Mexico weekly ledger., 1920-03-25
WOULD NEVER FALL
OFF SMOKE STACK

ooh, falling off is the last thing ir
the world you would do" said Mr.
Hampel, the nan who is building the
tall smoke stack for the Mexico Light
and Power Company, when he was
asked if there were not some danger
of workmen on such a structure get
ting over balanced and catapulting off
their high work benches. This state
ment might easily be taken litecl.ly,
.hough it was plain to beseen, by the
twinkle in Mr.. Hampel's eye when he
said it, that hi realized the double
meaning of his words;and he continued
to explain thai there was really no
likelihood of n mans falling from the
top Of even a hundred and seventy
five foot chimney, when the proper
care is taken II making the scaffold-
ing secure. He went on to say that
he had been doing this sort of con-
struction work for five years and that
he had never mad a man in his employ
hurt.
The tall chin rey which this man is
building under the auspices of the
Wiederhold Construction Company Of
st. Louis has many more eintricacies
than a view several hundred feet away
would lead the average spectator tc
believe; and it has many peculiaritics
of its own, which another building,
with a more c. implicated appearance,
does not have. For example, this
chimney is continually weaving back
and forth, to q slight extent, and it is
by this that the constructor knows
that his stack is Gin plumb" 1t it
should stop weaving, and Ego dead" he
would know that quick action was
needed, as the whole thing would
probably fall shortly. Mr.. Hamnel
said he never had the misfortune to
have a smoke stack go dead on m
This motion Of a tall structure such
as a smoke stack, or silo, prohibits
some people working on them, but fol
the most part vorkmen do not notice
, the moving. It is felt much more
according to Mr.. Hampel, after h,
has got down of the top of the stack
| frequently he has the sensation, ht
says, Of moving back and forth fol
an hour or more after working hours
The draft up the inside Of the stacl
I. is now so strong that one can s%car:el!
r stand in front of the little openin!
through which the workmen enter t
mount to the top. A ladder is pull
f into the wall and it may be mounte,
Y from the inside or the out. In orde
to keep the air en- the top of the STAG
warm enough to make working com
Portable, even en- cold winter days,
n steam heater is kept on the ground in
side and the heated air is carried u
by the draft. The sand and other ma
e terial used is heated before it is sen
G up to facilitate the use of it.
The smoke sack is a reinforced con
crete structure. Through the holloN
y concrete tiles are run steel bands an
a steel spokes. The letters, which wi
spell Light on one side and Power o
the other, ara of white Terra Cots
and are cemen"ed in just as the con
Is crete tiles are.
If the weather stays fit enough t
permit work all the time the structur
= will be completed within two weeks
y is thought. Work was begun tw
days before the New Year, and all {
it has been done by only two men, M
nj Hampel himself marking off tn
$ ground for it and digging the founds
E. ton. Twelve hundred sacks {
cement, three cars of sand and or
car of steel mas already been used
in the construction of it.
The walls G" the stack is :en inch'
I'd thick. For the first fifty feet it is r.
inforced by a brick wa
between which and the OUT
Mt thing is an air cavity whic
1T lends force to the draft. The inter''
I'd diameter of the base is nine and a ha
feet, the same as the interior of II
top of the stack. The diameter of Il
or base, finished, is fourteen feet al
II two inches. The walls slants tw
l., Fights of an inch to every foot.
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