IC-NRLF 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
PRICE FIFTY CENTS. 
 
 HOW TO BUILD 
 
 * 
 
 FIREPROOF 
 
 AND 
 
 SLOW-BURNING 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANCIS C. MOORE 
 
 President of the Continental 
 Fire Insurance Co.; Author 
 of How to Build a Home? 
 Water Works and Pipe Dis- 
 tribution; Fire Insurance and 
 Causes of Fires, Etc., Etc. 
 
 THIRD EDITION 
 J899 
 
 PTHE 
 
 NJVERS/TY 
 
 YORK 
 CONTINENTAL PRINT 
 
Insurers or intending Insurers in the CONTINENTAL, are 
 entitled to a copy of any of the publications listed below 
 without charge. Make request through our Agent, or, if he 
 cannot be conveniently reached, write us direct. 
 
 HOW TO BUILD A HOME.- F. C. Moore. 
 
 Suggestions as to safety to health, comfort, convenience and 
 economy, with forms for Architects 1 Agreements, Builders' 
 Contract, etc. 156 pages, cloth, $1.00, paper 50 cents. 
 
 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF AND SLOW-BURNING.-F. C. Moore. 
 
 Suggestions for warehouses, office or mercantile buildings, etc., 
 with directions for construction of fire doors and shutters, 
 132 pages, paper 50 cents. 
 
 PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS FOR ECONOMICAL DWELLINGS, ETC. 
 With forms for contracts with builders, architects, etc. Ap- 
 plying particularly to farm property. 75 pages, with plans, 
 paper 50 cents. 
 
 WATER WORKS AND PIPE DISTRIBUTION.- F. C. Moore. 
 
 For those having in charge erection of water works. Particulars 
 as to best methods of construction of plant, laying of water 
 mains, etc. 38 pages, paper 25 cents. 
 
 MODEL FORM OF BUILDING LAW FOR CITIES. 
 
 Drafted by Commission appointed by N. Y. Legislature. 64 pp. 
 
 FIRE INSURANCE 
 
 An explanation of the principles and methods of the business of 
 fire insurance, and its importance and relation to the community 
 at large. 32 pages, paper. 
 FIRE DOORS AND SHUTTERS. Instructions for Construction. 20pp. 
 
 MODEL FORM OF LOCAL LAW REGULATING CONSTRUCTION OF 
 
 FLUES, ETC. Leaflet. 
 AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER EQUIPMENTS. 
 
 Suggestions for owners of sprinkled risks and others. Leaflet. 
 
 FAULTS OF MANAGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION. 
 
 Suggestions how to guard against fires from gas brackets, ashes, 
 rubbish and carelessness in general. 
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE CO-INSURANCE CLAUSE. Leaflet. 
 
 SAFETY FUND LAW OF NEW YORK STATE. 
 
 Leaflet explaining advantage to policy holders of this law, undei 
 which the CONTINENTAL transacts its business. 
 
 EXPLANATION OF RENT INSURANCE WITH SAMPLE FORMS. 
 If your building burns the rent stops unless you have a rent 
 policy. Leaflet. 
 
 Do you want to know whether Tornado Insurance is worth paying 
 for ? Ask for Tornado circular. - 
 
 A CONTINENTAL Expiration Book helps you keep track of ex- 
 piring insurance. 
 
 THE CONTINENTAL FIRE INSURANCE WANT, 
 
 Principal Office, Continental Building, 46 Cedar St., N. Y. 
 Western Department, Rialto Building, Chicago, Ills. 
 
HOW TO BUILD 
 FIREPROOF 
 
 AND 
 
 SLOW-BURNING 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANCIS C. l^OORE 
 
 President of the Continental 
 Fire Insurance Co.; Author 
 of How to Build a Home; 
 Water Works and Pipe Dis- 
 tribution; Fire Insurance and 
 Causes of Fires, Etc., Etc* 
 
 THIRD EDITION 
 J899 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 NEW YORK 
 CONTINENTAL PRINT 
 
pyright, 1898 and 1899 by 
 v. FRANCIS C. MOORE. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 BY way of preface to the following treatise, I 
 wish to explain that it has been prepared after 
 careful consultation with well-known ex- 
 perts and after observation and study of numerous 
 fires in ' ' fireproof ' ' structures, especially of those 
 which caused losses to my own company. I 
 offer it to property owners who contemplate 
 building, feeling that I can, without immodesty, 
 claim that the suggestions are important and 
 worthy of consideration for the reason stated 
 that they have been revised by competent judges 
 and have already run the gauntlet of expert 
 criticism. 
 
 F. C. M. 
 
 New York, February 1899. 
 
 112888 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF, 
 
 FRANCIS C. MOORE, 
 
 President of the Continental Insurance Co.. N. Y. 
 
 Delegate of New York Board of Fi.-o Underwriters to the Board 
 
 of Examiners of the N. Y. B'ld'g Dep't. 
 
 IT seems advisable, in a treatise of this kind, to 
 state, as premises, certain propositions which 
 might be treated as deductions. Some of them 
 are axiomatic or self-evident, needing no demon- 
 stration, and ought to appeal to any practical 
 mind as being truths, rather illustrated than dem- 
 onstrated by the experience of the past few years. 
 In conformity with this line of treatment, I desire 
 to state by way of premise : 
 
 First. It may be claimed that no construction 
 is fireproof, and that even iron and masonry could 
 with propriety be designated as "slow burning." 
 The iron or steel used in a modern building has, 
 in its time, been smelted in a furnace which pre- 
 sented no greater capacity for running metal into 
 
6 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 pigs than some of our modern buildings, whose in- 
 terior openings from cellar to roof correspond to 
 the chimney of a furnace and the front door to its 
 tuyere. Indeed if a pyrometer could be adjusted 
 during the progress of a fire it would be found 
 to rise quite as high as in any forge. 
 
 Second. GLASS WINDOWS will not preveii I the 
 entrance of flame or heat from a fire in an ex- 
 posing building. It may seem strange that so 
 obvious a proposition should be thought worth 
 stating, and yet to-day more than 75$ of the < 'fire- 
 proof " structures of the country have window 
 openings to the extent of from 40$ to 75$ of the 
 superficial area of each enclosing wall without fire- 
 proof shutters. Heat from a building across a 
 wide street finds ready entrance through windows 
 and the several fireproof floors serve only to hole! 
 ignitible merchandise in the most favorable form 
 of distribution for ignition and combustion, like a 
 great gridiron, to the full force of an outside 
 fire. This was the case in the burning of the 
 Manhattan Bank Building, on Broadway, in New 
 York, and of the Home Building, in Pittsburg. 
 The latter building was full of plate glass windows, 
 16x16 feet. Such buildings are not more capable 
 of protecting their contents than a glass show-case 
 would be. A recent article on the Pittsburg fire 
 in the " Engineering NQWS " aptly expresses this 
 in the following words : i * There seems to be some 
 irony in calling buildings fireproof which opposed 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 7 
 
 hardly anything to a fire from across the street 
 more sturdy than plate glass ! ' ' 
 
 Third. OPENINGS THROUGH FLOORS for stair- 
 ways or elevators, and for gas, water and steam 
 pipes and electric wires, from floor to floor of fire- 
 proof buildings, tend to the spread of flame like 
 so many flues and should be fire -stopped at each 
 story. This fault is more generally overlooked 
 than any other. Ducts for piping, wiring, etc., 
 should never be of wood. In the Mills Building, 
 in New York, a fire, not long since, jumped 
 through two or three floors from the one on which 
 it originated, by means of the passageways for 
 piping, electric wiring, etc., comparatively small 
 ducts, but sufficient for the passage of flame. In 
 one instance, the fire skipped one floor, where it 
 was cut off, and ignited the second floor above. 
 
 Fourth. In view of the fact that it is necessary 
 to cover iron with non-combustible, non-con- 
 ducting material to prevent its ex- 
 posure to fire and consequent ex- 
 pansion, and in view of the fact that 
 all iron-work, except cast-iron, will rust to the 
 point of danger, it is best to use cast-iron for all 
 vertical supports, columns, pillars, etc. It is not 
 advisable, of course, to have floor beams of cast- 
 iron (except in the form of Hodgkinson beams 
 thoroughly tested.) If a floor beam should give 
 way, however, it might not necessarily wreck the 
 building, whereas if a vital column should give 
 
8 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 way a collapse of the entire structure might result. 
 
 At a convention held some years ago in New 
 
 York, at which were present a greater number of 
 
 experts in iron than probably ever 
 Rust met before or since in one room, 
 
 there was not one who contended 
 that cast-iron would rust beyond the harmless 
 incrustation of the thickness of a knife blade, 
 whereas there was not one who did not believe 
 wrought iron would rust to the point of danger ; 
 and there was not one who claimed to know 
 whether steel would or not, each admitting that 
 steel had not been sufficiently tested as to rust to 
 warrant a reliable opinion. If it could be relied 
 upon as rust proof, it would be superior to all 
 other material for fire -proof buildings because of 
 its great strength in proportion to weight. The 
 use of steel in construction is growing, because it 
 is cheaper than wrought-iron, as lighter weights 
 are used for the same strength, but while in some 
 respects superior to wrought iron, some of the 
 prevailing impressions with regard to it are erron- 
 eous. Defects not possible of detection by tests 
 are liable to exist in its structure. Among the 
 first steel beams brought to the city of New York 
 there were instances in which they were actually 
 broken in two by falling from the level of trucks 
 to the pavement, probably due to their having 
 been rolled when too cold, as steel when rolled 
 below a certain temperature becomes brittle. Bet- 
 ter beams are now made. 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 9 
 
 In my opinion, cast-iron colums are superior to 
 steel and more reliable. It is not generally known 
 that American cast-iron is vastly superior to 
 English cast-iron, and will stand a greater strain 
 without breaking. Cast-iron, moreover, will not 
 expand under heat to the same extent as wrought 
 iron and steel, which is another fact in its favor. 
 
 No bearing column should be placed in such a 
 position that it cannot be uncovered and exposed 
 for examination without danger to the structure. 
 One of the ablest architects in New Columns 
 York makes it a rule to fireproof should 
 his columns so that they can be ex- be stri PP ed 
 amined at any time by removing the fireproofing 
 to determine whether rust has invaded their 
 capacity to carry their loads. In my judgment, 
 periodical examinations should be made, from 
 time to time, in this way of all wrought iron or 
 steel columns, as it may happen that a leaky 
 steam or water pipe has worked serious harm. 
 Such a discovery was accidently made in an im- 
 portant New York building. 
 
 Numerous newspaper paragraphs appear, at 
 intervals, which claim that metal stripped of 
 its covering of cement has been found exempt 
 from rust, with the paint intact, Cement as 
 &c., and the fact is cited as evi- a preventive 
 dence that cement is a preserva- 
 tive of iron and that the danger of rust is over- 
 estimated. It is probable that cement will protect 
 
10 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 paint for a long time and, of course, paint, if 
 properly put on, will protect iron while the oil in 
 it lasts. Painting, by the way, should be done 
 with the best quality of linseed oil and without 
 the use of turpentine, benzine or dryers. It 
 should be thoroughly applied in three coats, with 
 about a gallon to 400 square feet, but the iron 
 should first be thoroughly cleaned of rust and 
 dirt, by pickling or other process. Paint is rarely 
 properly applied, however, and even when of the 
 best quality, is a preservative of the metal, as 
 already stated, only so long as the oil in it lasts. * 
 
 Those who claim to have evidence of the ex- 
 emption of iron from rust rely, I think it. will be 
 found, upon iron which has been under excep- 
 tionally favorable conditions, free from damp- 
 ness, the action of gases, etc., overlooking the 
 fact that a leaking water pipe or steam pipe, or 
 the escape of gases from boiler furnaces, will 
 attack iron and gradually but surely consume it. 
 A notable instance of this is the case of the plate 
 girder of the Washington Bridge over the Boston 
 & Albany Railroad, in Boston, where a quarter 
 inch plate girder was recently found to be entirely 
 consumed in places from the operation of gases 
 from the locomotives passing below. 
 
 It is quite common to have advocates of 
 wrought iron cite railroad bridges and the ele- 
 vated railroad structures of New York as proof of 
 their claims, but if they will take the trouble to 
 
 *It should not be applied in damp weather but only when 
 the metal surface is perfectly dry. 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPKOOF. 11 
 
 examine these structures they will discover that, 
 in spite of the fact that they are exposed to view, 
 so that they can be painted frequently, the evi- 
 dences of rust are unmistakable, especially about 
 the rivets ; and one can well imagine what would 
 be the result in the case of riveted iron members 
 in the skeleton structure of a building where 
 such ironwork is entirely concealed from view, 
 periodical inspections being impossible. 
 
 Rust is especially liable in the cellars and 
 basements of buildings. The wrought iron fric- 
 tion brakes of freight elevators in the cellars of 
 stores, for example, are frequently found so con- 
 sumed with rust as to be easily rubbed to pieces 
 in the hand. 
 
 STEEL RIVETS are dangerous and they should 
 never be used, unless of a very superior quality, 
 so soft that hammering will not crystalize the 
 material and yet with sufficient tensile strength 
 to insure perfect holding qualities. This is diffi- 
 cult to secure. Their use in columns for buildings 
 is objectionable, as they rust badly under certain 
 conditions. The beam bearing bracket shelf on 
 cast-iron columns, should be cast in one piece with 
 the column and the beams should be bolted to 
 the columns to secure rigidity. 
 
 EXPANSION OF IRON. 
 
 It is generally supposed and frequently stated 
 that there is a great difference between the ex- 
 pansion of iron and masonry by heat. This is 
 
12 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 not the case. For example, the length of a bar 
 which at 32 degrees is represented by 1, at 212 
 degrees would be represented as follows : 
 Cast Iron, 1.0011 
 
 Wrought Iron, 1.0012 
 Cement, 1.0014 
 
 Granite, 1.0007 
 
 Marble, 1.0011 
 
 Sandstone, 1.0017 
 
 Brick 1.0005* 
 
 Fire-brick, 1.0005 
 
 In the fireproof building of the Western Union 
 Telegraph Company in New York, some years 
 ago, a heavy brick pier, seven or eight feet in 
 diameter, adjoined the wall of the boiler fur- 
 naces. The difference in expansion in the brick- 
 work next to this furnace wall as compared with 
 that of the remaining brickwork of the pier, was 
 so great as to produce a crushing of the material 
 from top to bottom of the pier, for a depth of 
 several inches, and it was found necessary to 
 change the furnace wall and leave an air space 
 between it and the pier. 
 
