The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1904-06-28
REPORT MADE AFTER CARE
Full EXAMINATION.
BY Chief Structural Engineer Of Sup
ervising Architect of Treas
ury Department.

S. c." made by Mr.. Kort Berle, chief
structural engineer OF the supervis-
ing architect of the treasury depart
1nent, who was secured by Governor
Hayward to examine the state house
dome and to report as to its safety:
Washington. D. c.. June 20, 1904.
To His Excellency the Governor OF
South Carolina.
Sir: In response to your request,
contained in letter OF the I4th in
slant. that I make an examination of
the dome OF the state house to de-
tern,ine definitely whether construc
ton of same-is within safe limits. ard
thereby verify or disprove certain
alarming statements set forth in re-
port dated June 3, 1904. by Mr.. Chas.
G. Wilson, architect, to Chairman
Marshall OF the commission for the
completion of the state house, |
have the honor to submit the follow
ing report, together with complete
calculations Of the principal plate
girders, etc, forming the support OF
the dome.
AS verbally requested by you, l
shall endeavor in this report not only
to prove my statements by technical
calculations, but also to interpret, as
far as possible, certain technical ex-
pressions in a popular way, that the
true situation might be more easily
appreciated by all concerned. and it
is my earnest hope that the results
of my investigation shall leave no
doubt whatever in anyone's mind as
to the safety of the structure.
The conclusions to which I come
in regard to Mr.. Wilson's report are
that, aside from his own uncertain
standpoint. there is absolutely no
foundation for the statement that the
girders are seriously overloaded" I
find on the contrary that, while some
OF these are loaded slightly beyond
the "safe limit" generally observed
by engineers for the steel structure
for buildings, correct calculations
bear out the fact that the girders are
all of ample strength.
Being loaded slightly beyond the
usual safe limit" must not be under
stood to mean what persons unfamil-
lar with engineering rules would nat
urally infer from the expression,
namely. that once beyond this "safe
limit" the structure becomes unsafe.
1t simply means that the factor of
safety" has been more or less re-
duced. or. in other words. the large
margin usually given to the members
, has been encroached upon. The fac
tor of salty used for steel in build
ings is !. This means that one
fourth OF the ultimate tensile strength
of the material is counted on in pro-
portioning the different members OF
the structure, or that these have to
be loaded with four times the calcu-
lated load before they would collapse.
"The elastic limit OF the steel is
the point above which the external
forces will strain or distort the metal
permanently, so that after the exter-
nal forces cease to act the body does
not return to its original dimensions.
Below this limit, when the distortirg
force ceases to act, the body does
return to its original shape, and the
strairf. or distortion, and the stress.
or external force, are then always
proportional. 1t is therefore observ-
ed in good practice as of great i'm
portance to keep all working stresses
we'll within the elastic limit, which
is required to be not less than one
half of the ultimate strength of the
steel The ultimate tensile strength
OF the steel here used, if in accor-
dance with the requirements of the
specifications, should be from $4,000
pounds to $1,000 pounds per square
inch. This being the requirement
for soft steel it is quite possible that
tess have shown the ultimate