Factory and Industrial Management Volume 31 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1906 Excerpt: ...removal of both floor and beams. The concrete floors were more successful than those of tile, and not only do they resist the effects of fire well, but the manner in which they are constructed makes them better adapted to withstand the irregular motions caused by earthquakes. Cinder and stone concrete proved their value, particularly the former, both when reinforced by bars and by expanded metal. Partitions of both these substances were wrecked in almost every instance, but where built of terra cotta, the blocks were often available for re-use, whereas when built of concrete the salvage amounted to practically nothing. The action of suspended ceilings in the San Francisco fire was irregular; in some cases they remained intact, while in others they became detached from the beams. Some manufacturers seemed to consider that no covering need be placed about the lower flanges of the beams if the ceiling were suspended from them. Such construction should not be approved, for should the ceilings fail and the fire still continue, there is then no protection to the beams and their failure means the complete loss of the floor system. TYPICAL FAILURE OF SUSPENDED CEILING AND TERRA-COTTA PARTITION. The most important steel members seem to have been the ones that received the least consideration, namely the columns. When a single beam fails it necessitates only the removal of the flooring on each side of it, to the next span of beams, and the beam itself can generally be rerolled and returned to the original position. Not so with a column. If a post buckles or in any other way collapses (and this usually occurs at the lower floors) it either tears the girders connected to it away from their connections, or causes a sag in all the adjacent floor above the injury to the c...