 CONDUCTIVITY. 
 
 While the difference in expansion between 
 
 masonry and iron incorporated with it is less 
 
 per running foot than is generally supposed and 
 
 while the difference in expansion 
 
 Expansion between a cubic foot of iron and 
 
 that of a cubic foot of masonry 
 
 would hardly be noticeable, especially if the iron 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 13 
 
 were covered on all four sides ; yet in stretches 
 of 50 feet or more, as in the case of iron I-beams 
 and girders, the cumulative effect of expansion 
 in uncovered iron might be a serious matter 
 quite sufficient, with the rises of temperature due 
 to a burning building, to push out the bearing 
 walls and wreck the building. Especially is this 
 true of temperatures higher than 500 degrees. 
 It is unnecessary to suggest that metal differs 
 from masonry in the important respect that heat 
 does not travel throughout the entire length of 
 the latter, while it does in the case of metal. 
 
 In other words, while the difference between 
 the expansion of a lineal foot of iron as compared 
 with a lineal foot of masonry, marble, brick, etc., 
 is very slight, the difference in conductivity is 
 very great. The conducting power of silver, for 
 example, being represented by 1, copper would 
 be .845, cast-iron .359, gold .981, marble .024 and 
 brick .01 an important fact to be considered in 
 the construction of buildings. Brickwork raised 
 to a white heat would not raise the temperature 
 of other masonry in the same wall a few feet 
 away, but one end of an iron I-beam could not 
 be raised to a white heat without raising the tem- 
 perature of the beam for its entire length. 
 
 It is a well-known fact that iron responds so 
 readily to temperature that in surveying land, a 
 surveyor's one hundred foot iron chain will, in 
 measuring the distance of a mile, result in a vari- 
 
14 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 ation of five feet between winter temperature and 
 summer temperature, resulting in an error of one 
 acre in every 533. Of course atmospheric rises 
 of temperature would not affect the protected 
 structural iron in a building. 
 
 PROVISION" FOR EXPANSION. 
 
 Where iron beams and girders are inserted in 
 walls without sufficient space left for their ex- 
 pansion under heat they are almost certain to 
 overthrow the bearing walls by their expansion 
 thrust. A large warehouse in Vienna in which 
 such provision had been contemplated by the ar- 
 chitect was totally destroyed, with its contents, 
 by reason of the fact that an officious subordinate, 
 discovering the space in the wall purposely left 
 at the end of each beam, deliberately poured 
 liquid cement therein, which, having set, effectu- 
 ally thwarted the well meant intention of the ar* 
 chitect, and resulted in the destruction of the 
 building. 
 
 The expansion thrust of iron beams may be 
 computed upon the following factor of expansion : 
 rolled iron of a length of 1562 feet will expand 
 one-eighth of an inch for every degree of temper- 
 ature. The heat of a burning building as already 
 stated is enormous sufficient to fuse most known 
 materials; it may safely be estimated to be at 
 least 1000 degrees ; therefore a length of rolled 
 iron of 1562 feet at 1000 degrees of temperature 
 would expand about 125 inches, and a 50-foot 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 15 
 
 length of iron girder would expand between four 
 and five inches, showing that there should be a 
 play at each end of at least two inches if the iron 
 is not fireproofed. Inasmuch as in iron con- 
 struction the iron beams and girders are usually 
 anchored to the walls to steady them, the space 
 should be left and the tie to the anchor should 
 be by a movable hinge joint, which would be of 
 the same strength with an inflexible anchor for 
 all tying purposes but would yield under the 
 thrust pressure like an elbow and allow play of 
 the beam, or stiff anchors should have elongated 
 holes to allow expansion when beams are of great 
 length. Girders are seldom over 25 feet long, 
 but if bolted together, as is frequently the case, 
 they may be 120 feet or more long, and a line of 
 columns from cellar to roof of a building may 
 easily have one continuous iron structure of two 
 hundred or more feet. It should be remembered, 
 however, that this danger from the expansion of 
 iron may be almost wholly counteracted by pro- 
 tecting it from exposure to fire through the use 
 of non-conducting material. It is more impor- 
 tant to protect girders than beams. 
 
 The mistaken pride with which the owners of 
 some buildings point to exposed iron beams in 
 ceilings as evidence that the floors are "fire- 
 proof," actually justifying the supposition that 
 they are left exposed for such display, would be 
 ludicrous if it were not serious. In buildings 
 
16 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 occupied for offices or dwellings, where there is 
 not sufficient combustible material to endanger 
 the beams, it is not so objectionable; but in 
 warehouses and stores, filled with merchandise, 
 such construction is dangerous ; and if one of 
 the upper floors should give way it would come 
 hammering down to carry all below and thorough- 
 ly wreck the structure. 
 
 In this connection it is well to say that com- 
 bustible merchandise should never be stored one 
 hundred feet above the street grade even in a 
 fireproof building, since the average fire depart- 
 ment cannot reach it at that height. 
 
 Fifth. The roof, that portion of a building 
 
 which ought to be most carefully watched during 
 
 construction, is often the most neg- 
 
 Roof lected, woodwork entering into 
 
 its composition. In the case of 
 
 the Home Building, at Pittsburg, the cornice 
 
 was supported on wooden outriggers. 
 
 Sixth. PARTITIONS. These should not be erec- 
 ted upon wooden sills, as is sometimes the case 
 only, however, with ignorant and inexperienced 
 architects, who suppose that it is necessary to 
 use wood in order to nail baseboards and other 
 trim at the bottom of the partition. Porous 
 terra cotta will hold nails and should be used in 
 preference to wood, which as soon as it burns out 
 will let down the entire partition. 
 
 Seventh: All buildings over 75 feet high 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIKEPRROF. 17 
 
 should be provided with. 4 -inch or, better still, 
 6-inch vertical pipes, with Siamese connections at 
 the street, for the use of the fire 
 department, extending to the roof, stand a ^ es 
 with outlets for hose at each story 
 and on the roof. This would save the time of 
 carrying hose to upper floors a difficult task in 
 the case of high buildings. Ample tanks of water 
 should be provided on the roof supported by pro- 
 tected iron beams resting on iron templates on the 
 brick walls, to supply the building's inside pipe 
 system for fire extinction, and secure pressure by 
 gravity or by some other method constantly oper- 
 ative, especially on holidays and at night. Stone 
 templates should not be used, and care should be 
 taken to secure strong supports so that, in the 
 event of fire below, the tanks will not come 
 crashing through the building to destroy it and 
 endanger the lives of firemen. Two such disas- 
 ters in fireproof buildings within a year show how 
 true is this proposition. Tanks in the basement 
 under air pressure are also a great advantage and 
 recent invention has perfected them to the point 
 of reliability. 
 
 Fire Marshal Swenie, of Chicago, urges that 
 stand-pipes should not be less than six inches in- 
 ternal diameter, and that a check valve should be 
 provided so that, when steamers are attached, 
 their force will be added to that of the local 
 pumps. Each floor should have hose connections 
 
18 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 with, the stand pipes and sufficient hose to reach 
 to the most remote point of the floor above, and 
 this hose should be frequently inspected to see 
 that it is in order. He recommends that a code 
 of signals by which communication can be estab- 
 lished between the firemen and the engineer of 
 the building is essential. 
 
 Eighth. All high buildings should have con- 
 stantly present, night and day, some competent 
 person understanding the elevator 
 
 Night , . 
 
 watchman machinery, fire appliances, etc. , so 
 
 as to aid the firemen in reaching 
 
 the upper levels ; and there should be sufficient 
 
 steam in the boilers, at all times, to run one 
 
 elevator. 
 
 I quote from the valuable treatise on handling 
 fires in these buildings presented by Fire Marshal 
 Swenie to the International Association of Fire 
 Engineers held in August 1897. He says : 
 
 'In case the elevators fail it is necessary to use the stairway, 
 and after the truck men should follow the pipe men bearing the 
 necessary hose, and this must be carried on the shoulders of the 
 men. A 50-foot section of ordinary 2j^-inch cotton hose with 
 couplings weighs from 56 to 60 pounds, and 250 feet of 1 J4^-inch 
 rope about 65 pounds, either of which is a good load for a man 
 who must climb a steep stairway to the height of 250 feet. With 
 an average rise of seven inches per step, that means taking some 
 430 vertical steps before reaching the scene of action and con- 
 suming from seven to ten minutes of time. If it is found necess- 
 ary to use hose instead of the standpipes for taking the water 
 from the street to the floor the hose should be taken up in the ele- 
 vator, if it is running, and then lowered until connection is made 
 with the hose below." 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 19 
 
 N in th. Marble, slate and other stones, are cer- 
 tain to disintegrate or crumble when subjected 
 to the joint action of heat and 
 water. For this reason, ninety per 
 cent of the staircases in modern 
 fireproof buildings would be found utterly un- 
 reliable in the event of fire, either for the escape 
 of the inmates or for the use of firemen a serious 
 consideration. Stone treads are usually let into 
 iron frames, being supported around their edges 
 by a bearing of about half an inch on shallow 
 rabbets in the strings and risers and as the stone 
 treads would give way and fall through in case of 
 fire, it would be impossible for a person to find a 
 footing on the stairways. Two -inch oak treads 
 might actually last longer ; but a safer staircase 
 would be one with a frame work of iron, having 
 an iron web or gridiron pattern tread to support 
 the stone or slate, the interstices or openings 
 being small enough to prevent the passage of a 
 foot, so that if the stone tread should disen- 
 tegrate, the staircase would still remain passable. 
 
 It is possible to have the supporting tread of 
 open-work wrought-iron in an ornamental pattern 
 which, in relief against the white marble tread 
 resting on it, would present a tasteful appearance 
 from the underside or soffit of the staircase, with 
 this great advantage that, in the event the action 
 of fire and water should pulverize the marble or 
 
20 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 slate tread, it would still afford a safe support for 
 the foot. In the case of the burning of the two 
 fireproof buildings, Temple Court and the Man- 
 hattan Savings Bank, in New York, the slate 
 treads yielded early in the fire, leaving staircases 
 with openings the full size of the tread, which, 
 within a few minutes after the fire started, were 
 impassable either for firemen or inmates. It 
 is astounding that this vital fault should be so 
 generally overlooked in fireproof buildings. 
 
 I may here state that the Manhattan Savings 
 Bank building did not deserve to be called ' ' fire- 
 proof " for the reason that it had hollow spaces 
 under the wooden fioor boards and that the iron 
 beams and girders were not protected. Some of 
 them were large, riveted, box girders, which 
 yielded quickly to the heat of burning goods and 
 pushed out the side walls. 
 
 It is generally supposed that it is not necessary 
 to be careful as to stone treads in buildings occu- 
 pied solely for offices separated in fireproof hall- 
 ways in which, it is claimed, there is nothing to 
 burn; but in the case of one large fireproof 
 building of this kind in New York I found the 
 space under the staircase in the basement story, 
 was used to store the waste paper and rubbish of 
 the building material particularly likely to 
 cause a fire by concealed matches, oily waste, 
 cigar or cigarette stumps, etc., and to make a 
 lively and quick fire quite sufficient to destroy 
 stone staircase treads. Even where there is no 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 21 
 
 combustible material in the hallway, if the stair- 
 case is near windows, stone treads may be de- 
 stroyed by exposure to burning buildings and by 
 the combustion of window frames, dadoes, wain- 
 scotes and other wooden trim. 
 
 Tenth. No building should exceed in height 
 the width of the street on which it is located, from 
 the viewpoint of light and health; nor in any 
 case, in excess of 100 feet for mercantile occu- 
 pancy, nor a height in excess of 200 feet for office 
 occupancy. 
 
 Eleventh. It should be remembered that mer- 
 chandise, furniture, etc., are combustible, no 
 matter whether located in fireproof 
 buildings or in ordinary buildings. 
 This obvious fact seems generally 
 to be ignored. In fact combustible material may 
 sometimes be more effectually and thoroughly 
 destroyed in a fireproof building than in an ordi- 
 nary building, since the early collapse of the 
 latter may smother the fire and effect salvage, 
 whereas fireproof fioors support the contents of 
 the former and distribute them so that they are 
 more certain to be destroyed. There was not a 
 dollar of salvage in the large stock of merchan- 
 dise in the Home Building, at Pittsburg. The 
 entire household furniture of a tenant in one of 
 the best fireproof apartment houses in New York 
 was totally cremated; and a fire in the Great 
 Northern "fireproof" Hotel, at Chicago, serious- 
 ly burned the automatic organ to the extent of 
 
22 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 over $4,000. There is no more reason why the 
 combustible contents of a fire-proof building 
 shonld not be consumed than why the fuel in 
 a stove should not be burned. 
 
 Twelfth. ENCLOSING WALLS. These should 
 be of brick, the brick work of the lower stories 
 especially, if not of all, being laid in cement 
 mortar. In fact the specifications for a building 
 in the compact part of the mercantile section of 
 a city ought to be drawn in contemplation of the 
 possible cremation of its contents and the gener- 
 ation of heat considerably greater than 2,000 
 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat of a wood fire is 
 from 800 to 1140 degrees ; charcoal, about 2200 ; 
 coal, about 2400. Cast-iron will melt at between 
 1900 and 2800 degrees. Wrought iron 3000 to 
 3500 ; Steel, 2400 to 2600. 
 
 If an architect should be required to draw 
 specifications for a building adjoining others, with 
 the knowledge beforehand that its entire con- 
 tents, from cellar to roof, were to be totally con- 
 sumed, and he were under a bond to pay damages 
 to surrounding property, he would not be more 
 severe in his exactions than should a building 
 law protecting neighborhood rights in the enjoy- 
 ment of property ; for a mercantile or manufac- 
 turing building sometimes generates a greater 
 heat in combustion than a smelting furnace. 
 
 If the architect of a building were actually de- 
 signing a structure which could safely cremate 
 
JIOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 23 
 
 its own contents, how different would be the 
 nature of the device from the flimsy buildings 
 which form the larger portion of our great cities ! 
 When it is borne in mind that where one such 
 building gives way, it follows, as a matter of 
 course the next on either side being no more 
 substantial than the first that a conflagration 
 must ensue, the wonder is, not that we have so 
 many sweeping fires in the cities of this country 
 but, that each city is not in turn destroyed, block 
 by block. It is a high tribute to the efficiency of 
 American Firemen that such conflagrations as 
 those of Chicago and Boston are not disasters of 
 annual occurrence, as they would be but for such 
 fire fighters as Bonner of New York and Swenie 
 of Chicago. It is criminal to erect buildings 
 which endanger the valuable lives of such men 
 when a few dollars spent in fireproofing iron 
 work would save them. 
 
