The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1907-03-12

sons Meantime we have found what
load each upright will have to carry
and thus know the sort of foundation
and structure each will require. By
the time we get the final ground plan
the excavation is so well under way
that caisson work may begin. and we
can also set our craftsmen to making
detail sketches for The guidance OF the
rolling mill man. This is what | meant
by saving that the real construction of
a modern big building is done In the
office We make a drawing of every
beam. gIrder and upright to be used,
with every dimension calculated to the
sixteenth of an inch and every riyet
hole indicated as to place and size to a
nicely There Is a separate drawing
for each one of these members, and
each Is numbered The drawings are
sent to the rolling mill and there repro
duced In steel When a member Is
shipped from the rolling mill 1t is num-
bered to correspond with the drawing.
For instance, we want beam with
a cross section like the Roman letter
twelve feet long and thirty inches
wide. 1t Is 10 be three and a half inch
es thick, an, the hanges are to be sew I
en-eighths of an inch thick and eight
inches wide 1t is to have transverse
brace supported by L shaped brackets /
three inches each way, and the rivet
holes are to be in the places Indicated |
and are to be three-quarters Of an inch
In diameter When shipped to us the
L n NJ A
THAT shows were 1t goes in the !
building, Of course" ventured the re-
porter with CLEAN of intelligence.
Exactly. We work by floors. For
each floor we make ground plan
showing the position of every bit of
ironwork, with each bit numbered.
Now, when that beam comes to US
numbered NJ 4, ia, we look at the n
ground plan, find member ia, and
that's where the beam goes"
And 'M'-how about MT"
THAT shows the floor We number
the members and letter the floors. SO
that NJ means the thirteenth floor"
The reporter was about to comment
frivolously on the regrettably small
number of letters in the alphabet and
its effect on the future of tall build
ings but the superintendent continued:
$50 far the system seems perhaps
comparatively simple, but 1t is when
we come to consider the aesthetic va
carries in the way of outside stonework
which the architects sensitive soul
demands that many complex problems
have to be solved 1t is when we are
confronted with tirrets, towers, bal
comics and bow windows and gargoyles
and ponderous copings and cornices
that delicate figuring must come into
play. While It Is easy enough to cal
culate the weight of the sheer walls
the uniform blocks of stone between
stories-the carved stones forming or
nate projections must be considered
individually, so that each will rest up
on ironwork of proper strength to sus
tain it and of proper construction to
hold it In place, and this, too, must en-
ter into the computation of the load to
be carried on its particular floor. In
this way many iron members will en-
ter into the support of a single stone
whose only use is to satisfy the artistic
cravings of the architect"
"Why is it that one often sees the
stonework going forward on, say, the
fourth story, while the floors below
show only the iron skeleton"
There are various reasons for that
Nearly always there are huge boilers.
engines, pumps and the like which
must be put In before the ground floor
stonework begins. Sometimes there is
| delay In the delivery, so we start the
stonemasons in at some story above
This is easy enough, as all the loads
have been computed long before. Then.
| again, the floor beams of one story
may reach us sooner than those of an
| other, so we put the masons ON that
story, or perhaps there Is much carv.
ing to be done on a third story stone
coping and little on the second. So as
not to delay this we jump the stone
masons from the first to the third
story.
You see," pursued the expert, ''tht
plan, localized, is to keep the stonems-
sons, housesmiths and plumbers one
floor behind the ironworkers, the car
penters one floor behind these, tina
| plasterers one floor behind the car
penters, and so on till the top story y
finished"
Would it be possible to erect a
twenty four story building in the old
way Of brick and stone construction p
asked the reporter.
Possible, yes, but 1t would take so
long that in these days of quick for
tune building the proposition would be
commercially absurd You can't as
semble stone or a brick building
You've got to start at your foundations
and raise your walls to your first floor
before you can put in your girders and
beams, and so on to the top. Now, lay
ing stone is slow process, and by the
old method everything had to wait for
the masons and bricklayers. Today we
don't have to wait for anything after
the caissons are sunk. We can keep all
hands busy, no matter how slowly an
individual part of the work may be
forced to progress. We can put on a
stone tower before we touch the stone
work Of the sidewalk floor"
lis an iron construction building
safer than one of stoner'
mo, simply cheaper. but just as safe.
Another thing, too saves time In mod
ern building, and that Is the abundance
of available labor An ironworker who
lie capable of helping to rivet big bat
tleship together or assisting in tunnel
or subway or bridge construction is
quite as much in his element when he
takes part In the assembling Of q
great building This fact of inter-
changeable labor makes 1t possible to
work at the very top limit of speed
when occasion requires. At the pres
ent time we have one building under
way on which we employ 1000 mep
simultaneously
"As / said before, putting up build.
ing today is just like making a mod
ern watch. The various parts are made
separately, but to fit into each other to
a hairs breadth. These are turned
over to the skilled mechanic, who SIM
ply puts them together = assemblies
them. New York Herald.