THE QUESTION OF STEEL BUILDINGS.
'American Contractor'' Chicago in an artkle on titled the "Destruction of Steel Buildings by Fire" indorses the views of FIRE AND WATER on the subject and adds that they point out that the whole intention and design of the modern steel buildings is 'to avoid the possibility of small fires from within resulting in serious damage, and that apartments with arches, floors, and partitions of a fireproof material are a long step towards the accomplishment of this desideratum. The way in w~i1ch a sled structure succumbs to flu action f flanics from liii' 0Ut81(IC has bcuii repeatedly shown. The intense heat, penetrating the thin veneering of brick, or stone, or terra cotta, immediately attacks the steel uprights which form a part of the structural frame. Where these uprights arc of steel the mischief is often more quickly done than where the structural frame is of iron. The uprights are thin and generally liberally perforated with rivet holes, which tend greatly to weaken them under the influence of great heat. They warp and twist until the entire side of the building is thrown out of plumb. The brick or terra cotta veneering, held in place by its own weight and a little mortar, soon falls from its place and the ruin goes rapidly on.”
Cast iron columns too have lately come in for some severe condemnation as a part of the structural work of buildings. Sucb columns are not to be depended upon for structural work, since at any moment they arc apt to
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