 Every unsafe building is a death trap for heroic 
 men and the owner who deliberately and know- 
 ingly erects one should be held responsible for 
 loss of life. It is safe to assert that every building 
 occupied for mercantile or manufacturing pur- 
 poses, with naked iron columns, is a fire trap. 
 
 Having stated these premises, some of which 1 
 have claimed are self-evident, I will proceed to 
 consider, as briefly as possible, without going too 
 much into detail, those features of construction 
 which observation has taught me are most im- 
 portant. 
 
SUMMARY OF IMPORTANT POINTS. 
 
 IT is hardly necessary to deal with the founda- 
 tions of buildings. The question is an en- 
 gineering problem which does not require sug- 
 gestions from a fire standpoint, and I shall not 
 deal with it here, other than to 
 touch again upon the important Foundation 
 point of not having wrought iron 
 or steel columns in the cellar or basement, where 
 moisture and gas conditions would increase the 
 danger of rust. 
 
 ENCLOSING WALLS. 
 
 These, as already stated, should be of brick, 
 the lower stories laid in cement mortar, not less 
 than 16 inches thick at the top of the building 
 and increasing 4 inches in thickness for every 25 
 feet in height to the bottom. This would require 
 a 44-inch wall at the grade for a 200 foot building. 
 The thicknesses here recommended are for build- 
 ings not exceeding 100 feet in depth. If they 
 exceed this depth without curtain or cross walls, 
 
26 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 or proper piers or buttresses, the walls sliould be 
 increased in thickness four inches for every ad- 
 ditional 100 feet in length. 
 
 Brick is the best known resistant of fire. Stone 
 yields readily to the combined effect of heat and 
 water, and even terra cotta or burned clay tile 
 cannot be regarded as a perfect substitute for 
 hard burned brick. 
 
 Under no circumstances should the iron frame 
 work of a skeleton building be incorporated in 
 thin enclosing walls. No wall that has not a 
 cross section sufficient to support itself without 
 the ironwork, should be allowed, aside from the 
 importance of having it thick enough to prevent 
 the passage of hot air from an adjoining building. 
 
 Curtain walls for enclosing walls, supported by 
 the longitudinal members of skeleton construc- 
 tion are objectionable ; they are liable to be 
 buckled out by the expansion of the framework. 
 The great trouble with modern fireproof struc- 
 tures, even under the New York Building Law, 
 is that while the separating fireproof floors tend 
 to prevent the passage of fiame from one story to 
 another, the enclosing walls are often insufficient 
 to prevent heat from igniting the contents of an 
 adjoining building, so that what is gained by 
 preventing the spread of fire vertically is lost 
 laterally. 
 
 It should be borne in mind that the thickness 
 of walls herein recommended is not for carrying 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 27 
 
 capacity as bearing walls. Thinner walls would 
 answer for that purpose. It is intended to con- 
 fine the heat generated by a fire and should be 
 required in the compact portions of cities, where 
 every man should be compelled to build with 
 reference to the safety of his neighbor. 
 
 Architects and builders generally seem to have 
 in mind only the carrying capacity of walls and 
 to lose sight of this important fact. 
 
 As the floors and contents of a mercantile 
 building burn they sink to the bottom, where 
 enormously high temperatures are reached, and 
 it is for this reason that walls should increase in 
 thickness as they approach the bottom, on the 
 same principle that the walls of smelting furnaces 
 are thicker at the bottom than at the top. Fire- 
 proof floors are not apt to give way, however. 
 
 It is the generally accepted opinion that a 12- 
 inch brick wall will prevent the passage of fire, 
 but a much thicker wall may fail to confine the 
 heat of a burning building sufficiently to prevent 
 the ignition of combustible merchandise or other 
 material in an adjoining building. In a fire 
 which occurred in Boston, several years ago, 
 combustible material was ignited through a 
 three-foot wall, which became so hot as to con- 
 duct the heat into the adjoining building. In 
 an isolated location an owner might be permitted 
 to construct his walls with reference only to 
 their carrying capacity, but where he builds in 
 
28 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 the compact part of a city, storing combustible 
 materials from cellar to roof, lie should be re- 
 quired so to build that a fire in his premises will 
 not necessarily destroy his neighbor's property. 
 He may well observe a regulation which, in view 
 of the fact that the buildings of his neighbors 
 outnumber his own a thousand to one, will en- 
 sure that he will be, in that proportion, the 
 gainer by rules which secure the safety of all 
 though imposed on himself. 
 
 I do not believe "skeleton construction" so 
 called should be permitted for stores, warehouses 
 or manufactories in cities, as the walls are not 
 thick enough to confine the heat of burning mer- 
 chandise. 
 
 In some of our western cities, Detroit, Chicago, 
 etc., the practice is growing of using hollow 
 tiling, bonded like ordinary brickwork, 12 inches 
 thick, for enclosing walls, instead of brick, the 
 exposed steel frame being protected by terra 
 cotta slabs about an inch thick. Such a building 
 would burn more quickly than an ordinary 
 wooden joisted building properly constructed. 
 The Leonard Building, in Detroit, destroyed by 
 fire October 7th, 1897, was an example of the 
 great danger of this style of construction. It was 
 ten stories high, and as fast as the columns or 
 wall girders were warped by the heat the tiling 
 dropped out like loose bricks, leaving the entire 
 structure after the fire a ragged cage-work of iron 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 29 
 
 with very little of the tiling on the enclosing 
 walls and none of the floors intact. The contents 
 were, of course, totally destroyed. 
 
 PIERS, BOND STONES, ETC. 
 
 Bond stones should not be allowed in piers 
 vital to the building or carrying great weights, 
 especially in the cellar or basement.* Stone 
 yields readily and quickly to the combined 
 eifects of water and heat and, disintegrating at 
 its edges, gradually releases the bricks above it, 
 so as, in time, to destroy the integrity of the pier. 
 Bond stones are employed by the mason to steady 
 his work. A green brick pier while being laid is 
 frequently unsteady, and a bond stone enables 
 him to progress with his work by steadying all 
 below it so as to receive new courses of brick. In 
 all cases the bond should be a cast-iron plate. 
 If the plate should be cast with holes through it 
 about 1-J inches in diameter, so that the mortar 
 and cement can thoroughly incorporate the plate 
 with the masonry above and below, it would be 
 an improvement. Wrought iron is liable to rust 
 and should not be used. Where bond stones are 
 used in the outer walls of buildings they are less 
 objectionable, but for inside piers they are so 
 dangerous that they ought to be prohibited by 
 law. Strangely enough, only stone for bonds was 
 formerly required by the New York building 
 law, and such was the opposition of the stone men 
 
 *See Cammeyer Building fire, pages 86 and 87. 
 
30 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 to the prohibition of bond stones altogether, (when 
 later it was proposed,) that a compromise was 
 reached allowing the use of cast-iron bonds as an 
 alternative of stone bonds an option seldom 
 availed of by architects, builders or owners, how- 
 ever, and construed generally by the public to 
 mean that either is good enough. 
 
 STONE PILLARS. 
 
 It not unfrequently happens that a building 
 of otherwise admirable construction has its weak- 
 est point in the cellar, where stone pillars form 
 the support for the entire line of columns through 
 the building. In case of fire and the application 
 of water these stone pillars, no matter how sub- 
 stantial, whether monoliths or stone blocks, will 
 disintegrate and bring down the entire structure. 
 After the great Boston fire, granite piers were 
 shoveled up and carted away like so much sand. 
 It is quite a common practice, and a most dan- 
 gerous one, to employ single stone columns, often 
 of polished granite, to support the centre of a 
 long stone lintel carrying the wall over an orna- 
 mental entrance. Such a column would surely 
 yield to the effect of fire and water and perhaps 
 let down the entire front. In almost every city 
 such faulty architecture may be observed. 
 
 The American Exchange Bank, on Broadway, N. Y., re- 
 cently torn down to give place to a modern, fireproof structure, 
 had a ceiling of carved stone in large squares, supported on the 
 flanges of iron beams. This would have yielded quickly to the 
 heat of fire and water, endangering the lives of firemen or em- 
 ployes. The building was claimed to be fireproof and illustrates 
 prevailing ignorance as to the danger of stone as a building 
 material in a city noted for its knowledge of safe construction. 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 31 
 
 The writer passes every day a costly structure 
 in New York whose corner is supported by a 
 granite monolith column of this kind. If stone 
 columns are desired for architectural effect 
 they should, wherever they carry heavy loads, 
 contain a centre column of cast-iron of sufficient 
 carrying capacity to support the superimposed 
 weight. 
 
 CAST-IRON VERTICAL SUPPORTS. 
 
 The vertical supports, columns, pillars, etc., as 
 already stated, should be of cast-iron, cylindrical 
 in form, of liberal thickness, especially in the 
 lower stories, thoroughly tested as to sand holes, 
 thin places, from " floating cores," etc. Cast- 
 iron columns should be round, and not square. 
 In the former shape there is less likelihood of de- 
 fects in casting, sand holes, etc., which prevent 
 uniform sound thickness of shell. The columns 
 should be planed to smooth bearings, so that the 
 entire system from the foundation to the roof, 
 may be securely bolted together and form a 
 continuous line with joints for expansion and 
 without any inequalities of bearings. Under no 
 circumstances should wedges or "shims"* be 
 allowed. This most important matter is often 
 neglected. The flanges and corbel brackets for 
 supporting beams should be cast in one piece 
 with the column and not depend upon rivets or 
 bolts. Rivets, aside from the danger of shearing 
 
 *" Shims" are pieces of slate or iron inserted to secure a 
 true vertical where the two surfaces have not been properly 
 leveled or planed. 
 
 BRAft^ 
 
 OF THE 
 
32 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 strains, are almost certain to rust to the point of 
 danger. The beams should be bolted to lugs on 
 the columns, however, as a tie between the side 
 walls, holding the entire structure firmly and 
 consistently together as one rigid whole and yet 
 with play for expansion. 
 
 Col. Geo. B. Post of New York has devised a 
 form of cast-iron cage construction consisting of 
 pillars and floor beams of the Hodgkinson pattern 
 the members of which lock into each other, 
 without the use of bolts or rivets, forming a 
 very rigid construction and saving the cost of 
 mechanics for bolt and rivet work. While I have 
 not had an opportunity to examine it, I have 
 great faith in his judgment ; my impression, from 
 his description of it, is that it would be very rigid 
 construction and admirably adapted to ware- 
 houses six and seven stories high. Above this 
 height merchandise should not be stored in any 
 kind of a building. 
 
 The factors of safety, in computing strains, 
 should not be less than those prescribed by the 
 standard modern authorities. It is better to be 
 sure than sorry. 
 
 All iron work, columns and pillars, beams and 
 
 girders, should be fireproof ed, i. e., covered with 
 
 at least four inches of incombus- 
 
 Fireproofing tible material terra cotta Qr brick, 
 iron members 
 
 At the floor, and for a height of 
 four feet in mercantile buildings, a metal guard 
 should be provided to prevent the column from 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 33 . 
 
 being stripped by collisions with rolling trucks 
 for moving merchandise. It light to be un- 
 necessary to suggest that wooden lagging should, 
 under no circumstances, be used to protect the 
 iron, were it not for the fact that in one of the 
 largest and most costly dry-goods stores in New 
 York, the fireproof covering of the iron columns, 
 which had been seriously damaged by trucks, was 
 being systematically removed in order to substi- 
 tute wooden lagging, when the fault was, for- 
 tunately, detected by an inspector of the under- 
 writers. Thick hardwood cleats showing the 
 plaster behind might answer as fenders or guards. 
 Four inches of good brickwork is a good covering, 
 but porous terra cotta or even wire lath and plaster 
 may prove effective. Where wire lath and plaster 
 is used the column should first be wrapped with a 
 quarter- inch thickness of asbestos bound with 
 wire. This would prove reliable and inexpensive. 
 It is a fact, showing how common is the neglect 
 to cover iron with non-conducting material, that 
 in the New York State Capitol, in the library, 
 is a large plate girder entirely exposed. This 
 girder supports the ceiling beams, and there is 
 enough combustible material in the oak book- 
 cases, furniture and flooring to wreck this por- 
 tion of the building by expansion in case of 
 their combustion. The ceiling of the Senate 
 chamber is of heavy hard wood attached to the 
 soffits of the iron beams, and they would if ignited, 
 probably warp and expand the beams to a dan- 
 
34 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 gerous point. The New York Building Law was 
 enacted in this building. 
 
 A notable instance showing the necessity of 
 protecting ironwork with incombustible material, 
 and the danger of expansion in long lines of iron 
 girders or beams was that of the destruction of a 
 fireproof spinning mill at Burnley, England, re- 
 cently. This mill was 210 feet long by 120 feet 
 wide. Six cast-iron girders of the Hodgkinson 
 type, each 20 feet long, spanned the 120 feet 
 width, being bolted to cast-iron columns and 
 carrying, in turn, cross girders of wrought iron. 
 The expansion of these 120-foot girders (they 
 were unprotected) resulted in the disruption of 
 the floor and the destruction of the mill. The 
 cast-iron columns, being unprotected, collapsed 
 under fire and water. The floors were 10' 6" bays. 
 As already stated, beams should not be spaced 
 over five feet on centres. Wider spacing results 
 in weak arches, liable to be buckled out by heat 
 or punched through by the falling of safes or of 
 other heavy articles from upper floors. 
 
 The probability is that if the 20-foot girders in 
 this building had been arranged with provision 
 for expansion, and all the ironwork had been 
 thoroughly protected with fireproof material, 
 little damage would have been done. The effect 
 would have been more rapid if the floors had been 
 loaded with combustible merchandise. There 
 was little wood to burn in the contents of the 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIKEPEOOF. 35 
 
 spinning mill, and yet the destruction was 
 thorough. Such buildings with uncovered iron 
 work are more dangerous than those of heavy 
 wood construction, in which the timbers are 
 twelve inches in diameter. A properly construc- 
 ted building with protected iron, however, is, of 
 course, superior to any other form of building. 
 Experienced firemen are afraid to enter buildings 
 supported by iron columns unless they are thor- 
 oughly fireproofed, as they are liable to snap 
 without warning under the influence of fire and 
 water, whereas wooden posts burn slowly and 
 give notice of collapse. They will stand a severe 
 fire without being charred for more than two 
 inches of their surface. 
 
