IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS TO ENABLE THEM TO WITHSTAND THE DESTRUCTIVE ACTION OF FIRE
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Simmons at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th July
1861.
I, JAMES SIMMONS, of the Chemical Works, Wellington Lane, Battersea,
in the County of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS TO
ENABLE THEM TO WITHSTAND THE DESTRUCTIVE ACTION OF FIRE," to be as
follows:-
This Invention applies chiefly to the construction of warehouses of large
size, the object being to prevent the floors giving way under the action of fire,
whereby the total destruction of such buildings, although built on the accepted
fireproof principle, so frequently occurs. The destruction by fire of this class
of buildings is now mainly attributed to the giving way of the metallic supports
used in their construction, caused by the sudden and unequal contraction of
the heated metal when subjected to streams of cold water thrown into the
building to quench or allay the fire. To avoid this giving way of the metallic
supports, I propose to make the cast-iron columns and girders used in sup-
porting the various floors, hollow, and to connect them together in such a
manner as to form a clear watercourse throughout the whole series. The
tubular columns I carry up from the basement to the roof, where I connect
them with a water tank that may cover any given surface of the roof; and these
lines of columns I also connect with series of hollow girders, which serve to
carry the several fireproof floors. I bring down water from the tank to the

page_text: By this
basement of the building by suitable pipes, running either outside the building
or enclosed in brickwork, so as to be protected from the action of fire, in the
event of one occurring in the building, and at the basement I connect this
supply with the vertical columns, which carry the hollow girders.
arrangement, should a fire occur in any compartment of the building, the adjacent
hollow metal supports will become heated, and the water contained therein will
be caused to circulate, a heated stream flowing upward, and cold water taking
its place and absorbing the heat imparted by the fire to the metal. Thus the
temperature of the metal will be effectually kept under, and a discharge of
water on to the exterior of the metal will in no way affect its stability. The
expansion, moreover, of the girders under the action of the fire will be inap-
preciable, and no injury will result from their endway thrust upon the outer
walls.
The brick arches for the fireproof floors should be made of arch fire-bricks,
and laid in dry, as in furnaces generally.
The iron doors for the openings in the walls, or for the separation of different
warehouses, I propose to line with fire bricks. The doors should be recessed
in the walls, and the brick lining brought flush with the walls of the warehouse.
As a further improvement, I propose to use the columns on the different
floors of the warehouse as sources of supply for water, attaching thereto,
branches, which will enable workmen or whoever may be present at the
breaking out of such fire to discharge streams of water at pressure without
delay upon the burning mass.