The Washington herald., 1908-07-31


additions 70 the working force OF the
building inspectors Office Of the District.
II Congress grants them. viii come the
PRONUNCIATION Of a new code Of building
regulations. which is now nearly IN shape
10 De passed upon by the Commissioners
and put into effect
! The commission Of builders. architects.
and others 10 draw up the code. appoint
! ed for the purpose more than two yea IS
/ ago. VIII place the results Of its Efforts
before the board shortly Engineer Com
missioner Morrow will first consider. the
regulations. and then. one at a time. they
VIII be taken Up and passed upon by his
two brother officials.
To date only two OF the new reguIa-
tons have been placed before the entire
board and been passed upon. These are
the regulations relating 10 theaters and
the one concerning the requirements for
Hight and afr In al buildings. whereby
the arrangement must be made with re-
gard 70 the height Of each building.
Two Months More of Work.
II IS thought that within the next two
months the entire code viii have been
considered and put into effect
Those comprising the commission which
has made possible the improved rules for
local buildings are F L. Averiu. civil en-
gineer: Appleton P. Clark. IT. architect:
Leon Dessez, architect. Dr. George n
kober; James L Parsons. builder;
Thomas ". Power. heating engineer: Jo-
seph Richardson, builder; William B. Up
ton, consulting engineer. Nathaniel WI
son. lawyer 5 W Woodward. merchant,
and ". H. Rapiey. theater owner.
In line with The general crusade TO i'm
prove every condition in connection with
the building department and its work
W l. Evans, an elevator inspector OF
the District. has recommended and the
Commissioners have approved, some new
regulations governing elevators. their
construction and operation.
II is said that with the enforcement OF
these new rules the elevator systems OF
the city VIII equal, II not surpass. those
Of other cities The most important sec
tons OF the rulings. which were compiled
by Mr. Evans after careful study OF con-
diJions and conference with elevator au-
thoTities. are these.
Al elevator operators and mechanics
10 register with the building department.
Double doors on elevators IN certain
cases
All elevator operators 10 make a weekly
report 10 the District elevator inspectors
OF tne condition % their machines
Operators Not Trained.
Speaking Of the regulations. the IN
spector said:
Few elevator operators know any
thing about an elevator : would say
this class comprises one-hfth- The other
four-ffths know how 10 pull the rope or I
turn the wheel 70 stop Or start the car. ]
and how 10 open and shut the doors. and /
that IS all
They know nothing whatever about 4
the mechanism OF the elevator. This
knowledge IS particularly essential The 4
object Of the new regulations IS 70 re-
suire these operators 20 pass examina-
tons before they can be registered To
60 this, they viii have 20 get busy and
study up. because few Of them could
pass
He further decrfed the not unusual
practice n many apartment houses OF
forcing a multiplicity Of ether duties
upon the operators
This IS a dangerous practice" he said .
70 have the man who attends the fires
telephones. garbage and trash collections
md many other odds and ends about an
l'e-a NattNaAA aNAEAAA 20 A4AE EEEf rlAQE a.
ianne time These men seldom. i ever
Snow when their machinery Is out OF
rider. unless something grt1ds loudly or
he car stops altogether. Then they are
II loss 10 determine where the trouble
leg
"A car may be on the verge OF break
ng from its cables These men. as q
-Ule. would not notice H.
I think when this city has licensed
nd skilled elevator operators there need
'e little alarm about elevators.
Double Doors Much Needed.
The new regulations Will probably be
lut into effect in a few weeks. That the
lrovision FOR inside doors in cases Of the
rowded elevators OF department stores 7
nd some Office buildings is much needed
7as shown some weeks ago. when man
7as crushed in one OF the cars Of the :
iUnsey Building 4 double door TO the
AZ would have prevented the accident