 BEAMS AND GIRDERS. 
 
 In mercantile buildings and factories, beams, 
 as already stated, ought not to be spaced more 
 than five feet apart, no matter what kind of arch 
 is employed ; and while many experts claim that 
 a heavy iron I-beam, thoroughly encased in fire- 
 proof material on three sides and having only its 
 soffit or underside exposed, would not be ex- 
 panded enough by the heat of a fire to cause its 
 collapse, it is best to take no chances but to pro- 
 tect the underside with fireproof material, which 
 can be cheaply applied with wire lath and plaster 
 or by having the skewbacks of the terra cotta floor 
 fillings extend below the soffit or bottom flange of 
 
36 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 the beam, and made with lips for protecting the 
 iron. 
 
 TIE-RODS. 
 
 It is a mistake, in my judgment, to dispense 
 with tie-rods, even with the kinds of arches 
 which employ wire cables or other metal tie3. 
 The claim is made that these act as tie-rods, but 
 it should be remembered that they cannot be re- 
 lied on during construction, when derricks for 
 hoisting iron beams and other materials are 
 resting on the girders. Dangerous lateral move- 
 ments and twistings of the structure may be the 
 result of want of rigidity which, at this stage, 
 can only be secured by tie-rods. 
 
 MATERIAL FOR ARCHES BETWEEN BEAMS. 
 
 It is my opinion but there are many who en- 
 tertain a different one that the old-fashioned 
 brick arch is the most reliable for resisting fire ; 
 that next to this in safety stands the porous, 
 terra cotta, segmental arch, with end construction, 
 i. e., the blocks or separate pieces placed end to 
 end between the beams, instead of side by side in 
 what is known as "side construction." This is 
 said to be stronger than side construction. It is 
 claimed by many experts that porous terra cotta 
 is a better non-conductor than brick on account 
 of its interior air spaces. The arch should not be 
 less than four inches thick, having a rise of at 
 least li inches to each foot of span between the 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIKEPKOOF. 37 
 
 beams, and there should be a covering of good 
 Portland cement and gravel concrete over this 
 to ensure a waterproof floor. Cinder filling will 
 burn crushed slag from blast furnaces is better 
 but the Portland cement concrete should not be 
 omitted for water-proofing purposes. 
 
 There are many patent floor arches for filling 
 between I-beams which have great merit when 
 properly put in, but I doubt if any of them are 
 equal to the two I have named, and it should 
 always be borne in mind that when employed 
 they should be inserted with the same care with 
 which they are prepared for tests. This is almost 
 equally true, however, as regards brick and burnt 
 clay arches, also. There is less likelihood of poor 
 installation work, however, with brick arches or 
 segmental arches of porous terra cotta or burnt 
 clay. Arches should be laid in cement not lime 
 mortar. They should not be laid in ^freezing 
 weather, and where concrete is used the broken 
 stone or gravel should be carefully washed and 
 the cement should be of the best quality. Some 
 of the better qualities of patent floors are the fol- 
 lowing: Fawcett, Guastavino, Rapp (which 
 should be segmental shape) Columbian, Metro- 
 politan, Roebling, Manhattan or Expanded Metal, 
 etc. These floors are fully illustrated in most of 
 the text books on construction. In all of them, 
 I repeat, the spacing of beams should not exceed 
 five feet. 
 
38 HOW TO BUILD FIKEPEOOF. 
 
 A recent writer says : 
 
 "The question of fire-proof material is really a very simple 
 one, and any one who is so disposed can make the most con- 
 vincing sort of test by taking a small fragment of ordinary porous 
 terra-cotta and a small fragment of the cinders concrete which is 
 usually employed for concrete constructions, and holding a piece 
 jf each in his hands, expose the other end to the flame of a blow- 
 pipe. He will drop the piece of concrete first. Some time after- 
 wards he will have to drop the terra cotta. If while hot they are 
 dropped directly into a bucket of water, the most casual inspec- 
 tion will satisfy any one that what is left of the concrete is hardly 
 the material that is most desired for the protection of a building. 
 Concrete is cheap, terra-cotta is not ; therein lies the secret of the 
 possibilities of the use of the former material. 
 
 Another point. If terra-cotta arch blocks are set in place 
 with only ordinary care, they can be depended upon to serve 
 their purpose. Concrete, on the other hand, has to be mixed 
 most carefully in order to secure a uniform and reliable product. 
 As, in a large building, the bulk of the work is of necessity en- 
 trusted to laborers who can be depended upon not to think or be 
 careful, the chances are decidedly against a satisfactory mixture 
 of concrete, thereby largely increasing the odds in favor of terra- 
 cotta." 
 
 The air spaces in porous terra cotta account for 
 its being so good a non-conductor. They are se- 
 cured by mixing sawdust with the moist clay be- 
 fore burning, When the material is burned the 
 sawdust is consumed, leaving pores in the baked 
 material. 
 
 I do not agree with the writer quoted above in 
 his sweeping condemnation of concrete floors for 
 buildings not over one hundred feet high and 
 this should be the limit of all structures to con- 
 tain merchandise, which should never be elevated 
 to a greater height above the grade, owing to the 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 39 
 
 inability of fire departments to throw water effec- 
 tively to these heights I shonld regard snch 
 floors, if properly laid, in non-freezing weather, 
 as good fire-stops for buildings one hundred feet 
 high and under. 
 
 WATERPROOF FLOORS. 
 
 It is of great importance that the floors of all 
 buildings should be waterproof, in order that the 
 volume of water thrown by the fire department 
 to extinguish a fire may be carried off without 
 injury to merchandise on the floors below. Neg- 
 lect of these precautions is criminal in view of 
 their simplicity and inexpensiveness. 
 
 After the arches have been set between the 
 I-beams they should be covered, for at least a 
 thickness of one inch, with the best Portland ce- 
 ment concrete, carefully laid, so that all water 
 will run to the sides of the building and be car- 
 ried off by water vents or scuppers, which may 
 be arranged with pipes through the walls having 
 a check- valve which would prevent the influx of 
 cold air and yet admit of the outflow of water. 
 
 All ducts for carrying steam, gas and other 
 pipes and electric conduits should be protected 
 with a metal sleeve going above the surface of the 
 floor, and the space between and around the 
 pipes should be filled in closely with mineral 
 wool, asbestos or some other expansive and fire- 
 proof material to cut off drafts and flame. 
 
40 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 FLOOR SURFACES. 
 
 Floor boards should be dispensed with, if pos- 
 sible, (always above 125 feet high) and asphalt 
 or concrete employed instead. It is not popular 
 in office buildings, however, to dispense with 
 wooden floors. Wherever used they should be so 
 laid, especially in mercantile or manufacturing 
 buildings, as to leave no air space to supply a 
 passage for flame and to form a harborage for 
 rats arid mice, to which these vermin can carry 
 matches, oily waste or other combustible mater- 
 ial, to be ignited by steam pipes or by spon- 
 taneous combustion. 
 
 FIRE-PROOFING WOOD. 
 
 Yarious processes, "electric," so-called, and 
 otherwise, have been patented for fireproofing 
 wood. They undoubtedly increase the fire- 
 resisting properties of wood for interior trim, 
 window casings, etc. Whether or not they im- 
 pair the durability of wood is a matter as to 
 which I am not yet informed and I doubt if suf- 
 ficient time has elapsed for a proper test. The 
 United States Navy has made trials of fireproof 
 woodwork with what success I am not informed. 
 
 VENTILATING AND LIGHT SHAFTS, 
 DUMB-WAITER SHAFTS, ETC. 
 
 The enclosures of all ventilating shafts, for 
 water-closets, etc., light-shafts and dumb-waiter 
 shafts should be constructed in the same sub- 
 stantial manner, as freight elevator shafts. It is 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 41 
 
 a mistake to use thin plaster board or plaster 
 with dove-tailed, or other metal, lath, etc. No en- 
 closure should be relied upon less than four inches 
 in thickness, well braced with angle-iron, but 
 brick walls are best, especially in buildings over 
 60 feet high. The lights of shafts should be of 
 wire glass, set in metal framework, and venti- 
 lators should have metal louvers arranged to 
 secure ventilation but not to increase a draft. 
 Slats should be riveted, not soldered, to metal 
 framework, and the metal framework should 
 flange well over the fireproof material of shaft on 
 both sides. It is possible to finish tin-covered 
 fireproof doors with wooden trim so as to be 
 ornamental, with bead panel- work, etc. 
 
 WELL-HOLES. 
 
 These should be avoided if the building is to 
 be regarded as fireproof. The Home Building 
 had one 48'x22'. It is almost impossible to con- 
 trol a fire starting in the lower floors where a 
 well-hole opens through those above. Luxfer 
 prisms are now used to secure light from side 
 windows it is claimed with great success. 
 
 A recent fire test of the Luxfer Prism, in 
 Chicago, (March, 1898) is stated to have been 
 satisfactory to Fire Marshal Swenie, as showing 
 that these prisms aiford material protection from 
 the heat of a neighboring fire in an exposing 
 building, and that to some extent they are sub- 
 stitutes for iron shutters. 
 
42 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 STAIRCASES, ELEVATORS, ETC. 
 
 These should be in hallways cut off from the 
 rooms at each story by fire walls and doors, to 
 prevent drafts. It is not so important, and is not 
 so practicable, in the case of office and hotel 
 buildings, as in the case of mercantile and manu- 
 facturing buildings ; but it is advisable, even in 
 office buildings, to have the staircases, elevators, 
 etc., in a separate hallway, the division walls of 
 which should extend through and above the roof 
 and any skylights should be covered with glass 
 not less than i-inch thick. 
 
 In all buildings where the staircase is not 
 thoroughly and effectually cut off from each 
 floor, with provision for ventilating and carrying 
 off smoke, which might, otherwise, smother per- 
 sons attempting to escape, there should be two 
 staircases, one at each end of the building. Ten 
 persons are smothered to death for every one 
 actually burned. 
 
 SKY-LIGHTS. 
 
 It is contended by some that sky-lights should 
 oe of thin glass so that they will break easily and 
 permit the escape of smoke and gas. Smoke is 
 ignitible and, when it accumulates in a building, 
 often spreads the fire from story to story or blows 
 out the walls by the explosion of its gases. But 
 while thin skylights are contended for by many 
 expert firemen, it should be borne in mind that 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 48 
 
 nothing so facilitates the spread of fire as a draft, 
 and it would be better to have the skylights 
 adjusted with appliances for opening them, so 
 ihat when the firemen arrive on the ground, and 
 not before, they may be adjusted to permit the es- 
 cape of smoke and allow the firemen to enter the 
 building to see where to work to the best advan- 
 tage. Unless wire glass is used, a network of 
 wire should be above the glass to guard it against 
 flying embers and another should be suspended 
 beneath the skylights so that when the glass 
 cracks and breaks with the heat it will not injure 
 the firemen below. 
 
 ROOFS. 
 
 These should be of brick or tile on all high 
 buildings, the roof beams being 
 of iron and, where tanks are Roofs 
 supported, of sufficient strength 
 to carry many times the actual probable weight 
 of the water and the containing tank itself. 
 
 Slate roofs, on very high buildings, especially 
 on street fronts, are objectionable 
 as, in case of fire, the slates Slate roofs 
 would crack and, falling to the 
 street, injure the firemen. A flat roof of brick- 
 tile is better than any other. 
 
 All water on roofs from rain or melting snow 
 should be drained from the front or sides to 
 leaders, so as to avoid drip points, from which 
 
44 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 icicles could be formed. Too little attention is 
 paid to the great danger of injury to pedestrians 
 from falling snow or icicles on very high build- 
 ings. This may not be a suggestion strictly ger- 
 main to this article, but it is a matter so often 
 overlooked as to warrant its being referred to in 
 an article intended to deal more or less thor- 
 oughly with the subject of fireproof buildings. 
 
 BOILER ROOM. 
 
 It is essential to the comfort of those on the 
 first floor of a building that precautions should 
 be taken to cut off the heat from the battery of 
 boilers in the summer season, and this important 
 matter is not infrequently overlooked. 
 
 If the boilers are to be in the cellar or base- 
 ment the ceiling should be high and should be 
 double, with a well defined air space between the 
 two. A ventilator of proper size to carry off the 
 heat accumulating near the top should be pro- 
 vided to the roof. 
 
 There are so many admirable non-conducting 
 coverings for heating steam pipes, etc., that it is 
 probably unnecessary to suggest anything on 
 this head. Indeed, the whole subject has little 
 to do with the question of a fireproof building, 
 but may, without impropriety, be touched upon 
 in a treatise intended to prevent oversights of 
 all kinds. 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 45 
 
 ELECTRIC LIGHT INSTALLATION, 
 DYNAMO ROOM, ETC. 
 
 The electric light installation of a large fire- 
 proof building is an important and complicated 
 matter. To insure safety, reference should be 
 had to the rules of the National Board of Fire 
 Underwriters, which can be obtained, without 
 charge, from the nearest local board of under- 
 writers. 
 
 The switchboard should be of incombustible 
 material, and no steam, water or sprinkler pipes 
 should pass over or near it where, in case of a 
 bursting pipe, water could reach the switchboard 
 and cause disaster. This is an important matter 
 almost universally overlooked. 
 
 An admirable floor for a dynamo-room is one 
 of deck-glass, f inches thick, on a wooden (not 
 iron) frame. It will insure that the attendant 
 upon the dynamos will be, at all times, effectually 
 insulated. Such a floor will not become soaked 
 with oil, as would a wooden floor, and can easily 
 be kept clean. A strip of rubber floor carpet 
 stretched over it will prevent slipping. The 
 Continental Insurance Company has, probably, 
 the only floor of this kind in the country, in its 
 large fireproof office building on Cedar Street, 
 New York. 
 
 CHIMNEYS AND FIREPLACES. 
 
 Nothing tends more to the discomfort of the 
 occupants of a building than smoky fireplaces, 
 
46 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 whereas, on the contrary, an open fireplace, with 
 a good draft, is a great comfort. 
 
 Unfortunately, the subject of fireplaces and 
 chimneys is frequently neglected by those archi- 
 tects who pay more attention to artistic effects 
 than to practical provisions which insure comfort. 
 
