Evening star., 1922-01-31
Draft of New
Regulations
Soon Ready.
THEATER RUINS
ARE EXAMINED
Engineers Differ as
to the Cause. of
Disaster.

| 1He culiEc Coue Ol uulIuIHS IcSutd-
tions of the District is in process OF
| revision. 1t became known today.
/ The redrafting of the regulations
was not prompted by the Knicker-
! booker disaster, but the collapse OF
the theater in all probability will
have the effect of making the new
code one of the most complete and
all Inclusive in the country.
The building inspectors office. it be-
came known. began revising the code
several months ago. with a view to
striking out obsolete sections and
writing in new ones made advisable
by the steady development of new
engineering methods.
Inspector Healy of the building de-
partment stated today that as soon
as the revision is completed the code
ers for adoption.
This will afford an opportunity to
write into the revised code any new
sections that may be found necessary
when the several Investigations into
the Knickerbocker disaster are con-
cluded.
Possible Defect Seen.
Engineers and others familiar with
building construction venture the
opinion that the cause Of the Knicker-
booker Theater cave-in was due to a
possible defect in some of the material
used in the truss supporting the roof.
They say. however. this may not be
definitely determined even after the
most thorough investigation. but If
the truth were known it would be
found to be the case rather than the
extra weight caused by the snow.
Both Col. Keller. Engineer Commits
sioner Of the District. and Reginald
Geare, the architect who designed the
Knickerbocker. are of the belief that
according to the plan4 and speeifca-
tfons there was not suflicteat snow
piled upon the roof to strain any part
LOT the supporting truss sufficiently to
cause the break, in the event that
every piece OF steel in the network
Of supports forming the truss was
perfect. sH
IS Pounds Per Square Foot.
1t is explained that the requirements
Of the building inspectors Office are
that a truss support of this nature
should be of sufficient capacity to hold
q live weight Of twenty-five pounds to
the square foothills in excess to the
dead weight, meaning the roof and the
structure itself. Col. Keller stated that
assuming that there were twenty-s
inches of snow as reported by the
weather bureau covering the entire
roof. II would not have been of suf-
ficfent live weight to in any way have
caused the truss to break. He bases
amount of snow would not have
weighed more than ten or twelve
pounds to the square foot, and which
is considerably below the capacity re-
quirements. Besides, it is known that
all builders construct such supports
to capacity two or three times great
er than required by law.
Mr.. Geare said that to his personal
knowledge every requirement of the
building inspectors Office was fulfilled
in constructing this theater. In his
opinion it was one of the best con-
structed buildings that ever came un-
der his observation. When asked to
for the cave-in. Mr.. Geare said that
would be extremely difficult, other than
to assume that there must have been
a defect in some of the material at
the point where the break occurred.
Specifications Being Examined.
Col Keller and his assistants are
engaged in a careful examination Of
the plans and specifications for the
building, to satisfy himself that every
requirement in the interest Of safety
was provided for. He already has ex-
amined carefully great masses of
the material in the wreckage and will
continue his examination with the
view to satisfying himself as to the
nature of the material actually used
in the construction work and to sat-
isfy himself that it came up to the
specifications originally filed in the
building inspectors office.
Mr.. Geare said he was greatly
shocked by the disaster, and that he
has offered his services to the Com
missioners to lend any assistance in
an effort to arrive at some idea of the
cause.
Snow Probably Weighed 50 Tons.
Probably more than fifty tons Of
snow. rested on the Knickerbocker
Theater roof last Saturday. night
when it fell. according to estimates
made here today.
Experts of the weather bureau
gave a water equivalent Of inches
for the official snow fall of 26 inches,
with weight Of ten pounds to the
square foot.
Had the roof area Of the ILL., -fated
theater been but 100 feet by710o feet,
1t would have meant fifty tons of
snow upon it. 1t was declared, al
though experts said they did not
know the exact area of the roof
which fell, and could therefore haz-
ard no guess as to the exact weight
of the snow. fa -
4 AS heavy as such weight of snow
would have been. doubt was ex-
pressed here today that even such q
weight could OF itself have caused
the rof to fall in.
New York experts estimate that
the best theaters in New York city
are constructed so that the roof can
carry a weight OF Ten cubic feet Of
snow per square foot. This would
mean. such roofs are capable of
standing q strain OF q snow fall ten
feet deep. -
/. A Astriking example Of the strain to
which roofs are subjected during
! Continued % Page, :. Column IS 4.