crete walls. The only stiffening used was
in the form of small iron rods, placed In
rows of three in the lower and upper por-
tons of each beam. A wire mesh was then
fastened between the beams, half way be-
tween the top and bottom. The mold OF
boards was again put in position and the
ceiling was completed.
The factory first planned to be a
brick and frame building, and an insurance
company quoted a rate of / per cent. with
a full sprinkler system installed. The rate
the same company now offers for the con.
crete structure is one-twentieth of i pei
cent. although no provision has been made
for a sprinkler system.