The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-06-16

-.aa
worth and reliability" says Professor
Soulc, ''and has come to stay II has
been tried and hns not bcen found
wanting. Minor improvements VIII
produce q perfect structure"
Concrete aud reinforced concrete
structures are given II high place In
the estimation OF tho experts who be-
licve that they 1re as we'll adapted to
Withstand earthquake or fire us any
ohcr tyne of building.
"Unfortunatcly for San Francisco"
says Professor Sonlc, "thcrc wero very
few structures Of concrete or rein.
forced concrete In the city at the timo
Of her great trial, but these few be-
havcd well, during both the earth
quake and the resulting fire.
at present tho sentiment Is to limit
thcm to II height OF six or eight stories,
on account Of their experimental char
nctcr. 1t Ia agreed that columns
should be reinforced with steel. and
braccd together wherever possible
Captain Scwell also comes out In
favor of the steel-fr;lno building thor
oughly braccd ms the best type to en-
dure earthquake or fire.
"For very tall buildings" says Cap
tain Scwell, "thc best type Of construc-
ton Is undoubtedly steel frame
say up to % feet, rs an extreme limit.
reinforced concrete alone can undoubt-
edly be SO designed as to give very
good results when subjected to either
earthquake or fire.
Brick and Concrctc.
In order to thoroughly protect the
steel-frame buildings against earth
quake or fire. Captain Sewell believes
that all columns should be covered,
either with four inches of briclswork,
laid in Portland cement mortar and
with all tho interior spaces filed with
concrete. or else they should be in
closed in an expanded metal basket
and the entire interior filed with
concrete. so that the minimum thick
ness of concrete shall not, IN any case,
be less than four inches.
"rhe results Mt Baltimore and San
Francisco" continues Captain Sewell,
did not. by any means, indicate that
either hollow tiles or concrete Is al
together a failure or altogether sue
cess. Both fires Indicated very clearly
that commercial methods of applying
both materials are inadequnte; both
also indicated very clearly that sue
cessful results can be attained With
both materials.
~ contlagration never yields relia-
bic comparative results, but IRON SuCh
comparative results as are available.
think there Is no question that the
best hre-resisting material available at
the present time Is the right kind Of
burned clay Some commercial hollow
! tile work Is made OF good material.
but as a rule. that is the only good
thing that can DO said about 1t. AS
for concrete. there can be no ques tion
that good clinker concrete, made OF
well burned clinkers, Portland cement
ard sand. Is very efficient tire-resist
| ing material. 1t Is better than any
thing except the better types of burn.
ed clay products, but the form in
which cinder concrete IS commercially
applied is. on the whole. no better than
the iimsy hollow tile work with which
1t completes: In fact It is not certain
that it may not be worse.
/ while there Is no doubt that com
mercial standards OF flrcprooflng are
/ dangerously inadequate. the greatest
i trouble of oil Is the fact that so little
attention is paid to protecting the ex.
\ terror openings in q building. Even q
very enetticien type of fre-shuttel
1 would probably have saved some OF the
buildings in San Francisco, which were
as matter of fact, burned out. A light
metal shutter. combined with win
dow sprinkler, would probably resist
quite q fierce fro for long time.