WHAT IS “FIREPROOF?”

WHAT IS “FIREPROOF?”

Says the New York Commercial Advertiser: "Experiments conducted in Boston to determine the best sound-proof partitions resulted in a recommendation of a so-called quilt, consisting of dry seaweed between two thicknesses of paper, preferably asbestos in a building designed to be fireproof. A plasterboard about one-quarter of an inch thick was also found effective, especially for covering wooden surfaces. It is also a fire-resistent. Perhaps, the most interesting experiments were made with "fireproof" woods. They all burned, but were slower to ignite than unprepared woods. Prof. Charles L. Norton's conclusions arc that, when heated, the prepared wood gives off a gas which makes it more likely to fail to keep burning than an untreated piece of wood; and that, when afire, it gives out less flame, and hence is not as likely to cause fire to spread. It is destroyed by external heat nearly as rapidly as untreated wood. As it is the woodwork and the contents of fireproof buildings which give the intense heat, in some cases reaching the melting point of cast iron (2,300 degrees Fahr.). these experiments are of great value to builders and architects. It was found that the heat in one experiment rose to the melting point of the fusible solder of the automatic sprinkler, which is 160 degrees Fahr., in thirty to sixty seconds, and to the igniting point of fibers and untreated wood, 600 to 1,000 degrees Fahr., in two or three minutes. Prof. Norton concludes: ‘While it may be said to be an added safeguard to use treated wood in tall buildings, it is so slight a safeguard as to be, in my opinion, of questionable value.’ ”

Says the New York Commercial Advertiser: "Experiments conducted in Boston to determine the best sound-proof partitions resulted in a recommendation of a so-called quilt, consisting of dry seaweed between two thicknesses of paper, preferably asbestos in a building designed to be fireproof. A plasterboard about one-quarter of an inch thick was also found effective, especially for covering wooden surfaces. It is also a fire-resistent. Perhaps, the most interesting experiments were made with "fireproof" woods. They all burned, but were slower to ignite than unprepared woods. Prof. Charles L. Norton's conclusions arc that, when heated, the prepared wood gives off a gas which makes it more likely to fail to keep burning than an untreated piece of wood; and that, when afire, it gives out less flame, and hence is not as likely to cause fire to spread. It is destroyed by external heat nearly as rapidly as untreated wood. As it is the woodwork and the contents of fireproof buildings which give the intense heat, in some cases reaching the melting point of cast iron (2,300 degrees Fahr.). these experiments are of great value to builders and architects. It was found that the heat in one experiment rose to the melting point of the fusible solder of the automatic sprinkler, which is 160 degrees Fahr., in thirty to sixty seconds, and to the igniting point of fibers and untreated wood, 600 to 1,000 degrees Fahr., in two or three minutes. Prof. Norton concludes: ‘While it may be said to be an added safeguard to use treated wood in tall buildings, it is so slight a safeguard as to be, in my opinion, of questionable value.’ ”