The Bismarck tribune., 1934-09-29

closes this area to be truly the heart
of the building.
Partitions may be placed in any
part of the typical floors outside that
square in the center. The largest
single room in any of the finished
floors is in the highway department,
where scores of clerks and stenog-
raphers work side by side The floors
used by the Federal Emergency Re-
lief administration are unfinished
and here one may walk around the
entire building without encountering
partition.
In each elevator lobby there is a
drinking fountain. serving ice water.
clock. operated by electricity from
master clock in the basement, a
rubbish chute. mail chute and toilets
for men and women.
Enclosed in this square, also is
the smokestack for the boilers in the
basement the elevator and ventilat-
ing shafts and the shafts containing
some of the electrical wiring
Plenty of Fire Protection
Two different sets of stairWays are
provided in the tower section. One,
open to the pubic and to employees.
is on the north side of the central
square. The other, on the south side,
is for emergency use only and the
doors can be opened only from the
outside. Thus people can get into it
anywhere but can get out only at
the bottom Of the tower. This exit
is intended for use in case of fire, al
though the entire building is theoret-
ically fireproof. There Is nothing
to burn in the walls above the third
or last ornamental floor and the
doors, doorframes, windows, window
castings, etc, are of steel. In the
stairways themselves the only wood
en- thing is the top stringer on the
railing.
Most Of the wire services go up
through spaces paralleling the stair
wells and access may be had to them
on each floor. The steel conduits
which carry them are stopped" at
each floor. that is, the concrete floor
is solidly built around them. This is
to prevent the fire hazard which
might arise from a draft sweeping
upward through an open we'll
The rubbish chute, the only per-
pendicular space in the building with
the exception of the smoke stack, the
mail chute. and the ventilators, is
lined with steel and has two steel
doors on each floor. On the TOP
floor an automatic sprinkler, oper-
ated by thermostat, is designed to
flood the rubbish chute with water
in the event the temperature rises
sharply.
Fire hose Is contained in a closet
IN each stairway, connected with
pipes leading from a pump in the
basement. The minute one of these
hose is placed in operation the pump
swings into action.
Mechanical Gadgets Interesting
As IS true of all modern buildings
some of the most interesting thing.
are hidden from view of the casua
spectator. These are mechanica
contrivances in the basement and or
the extreme top floor
OF major interest to all who visi,
the capitol is the elevators, two or
one side Of the elevator lobby ane
one on the other, with room for {
fourth. They are of the latest, high
speed type, operating at maximum
OF 700 feet minute Special de,
vices permit them to start and stol
without the jerking motion common
to the early high-speed lifts of thi
type.
All of the machinery for thei
operation is on the extreme to)
floor, really Goth floor since it wa
designed to make a penthouse un
necessary. The operator pushes au
tomato controls in the elevator ca
and these operate electrical mech
anisms on what looks a great dea
like the switchboard connections ii
a modern telephone office. If the,
failed to work the operator Woul,
be lost, since the cars are complete
" enclosed and the only way to tel
the elevators position in the shat
is by means of the lights whicl
go on and off as each floor is reach
ed and passed.
How necessary these elevators ar
in tall building is indicated by tn
perpendicular distances run. Tha
first placed in service had travele
1868 miles on September "a. An
other had run 39,l47 miles and tn
third 1854 miles.
On the goth floor, also are locate
the generators which produce elec