Insurance Engineering Volume 3 (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. 1902 edition. Excerpt: ...proved that the back yard loam was full of iron, which fluxed as soon as subjected to heat. Moral, analyze your loam always or procure good ground fire clay. Loam is capable of very wide definition. Stone.--Although this is an admirable material to use for construction and architectural purposes, it does not resist the action of fierce heat. Very soon it either cracks, shells or calcines, according to the nature of the material. After the great fires of Chicago and Boston it was noticed that the limestones were calcined, the fronts of buildings being in many cases entirely burnt away. The granite sometimes exploded, flying off in fragments or slowly disintegrated to a fine sand; the sandstones stood the heat best, on account of the large amount of silica in their composition. A visit to the scene of the late Paterson fire by an architect from Philadelphia brought out the following report: "One of the first tilings to be observed was the extent to which stones had disintegrated under the heat. Wherever they had been touched by the intense heat they scaled off in large sections and crumbled to dust. Heavy bearing blocks under iron columns had crumbled to pieces in many cases. The heavy granite mullions dividing the basement windows of the City Hall had in some cases been wiped out of existence altogether by the flames." (To be Concluded.) "NATIONAL FIRE PROTECTION ASSOCIATION. EECOGNITION OF THE DEMAND FOR THE STANDARDIZATION OF MATERIALS, DEVICES AND METHODS. HE original forces actuating all projects of moment are usu JL ally either shrouded in mystery or the subject of never ending discussion. Though the organization of the National Fire Protection Association is too recent for the details to be lost, there does not seem to be a...