A Modern Apartment House

The low curtain walls under the windows and the wall panels at the end of the building are solid concrete. The wall at the end is built around a stairway. All the stairways in the building are completely enclosed by firewalls, and all openings are provided with automatic fire doors so that each floor is entirely separated from the others. With this protective system the entire con tents of one floor might burn without damaging the stock or machinery in the rest of the building.

Adjoining the main building are two other buildings— the dye house, 39 by 66 feet ; and the engine and boiler house, 50 by 78 feet. The dye house has a perfectly clear floor, as the beams which support the 6-ineh solid con crete roof-slab span from wall to wall, 39 feet clear. These beams arc 15 feet apart. A monitor running the full length of the building rests on them.

The boiler house is divided into two rooms—the engine room, 50 by 30 feet 6 inches; and the boiler room, 50 by 47 feet. Both of these rooms have unbroken floor areas, the engine-room roof-beams spanning across the 30-foot 6-ineh way, while in the boiler room the beams span 50 feet from outside wall to outside wall. The great advantage of large clear floor areas in buildings of this kind, especially in engine rooms, is apparent, as engines, pumps, etc., may be placed anywhere on the floor without regard to the limitations of the structure.

When it is remembered that this building, permanent and fireproof, was erected in only 70 days, the revolution in construction which reinforced concrete has brought about is more forcibly emphasized than ever.

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Cold-Storage Plant. Plate 17 shows at the bottom, a modern cold-storage warehouse and refrigerating plant, approximately 160 by 160 feet, erected entirely of reinforced concrete.

The building has seven full stories and a mezzanine floor in the first story. The first and second floors have solid concrete slabs reinforced with trussed bars in both directions. They are designed for a live load of 330 pounds per square foot. All other floors and the roof are of reinforced concrete and hollow tile, its cheapness and the speed of handling this form of construction de ciding in its favor even after designs for solid concrete floors had been made and accepted.

Every precaution has been taken to insulate the build ing thoroughly. On the tile floors of the storage portion 2 inches of pressed cork is laid; and above this 3 inches of concrete is laid with the surface finished smooth. All interior partition walls are built of two thicknesses of hollow tile with a filling of ground cork between.

The construction of the exterior walls is unique in that there is really a building within a building. Walls of hollow tile were built on each floor, being supported by the floor construction. Outside of these walls and en tirely independent of the reinforced concrete building, except for occasional anchors, another hollow tile wall is carried on cast iron columns and a steel frame. In this way the outside wall and its supporting frame are free to expand and contract with changes of tempera ture, while the inner wall and concrete skeleton will be entirely unaffected.

One portion of the building, 31 by 97 feet, is built entirely independent of the remainder, although the same exterior walls enclose it. This is what is known as the "machinery section," and contains the boilers, engines, and refrigerating machinery. This section has its own reinforced concrete frame carrying the outside walls, and there is an air-space between these walls and those of the main building.

There are no columns above the first floor in the machinery section, the beams supporting the successive floors spanning from wall to wall, giving ample room for the proper arrangement of machinery. In one por tion of this section, two pieces of refrigerating machinery weighing 40 tons each rest on the floor. When these were put in place, careful observation was made to de termine their effect upon the construction; but absolutely none was noticeable.

The two lower stories are veneered with paving brick, while all other exterior walls have a plaster finish applied directly to the tile walls. A terra-cotta belt-course covers the steel skeleton of the outer shell, and a terra-cotta cornice finishes the top of the wall.

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Train Shed. The Bush Train Shed at Scranton, Pa., shown in Plate 18 (at left) illus trates a very interesting application of rein forced concrete. In describing this construc tion, the "Railroad Age Gazette" says: "The Bush train shed consists of longitudinal units meeting over the tracks so as to make a continuous struc ture, except for the narrow openings, or smoke ducts, over the locomotive stacks. The roof is supported on longitudinal rows of columns, 27 feet apart on centers, resting in the reinforced concrete platforms. The trans verse main rafters are continuous between the columns, and form the only breaks in the continuity of the open ings over the smokestacks. The vertical clearance from the top of the rail to the under side of these main rafters at center line of track is 16 feet 6 inches. Framed to these rafters are longitudinal purlins which support the reinforced concrete roof-slabs and the skylights. Be tween the columns are longitudinal girders supporting the inner ends of the intermediate rafters, whose outer ends are riveted to the framework of the smoke-duct purlins. This framework consists of a pair of light, lat ticed purlins. The longitudinal girder between the columns is built up of two channels and a plate, forming a trough, which is lined and sloped with concrete with a surface finish of copper, and serves as a rain-water gutter. The girder is braced at the columns with gusset plate and angles, built up with a curved flange corres ponding to that of the main rafters, so that the four members spring away from each column on harmonious lines. The columns are of cast iron, and the roof frame work of wrought steel. The weight of the metal com plete per square foot of shed area, including columns and anchor bolts, is 20.09 lbs. The roof-slabs are of con crete, in. thick, reinforced with 3-in. No. 10 expanded metal, the finished surface being four-ply slag.