 The accompanying diagram illustrates how a 
 fireplace and flue should be constructed to insure 
 a good draft. It will be observed that the back 
 of the fireplace is inclined forward, commencing 
 at a point six courses of brick from the bottom, 
 so as to contract the throat of the flue ; a square 
 shelf being left, against which downward cur- 
 rents of smoke would strike and rebound, to re- 
 turn up the flue. It is possible and sometimes 
 necessary to have a cast-iron plate resting on 
 this shelf, which can be drawn forward, as 
 occasion may require, to contract the throat of 
 the flue, the capacity of which should correspond 
 somewhat with the size of the fireplace opening, 
 to the extent of having an area about one- 
 eleventh of the latter. 
 
 Flues for fireplaces burning wood should not 
 be less than 8"xl2" and should be lined with flue 
 tile, which will insure a smooth flue and also 
 tend to the safety of the building. The height 
 of the fireplace should, as a rule, not exceed 25 
 inches, and the front opening should be sup- 
 ported by two iron bars i"x2, " nine inches longer 
 than the width of the opening. 
 
HOW TO BUILD A CHIMNEY. 
 
 SECTION OF CHIMNEY SHOWING TRIMMER ARCH UNDER HEARTH, 
 
 PROPER CONSTRUCTION OF FIRE PLACE, FLUE AND 
 
 FLUE LINING, ASH CHUTE, ETC. 
 
48 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN ADJOINING 
 BUILDINGS. 
 
 It is sometimes necessary to have communi- 
 cations between adjoining buildings by doors in 
 the fire walls and it is not always convenient, when 
 changing merchandise from one room to another, 
 to have fireproof doors closed during working 
 hours. It is possible to have the fireproof doors 
 run upon trolleys on an inclined track so as to 
 close by the force of gravity and held open by 
 fusible metal latches or links which would re- 
 lease them when melted by the rising tempera- 
 ture of a fire. It has occurred to me that this 
 difficulty may, also, be met by erecting between 
 two adjoining buildings a separating fireproof 
 hallway of brick, which can be utilized for con- 
 taining staircases and elevators and for sup- 
 porting the water tanks of automatic sprinklers. 
 The doors which open into this hallway should 
 not be opposite each other, but at opposite ends 
 of it, so that fire in one of the buildings passing 
 through the door would come against a blank 
 wall opposite. Even if the fireproof doors to 
 these openings should happen to be open at the 
 time of a fire in one of the two buildings, it is im- 
 probable that it would find access to the other. 
 
 The floors should be both fire and waterproof, 
 slightly lower than those of the two separated 
 buildings, and with water vents or " scuppers" 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 49 
 
 for carrying off surplus water thrown by a fire 
 department. Indeed it is well to have "scup- 
 pers " on all floors of every building. 
 
 The walls of this separating hallway or vesti- 
 bule should rise four feet higher than the roofs 
 of the two buildings and, if there are window or 
 door openings near it, its walls should project 
 beyond the line of enclosing walls at least one 
 foot. 
 
 It ought to be unnecessary to state that there 
 should be no combustible material whatever in 
 this separating hallway, and that the staircase t 
 elevators, etc., should be of metal and fireproof. 
 
 Indeed such a hallway as this could be relied 
 upon to separate wooden buildings. It should, 
 however, for that purpose, be at 
 least ten feet higher than the peak 
 of their roofs and should extend 
 four feet beyond their front and rear lines. It is 
 probable that the extensive frame dairy buildings 
 of ex-vice-president Morton at Ellerslie, which 
 burned several years ago, might have been saved 
 by this simple precaution. 
 
 The following diagrams fully illustrate the 
 idea. 
 
FIRE PROOF DOOR 
 
 I 
 
 FIRE PROOF DOOR 
 
 SEPARATING FIRE-STOP HALLWAY, GROUND PLAN. 
 
 Scale inch to foot. 
 
SEPARATING FIRE-STOP HALLWAY ELEVATION OF 
 UPPER STORY AND ROOF WITH WATER TANK. 
 
 Scale inch to foot. 
 
52 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 Where it is not necessary to transfer merchan- 
 dise from one building to another, but only 
 
 requisite to have a passageway for 
 staircases employees, this may be arranged 
 
 by an iron balcony, like a fire 
 escape, cutting down the window on each side 
 of the separating wall for a door, so that com- 
 munication can be had by the balcony. The 
 openings should have fireproof doors. This 
 would be practically safe. It might, with iron 
 ladders, be utilized as a fire escape, and so prove 
 of great advantage to firemen in fighting a fire, 
 who could hold a hose nozzle at the different 
 windows with perfect safety to the last moment. 
 It is practicable, indeed, to have iron stairways 
 with roofed balconies entirely outside of storage 
 stores so that the floors do not communicate. 
 There is a number of these in Philadelphia. 
 
 WATER TANK. 
 
 The water tank, as already stated, should be 
 supported on protected iron I-beams, resting on 
 the brick walls, with cast-iron templates, so that 
 the tank cannot fall, break down the staircases 
 and wreck the building in case of fire. 
 
 It is important always to locate tanks so that 
 they will not be over stairways or elevators and 
 endanger them in case the supports give way. 
 With a fireproof hallway of the kind recom- 
 mended, containing no combustible material 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 53 
 
 whatever, the tanks being supported by iron 
 I-beams resting on the brick walls, this would 
 not be an important matter, but in all other 
 cases water tanks should be planned so as not to 
 endanger staircases, and the supporting iron 
 beams should be fireproof ed, that is, covered with 
 fireproof material. 
 
 FIREPROOF DOORS AND SHUTTERS. 
 
 These should not be of iron, but of wood cov- 
 ered with tin. Solid iron shutters or doors are 
 not reliable. Iron doors yield readily to flame, 
 resulting sometimes in their warping open when 
 exposed to fire in an adjoining building, ex- 
 posing the one they are intended to protect to 
 the full effect of the flames. 
 
 Where window openings are protected by iron 
 shutters on rear courts they are almost certain to 
 be warped open by fire in exposing buildings and 
 cannot be relied upon. The tin covered wood 
 shutters alone are reliable. There is no recorded 
 instance in which a solid iron door exposed to the 
 full effect of fire in an adjoining building has 
 protected the opening, whereas there is, on the 
 other hand, no recorded instance in which the 
 i 'Underwriter's" door has failed to serve its 
 purpose two important facts which are signifi- 
 cant and ought to settle the question. 
 
 The ''Underwriter's" door is constructed of 
 ordinary white pine lumber, free from knots, of 
 
54 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 double or treble thickness, according to width of 
 opening, the boards being nailed diagonally and 
 covered with the best quality of tin, with lap- 
 welded joints.* 
 
 It ought to be unnecessary to state that, on the 
 exposed side of a building, not only the shutter 
 but the window frame, sash, etc., should be of 
 metal or covered with metal riveted not soldered. 
 Where it is not possible to use a fireproof shutter 
 for want of room, wire glass in a metal frame will 
 be found a desirable substitute. It will probably 
 hold a fire until the fire department can cope 
 with it. f 
 
 It is not generally understood or known that 
 fire will travel from one story to others above 
 by way of the windows in the outer or enclosing 
 walls. Especially where a building has an en- 
 closed court fire will sometimes reach upper stories 
 in this way, even when the floors themselves are 
 thoroughly cut off ; the court acting as a chim- 
 ney. This happened several years ago in the 
 Temple Court Building, a fireproof structure in 
 New York. The woodwork on several floors was 
 ignited by the lapping of fire through the win- 
 dows from the lower stories and serious damage 
 resulted. A more recent instance was the 
 Livingston fireproof building in New York in 
 
 *Full specifications for these are given herewith, being the 
 rules of the New York Board of Fire Underwriters. 
 
 f Where the exposing building is within 15 feet the glass 
 should be double thickness with an air space between of one inch. 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 55 
 
 January 1898. Windows on exposed sides should 
 always be protected with fire-resisting shutters. 
 
 It may be well to suggest for the benefit of 
 those who are not familiar with city fires that, as 
 heat naturally ascends, the exposure of a low 
 building is often much greater to a neighbor 
 higher than itself than to a building of its own 
 height, so that a tall fireproof structure sur- 
 rounded by smaller buildings should be provided 
 with fire shutters to all openings. These are not 
 necessary where the exposing buildings are oc- 
 cupied for offices and are themselves fireproof, as 
 the amount of heat which escapes from the win- 
 dows of a burning building so long as its en- 
 closing walls remain intact is seldom sufficient to 
 ignite a fireproof building or its contents. The 
 moment of greatest danger is when a burning 
 building collapses and the intense heat caused by 
 its enormous bed of coals exerts it full eifect 
 upon surrounding structures. In a recent fire 
 in New York (February 11, 1898,) three fireproof 
 office buildings were more or less damaged with 
 their contents although many feet away from 
 the burning building. 
 
 It is to be hoped that some inventive genius 
 will devise a plan for simultaneously opening or 
 closing the shutters on any or all stories of high 
 buildings by manipulation from the ground floor. 
 They are usually left open at night always in 
 the daytime and might thus be closed in case of 
 
56 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 a dangerous fire in the vicinity. In some cases 
 they will actually be found fastened open. 
 
 Fireproof shutters might be arranged to run on 
 trolleys and close themselves automatically, by 
 force of gravity, when released by fusible links 
 or triggers, which, while unlatching under the 
 heat of a neighboring fire, might also be released 
 mechanically from the ground either by screw 
 rods to lift the triggers or by levers. They should 
 be about three inches wider all around than the 
 openings to be covered, and when not needed 
 could be adjusted to rest between the windows 
 against the piers of the building. 
 
 COMPARATIVE TESTS OF FIREPROOF MATERIAL. 
 
 Tests of fireproof material, iron beams, pillars, 
 floor arches, etc., to be of any value must be 
 conducted under circumstances which insure uni- 
 form conditions, otherwise comparisons are un- 
 reliable. It is quite customary to refer to results 
 of fires in different buildings, having differing 
 forms of construction, as supporting theories of 
 relative merit; but ordinary conflagrations can- 
 not be relied upon, for the reason that in two 
 buildings, side by side, the conditions may be 
 widely different. Eddies and currents of air, 
 changes of prevailing wind, etc. , may secure ex- 
 emption from damage. It happened in the large 
 conflagrations of Chicago, Troy, Boston, etc., 
 that the most phenomenal escapes were observed. 
 
HOW TO. BUILD FIREPROOF. 57 
 
 In some instances frame buildings, surrounded 
 by brick structures which were totally destroyed, 
 escaped with no further damage than the blis- 
 tering of paint. 
 
 Even where tests are carefully arranged, es- 
 pecially weight tests, obvious precautions are 
 sometimes overlooked. It will be observed, for 
 instance, where bricks are piled on a surface of 
 floor arch and iron beams to secure a certain 
 weight per square foot, the pile of bricks may be 
 so disposed as to have a bearing on both of the 
 iron beams and the full weight may not come 
 upon the fireproof arch between them. The 
 lateral bond of a pile of bricks a few courses 
 higher than the floor to be tested, may have all 
 the effect of a relieving arch and materially re- 
 duce the strains. In furnaces constructed to se- 
 cure high temperatures, drafts and currents of 
 air should be provided for with great care and 
 under the direction of the most competent and 
 intelligent experts. 
 
 THE INTEREST OF UNDERWRITERS IN 
 FIREPROOF CONSTRUCTION. 
 
 In conclusion it may be well to state, in view 
 of the general misapprehension which prevails 
 with regard to the interest of the fire underwriter 
 in the improvement of construction, that it makes 
 no difference to him whether a building be fire- 
 proof or not ; his rate of premium and the amount 
 
58 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 which he insures are both based upon the charac- 
 teristics of each building insured. He would 
 make just as much money on $100 of premium 
 secured at a rate of 5$ (or $50 per $1,000) for 
 $2,000 insurance on a wooden planing-mill, as on 
 $100 of premium secured on $100,000 insurance 
 on a fireproof building the rate of which is $1 
 per $1,000. 
 
BRA 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ( UNIVERSITY ) 
 
 OF 
 
 AUFQS!ii 
 
 RECAPITULATION. 
 
 In order to save anyone who contemplates 
 erecting a fireproof building the trouble of re- 
 vising the preceding pages, I have prepared the 
 following recapitulation of important points to be 
 observed, in order that he may be able to check 
 Dff his plans and specifications and see that all 
 important features have been duly attended to. 
 
 ENCLOSING WALLS. Should be not less than 
 16 inches thick for the top story, increasing four 
 inches in thickness for every 25 feet to the bot- 
 tom. Should be built of hard-burned brick, the 
 lower stories (if not all) laid in cement mortar. 
 
 All weight carrying walls should be separated 
 by air spaces from furnace walls. 
 
 All templates should be of cast-iron, especially 
 for beams which support tanks. Stone templates 
 should not be used. 
 
 IRON MEMBERS. All ironwork should be fire- 
 proofed i. e. protected by not less than 4 inches of 
 fireproof material. Brick is best, well-burned 
 
60 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 terra cotta second, metallic lathing and plaster 
 third. If plaster or metal lath be relied on, wrap 
 the column with asbestos quarter inch thick, 
 bound with wire. If mercantile or manufacturing 
 building, protect the fireproofing material of the 
 lower four feet of columns with a metal cover, 
 to prevent its being knocked off by roller trucks 
 and merchandise. Heavy hardwood cleats may 
 secure this. 
 
 Columns should be cast-iron, the beam bearing 
 corbel brackets being cast in one piece with the 
 column. Columns should be cylindrical (not 
 square) to secure more perfect castings. See 
 that top and bottom bearings are planed smooth 
 and true ; no wedges or shims allowed. 
 
 Allow for expansion in long systems of beams 
 or girders. Avoid steel rivets ; all rivet-work 
 dangerous on account of rust. Beams should be 
 bolted to lugs on cast-iron columns. 
 
 All ironwork should be well painted with good 
 linseed oil paint, the iron being first thoroughly 
 cleaned. Avoid turpentine, dryers, &c. 
 
 See that fireproofing is applied so that columns 
 may be stripped and examined from time to time. 
 
 BEAMS should not be spaced wider apart than 
 five feet on centres. 
 
 BOND STONES. Avoid in piers. 
 
 STONE COLUMNS. Avoid. 
 
 TIE RODS. Do not omit them. 
 
