Marvels of Modern Science

y-scraper-Construct

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ception here, particularly in New York and Chicago. The tallest buildings in the world are in New York. The most notable of these, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Building wit

is it possible to erect a sky-scraper at all?

eat girders are placed forming a base for the floor, and then upon the first pillars are raised other steel columns slightly decreased in size, upon which girders are again fixed for the next floor; and so

piers and girders carry the principal weight. If, therefore, everything depends upon these piers, which are often of steel and masonry combined, the immense importance will be seen of basing

would count failure at the very beginning. The formation depends on the height, the calculated weight the frame work will carry, the amount of air pressure, t

arried wholly on steel columns. This concentrates many hundred tons of load and develops pressure which w

ned to a depth of one hundred feet if necessary. In New York the soil is treacherous and difficult, there are undergroun

the middle of these beams deep steel girders are placed on which the columns are erected. The heavy weight is thus spread out by the beams, girders and concrete so as to cause a reduced uniform pressure on the soil. Ceme

rtight steel or wooden boxes with flat tops and no bottoms are set on the pier sites at ground water level and pumped full of compressed air while men enter the

the office furniture and occupants which come under the head of living load. Some engineers take into consideration the pressure of both dead and live loads gauging the strength of the founda

e soil. The aim is to have an equal pressure per square foot of soil at the same time, for all footings, thus insuring an even settlement. The skelet

wind stresses and the walls act as curtains. In the skeleton, the frame carries only the vertical loads and depends upon the

ted together by plates and may be extended to an indefinite

on. If of the cage variety, the walls, as has been said, act as curtains and consequently they are thinner than in the skeleton type of construction. In the latter case the walls

r other materials; they are absolutely fire-proof, they weigh less per cubic foot than any other kind o

hives of industry house at one time several thousand human beings and a panic would entail a fearful calamity, and,

e are easily confined to narrow limits and readily extinguished with the apparatus at hand. Steel columns will not burn, but if exposed to heat of sufficient degree they will warp and bend and probably collapse, therefore they should be protected by heat resisting agents. Nothing

of metal, lathing and plastering. This if well don

left exposed. As most office trimmings are of wood care should be taken that all electric wires are well in

number as the floor area of the latter is 2-1/2 times as great. The engines and dynamos are in the basement and so fixed that their vibrations do not affect the building. As space is always limited in the basements of sky-scrapers direct connected engines and dynamos are generally i

h hot water and steam are utilized. Hot water heating, however, is preferable to steam, as it gives a much steadier heat. The radiators arc proportioned to give an average temperature of 65 degrees F. in each room during the winter months. There are automatic regulati

the dispositions of wastes and the flushing of lavatories tax all the skill of the mechani

tackle a day's work after the exertion of doing so. To climb to the fiftieth story in such a manner would be well-nigh impossible or only possible by relays, and after one would arrive at the top he would be so physically exhausted that both mental and manual endeavor would be out of the question. Therefore the ele

out the tenth floor is reached. They run at a speed of about ten feet per second. There are two types of elevators in general use, one lifting the car by cables from the top, and the other with a hydraulic plunger acti

on the other side of the water to equal the towering triumphs of architectural art on this side. In no country in the world is space at such a premium as in New Y

ription the following data of the two giant str

l in the entire building is 9,200 tons. It has 16 elevators, 5 steam engines, 5 dynamos, 5 boilers and 28 steam pumps. The length of the steam and water piping is 5 miles. The cubical contents of the building comprise 66,950,000 cubic feet, there are 411,000 sq

Italian renaissance style the materials being steel and marble. The Campanile is carried up in the same style and is also of marble. It stands on a base measuring 75 by 83 feet and the architectural treatment is chaste, though severe, but eminently agreeable to the stupendous proportions of the structure. The tower is quite different from that of the Singer Building. It has twelve wall and eight interior columns connected at ev

rrounding country and from the bay it looks like a giant sentinel in white watching the migh