The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1906-01-26
PROOF AGAINST EARTHQUAKES.
Designing Buildings to Withstand
Moderate Shocks,

Moderate Shocks.
In Japan many of the cottages built
in districts afflicted with earth
quakes are of wood, and have frames
designed 20 as to be more or less
elastic. They will yield without
breaking, and will recover their orig
inal form after a temporary distor
ton. These dwellings are good ones
to live in, and are far more secure
than rigid walls of brick or stone. In
Northern India similar problems are
presented by the same evil. In an
engineering periodical printed in that
par. of the world, ]. H. Stephens says
that, besides the material employee
in building, some attention can profit
ably be paid to the soil under the
foundation. If a SOU structure rest.
ed on cushion of ruDDer it would
stand good deal of shaking before
it would collapse.
1t has Deen found that when a
bunaing rests on a bed of clay it is
liable to continual motion. In the wet
weather the clay expands and the
building is raised upward. In the
hot weather the clay contracts and
the building is lowered. The result
is that such buildings, however well
constructed, are very muca cracked
The clay bed seems tc have lines of
least resistance, which can be traced
for miles in the hot season by open
assures in the surface of the earth
Wnere a building intercepts such a
assure in the surface of the clay bed
tne.e IS large crack in the walls and
roof of the building. However good
the quality of the construction, moth
ing can save the building from crack
ing, and the opening is invariably in
line with the cleavage in the bed of
clay.
Mr.. Stephens says that he and two
Irwin, decided to counterfeit the ten
dency by going down to permanent
moisture. They then filled tneir foun-
dation trench with compressed sand
and started their walls Such build
ing, though erected on clay and sub
sion and contraction in the clay sub
soil, yet never cracked. These facts
lead Mr.. Stephens to say:
rs TINS security due to the cushion
of sand below the foundation? If
cushion of sand can protect build
ing from the motion due to the con-
traction and expansion of the subsoil,
can it also, in certain degree, pro.
tect a building from the motion due
to an earthquake? Do you not think
tnat the matter is worth experiment
ing on? In Calcutta and in the North
generally, where earthquakes have al
ready done so much damage, l am not
aware that any attempt has been
made to protect buildings or to do
anything to mitigate the evil. 1t is
hopeless, perhaps, to do anything to
existing buildings. But | understand
that large building schemes are in
the air, especially the grand Victoria
Memorial Can nothing be done to
protect these? A good cushion of sand
has been frequently tried down South,
and has resisted the motions in the
subsoil caused by expansion and con-
traction. 1t is true that this motion
is slow compared to the motion in the
subsoil caused by an earthquake. but
what has done complete good in one
case may do a little good in the other.
At any rate, it ought to be wortn ex-
perimenting on. There may be ways
of using this or any other material
by which lie shock of an earthquake
may be averted. New York Tribune.