 FLOOR ARCHES. Best, old-fashioned brick 
 arch ; next best, terra cotta segmental arches, 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 61 
 
 end construction. If patent concrete arches used, 
 be careful to see that good quality of cement is 
 employed and the stone or gravel thoroughly 
 washed. Arches should not be laid in freezing 
 weather. Only cement mortar should be used and 
 every square foot carefully watched in process. 
 
 Cover top with cement concrete to insure water- 
 proof floors. Leave scuppers or water vents at 
 each floor to carry off water thrown by fire 
 department. 
 
 Leave no hollow spaces below wooden floor 
 boards. 
 
 STAIRWAYS, ELEVATORS, DUMBWAITERS, ETC. 
 Should be cut off in all buildings by a brick par- 
 tition between the hallways and main rooms, 
 with fireproof doors (for which see Underwriters' 
 specifications.) It is best to have all stairways 
 enclosed in brick walls. 
 
 Avoid stone treads, slate or marble, unless web 
 support of iron beneath. It is claimed wrought- 
 iron support is better than cast-iron open work. 
 
 Thoroughly fire stop all openings for gas, steam 
 pipes or electric wires, to prevent fire traveling 
 from story to story. These should be in stair- 
 case tower. 
 
 GLASS WINDOWS. If on exposed sides protect 
 with fireproof shutters, Underwriters' specifica- 
 tions. Set eyebolts for hinges when building 
 walls. If wire glass be used, they should be 
 glazed in metal frames, and if on exposed side, 
 should have double sheets with one inch space 
 between them. 
 
62 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 DYNAMO ROOM. Avoid water or steam pipes 
 over switchboard. Have glass floor. 
 
 FIRE EXTINGUISHING APPLIANCES. Have 6- 
 inch standpipes with outlets for hose at each 
 story .for use of firemen, Siamese connection at 
 street. Arrange signals to street and hose on 
 each floor to reach most remote point. 
 
 Have pressure tanks in basement and support 
 all roof tanks on iron beams (fireproof) resting on 
 cast-iron templates on brick walls where they 
 cannot endanger staircases. 
 
 Vertical pipes should be in staircase tower. 
 
 ROOF. Avoid all woodwork in roof, even out- 
 riggers for cornice. Avoid slates on slanting 
 roofs, as in falling they would injure firemen. 
 Best roof is flat brick or tile. 
 
 PARTITIONS must not rest on wooden sills or 
 bases. 
 
 NIGHT WATCHMAN. Have some one on prem- 
 ises at night and on holidays understanding ele- 
 vator, force pumps, etc. Have enough steam up 
 at all times, to run one elevator. 
 
 SKYLIGHTS. Protect with wire netting above 
 and below and arrange so as to be opened by 
 firemen for letting out smoke and gas. If wire 
 glass is used then no overnetting or undernetting 
 will be required. 
 
 CUT OFFS AT STREET for Gas and Electric in- 
 stallations should be provided where firemen can 
 see and use them in case of fire. This is an im- 
 portant matter. 
 
NON-FIREPROOF BUILDINGS. 
 
 HOW TO BUILD A SLOW-BURNING STORE OR 
 
 WAREHOUSE BUILDING 
 IN ORDER TO SECURE A LOW INSURANCE RATE. 
 
 This question is frequently propounded to 
 underwriters by property -owners who, while un- 
 willing to go to the expense of fireproof con- 
 struction, are quite willing to follow methods 
 which would insure slow combustion, provided 
 the expense of building be not materially in- 
 creased; especially if lower insurance rates 
 would yield a reasonable return on the expen- 
 diture from an investment viewpoint. 
 
 All systems for fixing rates of premium for fire 
 insurance by schedules, and especially the Uni- 
 versal Mercantile Schedule, recognize the various 
 
64 NON-FIREPROOF BUILDINGS. 
 
 features of a building by a system which charges 
 in the rate for departures from proper methods 
 of construction ; and especially for those features 
 which tend to retard the progress of fire once 
 started throughout the various stories of a struc- 
 ture and those which aid in its extinction. It is 
 important, therefore, not only that the enclosing 
 walls should be of sufficient thickness to carry 
 the superimposed weight, but that they should 
 be of sufficient thickness to exclude the heat of an 
 outside fire; and it is also important that the 
 various floors of a building should be suf- 
 ficiently fire-resisting to prevent the spread of 
 fire from one story to another. For this reason, 
 openings through the floors for stairways, ele- 
 vators, dumb-waiter shafts, channels for water, 
 gas or other pipes, etc., etc., should be cut off at 
 each story. There should, as a rule, be no hollow 
 spaces where a fire could gain headway unob- 
 served, such as spaces between the plastering of 
 a ceiling and the floor boards of the story above ; 
 cocklofts or spaces in unoccupied attics ; hollow 
 wooden box cornices, etc. Concealed spaces are 
 objectionable, also, for another reason, viz., that 
 they become harboring places for rats, mice and 
 other vermin, to which they carry rubbish, oily 
 combustible material, friction matches, etc., for 
 their nests, which are not infrequently con- 
 structed in proximity to flues and heating pipes 
 whose warmth attracts them. 
 
NON-FIREPROOF BUILDINGS. 65 
 
 In fact, the chief aim of the architect, from a 
 fire-resisting standpoint, should be, first, to avoid 
 conditions which would favor the starting of fires 
 and, second, to observe precautions which would 
 prevent their spread and facilitate their ex- 
 tinguishment. 
 
 The use of wood for beams, girders and sup- 
 porting columns is not so objectionable from the 
 fire standpoint as is generally supposed, provided 
 they are of sufficient size to carry their loads 
 after their surface has been invaded by fire to the 
 extent of say two inches. Fire seldom gets 
 deeper into a solid 12 inch column or beam with 
 a good fire department. In slow-burning con- 
 struction or mill construction, so called, all 
 wooden beams, girders and pillars should be not 
 less than 12 inches thick, and the floor plank 
 should be not less than three inches in thickness, 
 tongued and grooved, or connected by splines, with 
 a floor board one inch thick and planed. If Sala- 
 mander or other fire retardent is used between the 
 two, the probabilities of confining a fire are in- 
 creased. Sheet iron or tin, painted on both sides 
 with a good oil paint, inserted between the two 
 would be an admirable precaution, but would add 
 to the expense beyond the figure which most 
 property-owners would approve. 
 
 The following is the description employed in 
 the Universal Mercantile Schedule for a standard 
 building, to secure the basis rate : 
 
66 NON-FIREPEOOF BUILDINGS. 
 
 A Standard Building is one having walls of brick or stone 
 (brick preferred,) not less than twelve inches thick at top story (16 
 inches if stone,) extending through and 36 inches above roof in 
 parapet and coped, and increasing four inches in thickness for 
 each story below to the ground the increased thickness of each 
 story to be utilized for beam ledges. Floors of two inch plank, 
 (three inches better) covered by | or one inch flooring, crossing 
 diagonally, with waterproof paper or approved fire-resisting 
 material between (if tin or sheet-iron between, see deductions;) 
 wooden beams, girders and wooden story posts or pillars twelve 
 inches thick, or protected iron columns; elevators, stairways, 
 etc., cut off by brick walls or by plaster on metallic studs and 
 lathing ; communications at each floor protected with approved 
 tin-covered doors and fire- proof sills; windows and doors on ex- 
 posed sides protected by approved tin-covered doors and shutters; 
 walls of flues not less than eight inches in thickness, to be lined 
 with fire-brick, well-burned clay or cast-iron, and throat capacity 
 not less than 64 square inches if steam boilers are used ; (12 inch 
 circular flues are better) all floor timbers to be trimmed at least 
 four inches from outside of flue ; heated by steam, lighted by gas ; 
 cornices of incombustible material ; roof of metal or tile ; if par- 
 titions are hollow or walls are furred off there must be fire-stops 
 at eccli floor. 
 
 If this description of building is still further improved, re- 
 ductions in rate may be secured for the following features of ex- 
 ceptional construction : 
 
 FLOORS. For tin or sheet-iron between floors. 
 
 If waterproof, arranged with waste-ways and scuppers and 
 inclined to carry off surplus water thrown by fire department to 
 sewer or street. 
 
 If the grade floor be fire-proof, protecting the upper portion 
 of the building from fires in the basement or cellar, and the com- 
 municating stairway to main building thoroughly cut off. 
 
 CEILINGS AND PARTITIONS. If of incombustible material 
 throughout or plastered on metallic studs and lathing, the lathing 
 to have a good key for plaster a further deduction is made. 
 
 NOTE. If the main "fore and aft" partition separating halls 
 containing stairs and elevators from the stores, be of brick or 
 metallic lathing, etc., with protected openings it Avould save 
 building from charges 67, C8, 69, 70, etc., as to elevators and 
 stairways. 
 
 Taking the building from the foundation to 
 the roof, therefore, in the order in which it is 
 constructed, the following details of construction 
 
NON-FIREPROOF BUILDINGS. 67 
 
 should be observed to secure the lowest rate of 
 fire insurance : 
 
 FOUNDATION. This is largely a question of 
 engineering, but it may be stated here that the 
 most competent experts in engineering, archi- 
 tecture and construction, to-day, pay great at- 
 tention to secure footings and substantial foun- 
 dations, driving piles_o-a^solid bearing wherever . 
 necessary. 
 
 STAIRWAYS, ELEVATORS, DUMB-WAITERS, 
 channels for pipes, etc., should be cut off at each 
 floor and enclosed with fire -proof materials ; the 
 stairways and elevators especially by brick walls 
 or by fire-proof terra cotta not less than four 
 inches thick, securely braced with angle iron. 
 Brick walls are decidedly preferable. Doors en- 
 tering from halls to the various rooms should be 
 self-closing and are improved greatly by being 
 covered with tin. 
 
 FLOORS. These, as already stated, should be 
 solid, without air spaces, with 3-inch plank, 
 splined or tongued and grooved, and inch thick 
 lloor boards ; Salamander or waterproof paper 
 between. Tin or sheet iron painted both sides is 
 better. 
 
 STORY POSTS, BEAMS, GIRDERS, ETC. These 
 should be not less than 12 inches in diameter, if 
 round, or 12 inches square. The floor beams 
 should be cut on a bevel of three inches where 
 they are inserted into the enclosing or bearing 
 
68 NON-FIREPROOF BUILDINGS. 
 
 walls, so that, in case of burning through in the 
 middle, they would release themselves without 
 tearing out the walls. There are some excellent 
 patent devices for anchoring floor beams, con- 
 sisting of cast-iron boxes resting in the wall so 
 constructed as to release the floor beam without 
 damage in case it should burn, and serving also 
 to protect the ends of the beams from dry rot and 
 from charring in case of a fire in an adjoining 
 building. 
 
 FLUES. These should be surrounded by at 
 least 8 inches of brickwork, and will be improved 
 still further by having fireproof tile linings. 
 
 ENCLOSING WALLS. These should be not less 
 than 12 inches thick for the top story, if of brick 
 (16 inches would be better,) and should increase 
 in thickness four inches for each story to the 
 bottom. While the wall here recommended, and 
 the standard of the Universal Mercantile Schedule 
 already quoted, 12 inches thick at the highest 
 point, increasing four inches for each story to the 
 bottom, utilizing the increased thickness at each 
 story as beam-bearing ledges, is unquestionably 
 the only kind that should be erected for fire- 
 resisting purposes, it is customary to build ac- 
 cording to the New York Building Law, the re- 
 quirements of which are as follows : 
 
 "The walls of all warehouses, stores, factories and stables, 
 twenty-five feet or less in width between walls 
 
 Shall not be less than twelve inches thick to the height of 
 forty feet. 
 
NON-FIREPROOF BUILDINGS. 69 
 
 If over forty .feet in height, and not over sixty feet in height, 
 the walls shall not be less than sixteen inches thick to the height 
 of forty feet, or to the nearest tier of beams to that height, and 
 from thence not less than twelve inches thick to the top. 
 
 If over sixty feet in height, and not over seventy-five feet in 
 height, the walls shall not be less than twenty inches thick to the 
 height of twenty-five feet or to the nearest tier of beams to that 
 height, and from thence not less than sixteen inches thick to the top. 
 
 If over seventy-five feet in height, and not over eighty-five 
 feet in height, the walls shall not be less than twenty-four inches 
 thick to tlie height of twenty feet, or to the nearest tier of beams 
 to that height ; thence not less than twenty inches thick to the 
 height of sixty feet, or to the nearest tier of beams to that height, 
 and thence not less than sixteen inches thick to the top. 
 
 If over eighty-five feet in height, and not over one hundred 
 feet in height, the walls shall not be less than twenty -eight inches 
 thick to the height of twenty-five feet, or to the nearest tier of 
 beams to that height ; thence not less than twenty-four inches 
 thick to the height of fifty feet or to the nearest tier of beams to 
 that height; thence not less than twenty inches thick to the 
 height of seventy-five feet, or to the nearest tier of beams to that 
 height, and thence not less than sixteen inches thick to the top." 
 
 No building for the storage of merchandise 
 should be higher than 60 feet from the ground, 
 unless fireproof throughout, and then not over 95 
 feet, even in cities with good fire departments. 
 
 PARAPET WALLS. The enclosing walls of a 
 building should be carried above the roof and 
 coped with stone as a protection from the weather, 
 to a height of at least 12 inches ; to protect the 
 building from fires in adjoining structures. 
 
 ROOF. This should be of metal, without an 
 air space. 
 
 WATER TANK. This should be supported upon 
 brick walls, so as not to give way and fall, as 
 would be the case if wooden supports were con- 
 sumed. It may rest upon railroad iron or I-beams 
 carried from wall to wall. Under no circum- 
 
'<0 NON-FIREPROOF BUILDINGS. 
 
 stances sliould it rest above the staircase, where 
 in falling it would endanger the lives of firemen. 
 
 ELECTRIC WIRING. This should be installed 
 in accordance with the rules of the National 
 Board of Fire Underwriters, which may be ob- 
 tained without charge from any local board of 
 underwriters. 
 
 WATERPROOF FLOORS. Great damage usually 
 results to stocks of merchandise from the water 
 thrown by fire departments to extinguish fires. 
 The floors should, therefore, be waterproof and 
 should be so inclined to the side or rear walls that 
 the water will run off by means of scuppers or 
 metal pipes inserted in the walls at the floor 
 level, having check valves which would prevent 
 the ingress of cold air and permit the egress of 
 water. The door-sills should be one inch high. 
 Such precautions are always recognized in rates 
 by underwriters, and it may happen that a fire 
 can be extinguished on one floor without having 
 the water escape to those below. 
 
