The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1907-03-13
An IRON SKYSCRAPERR PER,
Marvellous Method In Rearing the
Towering Structure.
MAGIC OF ITS MECHANISM.


Office building in lower New York a
young man sat at roll top desk talk
ing into q telephone. he was q clean
shaven, clean collared young man, with
gray eyes and 4 cool, dry, oven voice.
It was a sunny Office, with an admira-
Bile rug on it's oaken floor, and from its
windows you could see over into New
Jersey. The young man at the desk
was the general superintendent Of
COMPANY which builds ''skyscrapers,
auG he was performing the functions
Of his Office.
What report on those beams:" he
was asking. There was some reply.
How many men have you:'' ne in
quired and then presently remarked:
We'll make il 610." Then he turned
to the reporter who had come to ask
him how big buildings are erected
But the telephone claimed him again.
and again he asked:
What report?" and to the reply an
nounceI:
THE masons must catch up by
Wednesday. This is final Goodoy.'
TIE tncned again to the reporter, and
,t,a ,a,',c.' asked:
w do you put up skyscraper:
The cool. clean faced superintendent
looked across to New Jersey for sec
ond aGd said:
The building Of an iron constructed
skysctaper is huge counterpart OF the
building Of 4 modern American Watch.
It is SIMPLY a matter Of assembling
the parts-the members we call them.
The tact is that little of the real work
is do,e on the site Of the building at
all, as in the old days Of stone con-
struc:;on. Broadly speaking, the dig
s!ng of the cellar and the sinking OF
ca;ss rs in order to lay bed for the
=: comprise most Of the engl-
n,e on the spot. The rest we
! is the advantage Of iron con-
struc on. aside from its having made
he skyscraper possible? Is it stron-
ger?'
NO: It S cneapeE
sBrt you have to use stone anyway.
One would think that the added eS-
pe1se Of the ronwork, say, on COM
,,ara' vely small building would ip-
90 cost"
.nrial that costs st S
x. n putting up an iron
cen ,:ct;on building everybody can
worl. 1T once-excavators, craftsmen,
rolli:>,:: mills. ironworkers, masons,
plur: ars. fniShers and all. Suppose
-ou ne here and tell us you want to
Sita.nHA.OGO on building to take
\ &,g stone hotel. To as
and dimensions Of
coarse easy. This done,
,!:arram over to az arcni-
rect. He does the aesthetic part Of
the work, and we don't bother much
with him after we get his ground and
side elevations, though Of course we
keep n close practical touch with him.
We now. as soon as we close the
-ith vou-not q week afterTard,
Lrt e very next day-we are tearing
down the old building, the architect IS
rouehing out his floor plans, and we
are figuring, with your assistance, how
much weight each floor will have to
carry. And all the While this is beng
done our superintendents are arranging
for caisson men, ironworkers, masons
and all the rest of the labor. At the
same time our foundrymen and quarry
men are planning to be in readiness to
ship material when it is needed. In
fact, everything moves forward simul-
taneously.'
"What is the first step Of actual con-
struction"'
ITO get the architects finished
ground plan away from him. he dear
II loves continually to make changes
in that end Of the work. AS soon as we
have the ground plan we can tell by
the shape Of the future building just
where the uprights are to go ano so
where we shall have to sink our cals-
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 saying that the real construction OF
modern big building is done n the
Office. We make drawing Of every
beam. girder and upright to be used,
with every dimension calculated to the
sixteenth of an inch and every rlvet
hole indicated as to place and size to
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 4 member is
shipped from the rolling mill it is num-
beced to correspond with the drawing.
''For irgtance, we want beam with
a cross section like the Roman letter
twelve feet long and thirty inches
wide. It is to be three and half inch
es thick. and the fanges are to be sew
en-eighths Of an inch thick and eight
inches wide It 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
beam is to be marked N /, ia"
THAT shows were it goes in the
building, Of course" ventured the re-
portei, with a gleam Of intelligence.
Exactly. We work by floors. For
each floor we make q ground plan
showing the position of every bit Of
ronwork, with each bit numbered.
Now, when that beam comes to US
oG Il, \