 CLOSETS. There should be no closets, especially 
 for oils, filling lamps or other purposes, under 
 the staircases or elevators, where a fire starting 
 would quickly reach the floors above. In fact 
 closets are always objectionable in mercantile and 
 manufacturing buildings. They are hiding places 
 for careless employees, who put greasy overalls, 
 oily waste or other rubbish in them, often with 
 friction matches. Numerous fires start in such 
 
NON-FIREPROOF BUILDINGS. 71 
 
 places and assume dimensions under conditions 
 that make them dangerous. Wherever prac- 
 ticable, concealed places of all kinds should be 
 avoided. 
 
 RECEPTACLES FOR WASTE, RUBBISH, ETC., 
 These should always be of metal never of wood 
 and they should be emptied every night, not left 
 in the building. An old-fashioned cast-iron 
 kettle, with legs and a metal cover, is the best 
 receptacle for oily waste or rubbish, which is 
 liable to ignite spontaneously. All rubbish 
 should be treated as dangerous. 
 
 Saw-dust spittoons should not be allowed un- 
 der any circumstances. They are receptacles for 
 cast away cigar-stumps and cigarettes. 
 
 HEATING. If by steam pipes they should, at 
 no point, come in contact w r ith wood, but should 
 be guarded by thimbles where they pass through 
 floors. If by furnace, the hot air pipes should 
 not pass between the floor of one room and the 
 ceiling below, or between stud and lath and 
 plaster partitions. Where it is necessary to have 
 a hot air pipe pass out of sight it should be 
 double with an inner and outer pipe and a space 
 of half an inch between the two. 
 
 DRY ROT. It is important to observe pre- 
 cautions to insure against dry rot in buildings 
 with wooden floor joists or wooden columns, es- 
 pecially if they are covered up by plaster to pro- 
 tect them from fire. It is customary to cover 
 
72 NON-FIREPROOF BUILDINGS. 
 
 them with, wire lathing and plaster, and in such 
 cases, small perforations about i-inch in diameter 
 through the plaster at the top and bottom of a 
 pillar or column would probably secure sufficient 
 ventilation to save the column, which, also, 
 should be centre-bored. This is true also of floor 
 beams, which may be ventilated at each end with 
 small holes in some ornamental pattern. It is not 
 generally known, however, that unprotected 
 beams, if 12 inches in diameter, as already stated, 
 are rarely consumed to the point of breaking, 
 if the city has even an average fire department. 
 
 WOODEN CEILING AND SHEATHING ON SIDE 
 WALLS. This is decidedly dangerous, especially 
 where pine or other resinous wood is used. Fire 
 flashes readily over the entire surface and quickly 
 gets under such headway as to defy the efforts of 
 the fire department. If floor joists and side walls, 
 are not to be left exposed, (the plastering, if any, 
 on the side walls without wooden laths, furring, 
 etc., what is known as "open finish,") the old 
 fashioned plaster, even on wooden lathing, is in- 
 finitely preferable to wooden sheathing or ceiling. 
 If plaster is used it should always be upon wire 
 lathing. This insures a good key or clinch to 
 the plaster and will retain the plaster when 
 saturated with water longer than wooden laths. 
 It forms an effective fire- stop for a considerable 
 time and materially aids the fire department in 
 extinguishing a fire. 
 
NON-FIREPROOF BUILDINGS. 73 
 
 FlRE-EXTINGUISHING APPLIANCES. Stand- 
 
 pipes, supplied by the tank on the roof with 
 water under pressure, not less than four inches in 
 diameter, are always recognized by underwriters. 
 They should have hose outlets at each story, con- 
 veniently located near the stairs, where they can 
 be used to the last moment, and the hose should 
 be frequently tested, thoroughly dried after using 
 and arranged so that it will not be rotted by 
 water left in it. Fire pails are admirable for ex- 
 tinguishing fires, and a sufficient number filled 
 with water, with possibly a cask for auxiliary 
 supply, should be near the stairs on every story. 
 They are always recognized by underwriters and 
 very favorably regarded, since the most ignorant 
 persons know how to use them. Where inflam- 
 mable oils are kept it would be an improvement 
 to have one or two pails filled with sand. Not 
 less than six fire pails to every 2,500 square feet 
 of floor area should be provided. Salt in the 
 water may prevent its freezing in winter. 
 
 SPRINKLER PIPES. The piping for automatic 
 sprinkler pipes should be installed when the 
 building is being erected. The rules, sizes of 
 pipes, etc., can be obtained of the underwriters. 
 
 WELL-HOLES, HATCHWAYS, ETC., These are 
 always objectionable, as they insure the rapid 
 progress of fire throughout the various floors into 
 which such well holes open. They should be 
 avoided in store and warehouse buildings. 
 
74 NON-FIREPROOF BUILDINGS. 
 
 SKY-LIGHTS. These should be of thick glass, 
 with metal frames, and should be guarded by 
 wire netting above, to protect them from falling 
 fire brands from outside fires, and by wire netting 
 below, to prevent broken glass falling on the fire- 
 men when extinguishing a fire. 
 
 It will be observed in reading the foregoing 
 specifications that, from a fire standpoint, the 
 aim of the architect or builder should be to secure 
 substantial enclosing walls ; substantial floor sup- 
 ports ; fire-proof enclosures for elevators, stair- 
 cases, dumb-waiters and all communications from 
 story to story ; to avoid hollow concealed spaces ; 
 and to secure a fire- resisting roof. These are the 
 main points to be kept in mind, and the necessary 
 details and precautions to be observed ought 
 naturally to occur to any intelligent and con- 
 scientious architect or builder. 
 
 Perhaps the four most important considerations 
 to be observed in slow-burning construction are : 
 Timbers not less than 12 inches thick ; 
 Floor planking double and four inches thick and 
 
 waterproof ; 
 Openings from story to story cut oif, to prevent 
 
 drafts, and 
 Entire absence of concealed spaces which would 
 
 afford a harboring place for rats and mice or 
 
 admit of a fire getting beyond control before 
 
 discovery. 
 
FIRE IN THE HOME LIFE BUILDING, 
 
 Broadway, New York, Dec. 4, 1898. 
 
 This building was 55 feet front by 101 feet deep, 
 fronting east, on City Hall Park, with two square 
 light courts, one on the north side and one on the 
 south. It was 16 stories high above the sidewalk ; 
 192 feet to the flat roof, and about 50 feet ad- 
 ditional to the top of the tower ; constructed with 
 steel skeleton framework covered with incombus- 
 tible material ; arches of hard-burned clay tile ; 
 windows on all sides unprotected by iron shut- 
 ters ; window-frames and sashes of wood. A 
 ground plan and photographs of the building 
 taken before and after the fire are herewith shown. 
 This building was in many respects exceptionally 
 well built with iron work protected and stone 
 ashlar well backed with brick. 
 
 Fire gained access from the windows in the 
 north court, blown with blow-pipe intensity by a 
 gale of about fifty miles an hour from the north- 
 east. The Fire Department was unable to get 
 
76 HOW TO BUILD FIEEPEOOF. 
 
 water above the eighth floor, or about 108 feet 
 above the sidewalk, and the contents of the 
 stories above this height were almost entirely 
 cremated office furniture, floor boards, doors, 
 window-sash and frames and other so-called 
 wooden "trim." No damage was done to the 
 iron and steel structure, which was well built, 
 but the marble front, elaborately carved, with 
 projecting balconies, etc., was almost entirely 
 ruined above the eighth floor by the joint action 
 of heat and water. 
 
 If the windows on the north side next the ex- 
 posing building had been protected with fireproof 
 shutters it is probable that little if any damage 
 would have been done in the Home Life Building. 
 
 It is well to note that the iron lattice girders or 
 braces which spanned the north court and which 
 may be seen in the photographs expanded and 
 sagged in the intense heat of the adjoining fire 
 and had to be replaced. If these had been boxed 
 with metal, even with tin or possibly copper casing 
 with an air space they would not have yielded. 
 A commendable feature of this court was the use 
 of -iron for lintels instead of stone. 
 
 The following are the lessons of the fire, em- 
 phasizing the suggestions to which reference has 
 been made in the preceding pages. 
 
 FLOOES. These, if of wood, should have the 
 space between the underside of the floor boards 
 and the top of the fireproof arches thoroughly 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 77 
 
 filled in with concrete (see page 40. ) In the Home 
 Life Building this was not done, and the floors 
 were thoroughly consumed, adding to the de- 
 struction of the furniture, etc., and helping to 
 spread the fire from room to room. The spaces 
 under the door sills should always be fire- 
 stopped, even if the entire hollow space beneath 
 the floor boards are not filled in. The fireproof 
 partitions were, very properly, carried through 
 the floors to the fireproof arches, and did not rest 
 on the wooden floor boards or the wooden sills, 
 as is sometimes the case (see page 16;) but this 
 precaution did not save the structure, because of 
 the openings through partitions for windows, etc. 
 Another serious fault of hollow spaces under 
 the wooden floor boards was developed in this 
 fire. The floors naturally burned more rapidly 
 under the front of fireproof safes and let down 
 the front castors or wheels in advance of the rear 
 wheels. The falling forward of a large safe on 
 one floor broke out the fireproof arch and let the 
 safe through to the floor below, where fortunately 
 it was arrested and held by a floor beam. Fire- 
 proof safes should be arranged so as to extend 
 over two of the iron floor beams, or if the spacing 
 of these is too great they should rest on iron 
 bars or plates so as to extend the bearing to the 
 beams. This is important in the case of jewelry 
 safes and would be a serious feature in arches of 
 wider spans than five feet the Guastavino arches 
 for example. 
 
78 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 There can be no question that all buildings 
 in excess of 125 feet high, or certainly those por- 
 tions of them above this height, should have lire- 
 proof floors of concrete. Such floors can be easily 
 arranged with holes at the border for fastening 
 floor cloths, carpets, etc. Only cement, rock as- 
 phalt, marble tiling, mosaic or other incombus- 
 tible materials should be employed. 
 
 WINDOWS. All window frames or sash should 
 be of metal and protected with fireproof shutters 
 (page 6.) Wherever shutters are not possible, 
 wire glass should be used. 
 
 STAIRCASES. Stone treads of marble or slate 
 should not be used unless supported by an iron 
 web of sufficiently close meshes to afford a footing 
 in case the stone yields to fire and water, as it 
 certainly will if exposed. In the Home Life 
 Building the staircases were saved owing to the 
 fact that fireproof partitions prevented the fire 
 from reaching them (see pages 19 and 20.) 
 
 STONE FRONTS. The damage done to the 
 marble front of this building enforces the sug- 
 gestions on pages 29 and 30. Projections for 
 balconies, window-sills and caps, and other or- 
 nate finish are objectionable ; they fall early in a 
 fire and hinder the efforts of the firemen. 
 
 Stone fronts, especially if of marble, granite or 
 other limestone, are liable to be severely injured 
 by heat and water, and an entire facade may thus 
 require to be replaced a serious item in the case 
 of ornamental or carved stonework. 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 79 
 
 Under the combined eif ect of fire and water all 
 limestones show little more resistance than so 
 much sugar. 
 
 To the extent, therefore, that the value of the 
 stonework is a larger or smaller percentage of the 
 value of the building, and according to whether 
 the stone can be easily procured or must be pur- 
 chased at monopoly prices, these facts should be 
 taken into account, especially where there are ex- 
 posures, in fixing the building line and insurance 
 rate. It ought not to affect materially the line of 
 insurance on the stock, however. Even where 
 the building contains office furniture only, suf- 
 ficient heat may pass out through the windows, 
 as in the case of the Home Life Building and the 
 Temple Court Building, to injure the stone lin- 
 tels, ashlar, etc., (see the photograph of Home 
 Life Building.) 
 
 VERTICAL PIPES for the use of fire department. 
 A 4-inch or, better still, a 6 -inch pipe, with outlets 
 at each story, for the use of the Fire Department, 
 as recommended on page 17, should be provided 
 in all high buildings. In the case of the Home 
 Life Building the tank was quickly emptied and 
 no water could be secured on the upper floors, 
 which were too far above the street to be reached 
 by the fire department with hose. (The thread 
 for coupling and the pipe should be the standard 
 of the city fire department, 2^-inch coupling, 8 
 threads to inch.) 
 
80 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 WOODWORK AND OTHER TRIM. It is claimed 
 that these can be fireproof ed by processes which 
 make them practically incombustible. Several 
 buildings in New York have fireproofed trim, 
 notably the Dun Building, Commercial Cable 
 Building and the Queen Building. (See page 40.) 
 It is claimed that some fireproof processes render 
 the wood unfit for paint, varnish, etc., care 
 should be exercised. 
 
 PARTITIONS. These should be fireproof, of 
 well-burned porous clay. The hard-burned clay 
 does not hold plaster so well as the porous kind. 
 And they should in all cases pass through the 
 flooring and rest upon the fireproof iron beams 
 and arches, so as to thoroughly cut off the pas- 
 sage of fire from room to room; (see page 16.) 
 
 COMBUSTIBLE CONTENTS. This fire clearly 
 demonstrated the fact that furniture, fixtures, 
 merchandise, wooden flooring and trim will be as 
 effectually cremated in a fireproof building as 
 would the fuel in a stove. A number of the 
 tenants in this building were uninsured, relying 
 upon the fireproof character of the structure, 
 overlooking the fact, strangely enough, that their 
 property was not fireproof. (See page 21.) 
 
 It is my opinion that if the contents of these 
 upper floors of the Home Life Building had been 
 combustible merchandise solidly packed, instead 
 of office furniture allowed as it was to burn out 
 because the Fire Department could not get water 
 to it, the iron framework of the building would 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 81 
 
 have given way, and it is highly probable the 
 upper part of the building would have fallen. 
 One of the most practical Builders of New York, 
 who has put up a number of fireproof buildings, 
 once said that he believed a bad fire in the waist 
 or middle of one of these structures would double 
 it up like a jackknife. What would happen in 
 case of the tumbling over of one of these enor- 
 mous structures must be left to the imagination. 
 FIRE-EXTINGUISHING APPLIANCES. Tanks do 
 not contain enough water to be of value for 
 stubborn fires in these high structures unless an 
 auxiliary source of supply is provided, and even 
 in such case, as, for example, where a building 
 is supplied with sprinklers and arrangements are 
 made to attach a steam fire engine to a street 
 outlet and so supply the system after the tank 
 has been exhausted, it would be insufficient to 
 accomplish much in the way of extinguishing a 
 fire already under headway. A steam fire engine 
 would supply only a given number of heads and 
 would fall far short of supplying the sprinklers 
 over a large territory. This is a possibility that 
 seems to be very generally overlooked. It en- 
 forces the opinion that these buildings should not 
 be constructed over 150 feet high and that mer- 
 cantile and manufacturing buildings should not 
 be constructed over 100 feet high, and that mer- 
 chandise should never be stored higher than 100 
 feet above the grade. 
 
82 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 PUMP-ROOM. It will be found that owners of 
 fireproof buildings, and some underwriters, over- 
 look the fact that the volume of water thrown to 
 extinguish a fire is sufficient quickly to drown 
 out the engine and pump room, put out the fires, 
 expel the engineer and stop the elevators. If pos- 
 sible the pump and engine room should be so cut 
 off from the rest of the building that it would 
 not be flooded, no matter how much water should 
 be thrown to extinguish the fire. This is not 
 always easy nor possible, and where it is not, too 
 much reliance should not be placed upon the in- 
 dependent pump system of the plant. Of course 
 the outlet to the sewer and the sewer itself should 
 be of sufficient capacity to carry off the water 
 thrown by the fire department probably as much 
 as 4,000 gallons per minute, if say ten steam fire 
 engines were working. 
 
 The staircases and elevators of a fireproof 
 building should be enclosed in four brick walls, 
 with fireproof doors protecting the communica- 
 tions with the main structure and outside win- 
 dows as well in case neighboring buildings should 
 project enough heat into the window openings to 
 prevent the egress of inmates or the ingress of 
 the firemen. Wire glass would be desirable for 
 such windows. 
 
 CHANNELS FOR WIRES, PIPING, ETC. All of 
 the electric-light wires, telephone wires, rising 
 pipes, etc., should pass through the floors in this 
 
HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 83 
 
 fireproof compartment, and the main standpipe, 
 with hose outlets, should also pass up this shaft 
 near the doors, so that it could be used to the 
 last moment by the firemen. In most modern 
 structures doors of rooms containing combustible 
 material open directly opposite elevator shafts 
 and stairways, and the smoke of a fire in any one 
 room might render them quickly impassable. 
 
 STEAM JETS for Extinguishing Fire. These 
 would prove, admirable for extinguishing pur- 
 poses as they could be turned on by the engineer, 
 with valves in the engine-room. A steam jet would 
 quickly smother a fire in any one room or floor, 
 and there ought always to be enough steam for 
 the purpose on holidays and at night. 
 
 BOND STONES, STONE PIERS, ETC. Since the 
 publication of the first edition of this work on the 
 danger of bond, stones in inside piers, fully ex- 
 plained on pages 29 and 30, a stubborn fire which 
 occurred in the City of New York, January 18, 
 1899, in the Cammeyer Building, Sixth Avenue 
 and Twentieth Street, has demonstrated the im- 
 portance of employing only cast-iron for bonds 
 and caps, and the great danger of using granite 
 or other stone for the purpose. The accom- 
 panying photographs show the condition of brick 
 piers five feet square after the fire was ex- 
 tinguished. The cracks extending from the cap 
 stone through the brick work and bond stone 
 below are plainly visible. 
 
84 HOW TO BUILD FIREPROOF. 
 
 It will be apparent that if the fire had burned 
 much longer these piers, whose integrity was 
 vital to the structure, would have given way and 
 let down the main girders. The cracks in the 
 brickwork are due to the cracks first occurring in 
 the cap and bond stones, the result of which was 
 to throw the heavy superimposed weight upon a 
 smaller section of the pier. If the cap and the 
 bond had been of cast-iron the brickwork would 
 have been uninjured. 
 
 This fire also demonstrated the truth of what 
 has been claimed for cast-iron on pages 7, 8, 9 
 and 31. The cast-iron vertical supports, sub- 
 jected to the same intense heat which ruined the 
 brick and stone piers, although unprotected by 
 fireproofing material, as they should have been, 
 were entirely uninjured. Even 6-inch cast-iron 
 columns supporting a girder in the rear were un- 
 bent and found to be thoroughly capable of 
 carrying their superimposed loads after the fire. 
 
 It would have been better in this instance to 
 have dispensed with the brick pier and its bond 
 and cap stone and employed a circular cast-iron 
 column, protected by eight inches of brickwork. 
 This would have been less expensive than the 
 large piers employed (five feet square) and would 
 have been a material gain in the matter of saving 
 space and light. 
 
 After a personal examination of this building, 
 in which I had the benefit of the expert knowl- 
 
HOW TO BUILD FISEPEOOF. 85 
 
 edge of Chief Bonner, of the New York Fire De- 
 partment, on whose judgment based upon many 
 years of intelligent observation I greatly rely, I 
 find nothing to take back in previous utterances 
 on these two important subjects. Only cast-iron 
 vertical supports should be used in cellars par- 
 ticularly, where they are subjected more than in 
 any other place to dampness and the danger of 
 rust. They should in all cases, however, be pro- 
 tected by coverings of fireproof material and they 
 should be thoroughly tested for thin places caused 
 by c ' floating cores ' ' and other defects in casting. 
 The thickness of the casting should be beyond all 
 question as to factors of safety (never less than 
 one inch for lower stories especially) and only 
 round columns should be used. 
 
 The New York building law requires that no 
 cast-iron column shall be of less average thick- 
 ness than three-quarters of an inch ; nor shall it 
 have an unsupported length of more than twenty 
 times its least lateral dimensions or diameter. 
 The law also requires that its bearings shall be 
 faced smooth and at right angles to the axis of 
 the column and when one column rests upon 
 another column they shall be securely bolted 
 together. 
 
CAMMEYER BUILDING, NEW YORK. 
 
 FIRE, JANUARY 18, 1899. 
 
 DAMAGED BRICK PIER SHOWING EFFECT OF FIRE ON STONE CAP AND BOND STONES. 
 INTEGRITY OF PIER LOST. 
 
m m 
 
HORNE OFFICE BUILDING PITTSBURG. 
 
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 120'0" 
 PENN 
 
 
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 1ORNE OFFICE ,; 
 
 940 
 
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 AVENUE 
 
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 LIBERTY 
 
 AVENUE 
 
 CONSUMED 
 
 PARTIALLY CONSUMED 
 
 HORNE BUILDING (FIREPROOF) AND SURROUNDINGS, PITTSBURG, PA. 
 
 GROUND PLAN. 
 (Published by consent of THE ENGINEERING RECORD.) 
 
FIRE JENKINS WHOLESALE GROCERY STORE, PITTSBURG. 
 
 FIRE MAY 3, 1897. 
 
 (Published by consent of THE ENGINEERING KECORD.) 
 
HORNE BUILDING PITTSBURG, ENTRANCE. 
 
HORNE BUILDING, PITTSBURG. 
 
 SHOWING FIREPROOF FLOORS BROKEN THROUGH. 
 

 HORNE BUILDING, PITTSBURG INTERIOR. 
 
HORNE BUILDING, PITTSBURG. 
 
 SHOWING COLUMNS STRIPPED WELL HOLE, ETC. 
 
HORNE BUILDING, PITTSBURG. 
 
 SHOWING FALLEN TANK, ETC. 
 
HOME LIFE "FIREPROOF" BUILDING, NEW YORK. 
 
 FIRE DECEMBER 4, 1898. 
 
 SHOWING BUILDING BEFORE THE FIRE. 
 
Mil 
 
 HOME LIFE "FIREPROOF" BUILDING, NEW YORK. 
 
 FIRE DECEMBER 4, 1898. 
 SHOWING BUILDING AFTER THE FIRE. 
 
 FIRE DAMAGE APPRAISED $200,000. OF WHICH THE CONTINENTAL'S SHARE WAS $40,000. 
 
GROUND PLAN OF HOME LIFE BUILDING. 
 
 SHOWING COURT, ETC. 
 (Published by consent of THE ENGINEERING RECORD.) 
 
HOME LIFE BUILDING, SHOWING COURT. 
 
 WHICH BY INCREASING DRAFT CONTRIBUTED TO THE DAMAGE. 
 
 (Published by consent of THE ENGINEERING RECORD.) 
 
HOME LIFE BUILDING. STONE FRONT AFTER FIRE. 
 (Published by consent of THE ENGINEERING KECORD.) 
 
ROOM IN HOME LIFE BUILDING AFTER FIRE. 
 (Published by consent of THE ENGINEERING RECORD.) 
 
MANHATTAN SAVINGS BANK BUILDING. 
 
 FIRE NOV. 4, 1885. PAGE 20. 
 LOSS $225,000. CONTINENTAL INS. CO., PAID $20,355. 
 
INSTRUCTIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION 
 
 OF 
 
 FIRE DOORS AID SHUTTERS 
 
 ADOPTED BY 
 
 New York Board of Fire Underwriters 
 
 MARCH 17, 1897. 
 
Placing your fire insurance in some 
 companies is like 
 
 KEEPING YOUR VALUABLES 
 
 IN A PASTEBOARD BOX 
 
 INSTEAD OF A MODERN SAFE 
 
 when you have the choice of either at 
 the same price. 
 
 Get a CONTINENTAL policy and you 
 are sure of absolute indemnity at fair 
 rates. 
 
 An old established AMERICAN COMPANY 
 whose fixed policy, financial strength, pro- 
 gressive management and fair treatment of 
 policyholders, are guaranteed by its past record. 
 
 "Insure in an American Company." 
 
 CONTINENTAL FIRE INS. CO., 
 
 46 Cedar Street, New York. 
 
 Rialto Building, Chicago, Ills. 
 
INSTRUCTIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION 
 
 OF 
 
 FIRE DOORS AND SHUTTERS. 
 
 Communications between buildings should be cut off by fire doors 
 each side of opening, as follows: 
 
 There should be no woodwork or furring about the opening; the 
 doors should be made of two thicknesses (except where openings 
 are made larger than called for in the Standard. See page n) of 
 i-inch narrow, tongued and grooved, soft white pine boards (free 
 from sap, pitch or moisture of any kind), laid diagonally (both sides) 
 and nailed with wrought iron nails driven through and clinched, 
 then covered on both sides and edges with ioxi4-inch sheets of 
 " bright I. C." tin, except where doors are exposed to an atmos- 
 phere liable to cause rust (then TERNE PLATES should be used in 
 place of tin), joints flat-locked and securely nailed under laps 
 (barbed wire nails to be used, i^ inches in size, to be driven 2 
 
I I 
 
 I 
 
inches apart; for shutters i-inch barbed wire nails should be used), 
 but not soldered. 
 
 The plugging of walls with wood or lead, or the use of lag screws 
 will not be permitted; tracks or other fittings put up in this man- 
 ner, will not be approved. 
 
 AUTOMATIC BOORS. 
 
 It is preferable that all communicating doors be arranged to 
 close automatically in case of fire, and where a building fully 
 equipped with sprinklers communicates with one not so equipped, 
 the doors at the communications must be arranged to close auto- 
 matically. [See drawing on page 4.] 
 
 SLIDING DOORS. 
 
 [See drawing on page 4.] 
 
 When sliding doors are used, they must be of sufficient size to 
 lap 3 inches over the opening at sides and top, and they must be 
 hung to suitable steel trolley tracks, and the brackets, hangers 
 and all other fittings in connection with tracks and doors should 
 be made of wrought or malleable iron, and hangers should be 
 firmly bolted to and through doors by carriage bolts, and 
 
 Where walls are 16 inches or less in thickness, then fastenings 
 of tracks, hinges and other fittings for carrying doors or holding 
 
the same fast to brickwork, should be bolted to and through same 
 with necessary washers and nuts, and 
 
 Where walls are over 16 inches in thickness, brackets for hold- 
 ing tracks should be firmly bolted to the brick wall (both sides) by 
 expansion bolts ^ x 6 inches, with not more than 20 inches space 
 between each bolt. The tracks should be placed at an incline 
 not less than |/6 to ^ inch to the foot, and at such height that the 
 door, when closed, will rest firmly on the sill, and at the lower 
 and upper corner about 6 inches from top and bottom, iron bind- 
 ers (counter-sunk) must be bolted to brick wall and jambs by ex- 
 pansion bolts ^4x6 inches, to keep doors in place, and when 
 closed, to hold them close to the wall, and a guide also bolted to 
 brickwork should be placed at the other lower corner, as shown in 
 drawing on page 4. Handles should be placed on doors (counter- 
 sunk) on the inside and pull handles on the outside. [See draw- 
 ings on pages 17 to 19 for fittings.] 
 
 When required, a light framework of slats must be built outside 
 of doors to prevent piling of stock, etc., against same. 
 
 In order to allow the doors to run free and not chafe against 
 the wall, the roller part of guide should be set about ^ inch from 
 door when hung and open; then a wedge-shaped piece of iron (as 
 shown in drawings on pages 4 and 17) should be screwed to door 
 near the lower corner in such a position as to bring the wedge 
 between door and roller guide, so as to clamp the door tight 
 against the wall when closed. 
 
 If chafing strips are used on sliding doors, they should be 
 
screwed to the inside part and run across door about 5 inches 
 shorter at each end than the width of doors. 
 
 SWINGING DOORS. 
 
 When swinging doors are used they must be hung on iron hold- 
 fasts built in wall, or hooks bolted through the wall, or by wrought 
 or malleable iron plates firmly set by expansion bolts, or hinged to 
 iron rabbeted jambs [see drawing on page 10] securely bolted to 
 brickwork, and the hinges should be of wrought iron % to fa inch 
 thick by 1^/2 to 2 inches wide, extending two-thirds across each 
 door, bolted to and through same by carriage bolts, the heads of 
 bolts resting against washers outside of tin, and nut to screw 
 against hinge; doors when closed should be fastened by heavy 
 wrought iron drop-latch bolted to and through doors in the same 
 manner as with hinges; catch to receive latch must be securely 
 fastened to brickwork. If bolts are used then iron plates with 
 opening for bolts to slide in must be bolted to brickwork. 
 
 All swinging doors to close in jambs flush with face of wall. 
 [See drawings on page 6 and 8.] Where doors close in jambs 
 without rabbet, they must have iron astragal 2^ inches wide, \y z 
 inches on doors, all around outer edge of doors, fastened by bolts 
 set 8' inches apart, bolted to and through same, and lapping over 
 brickwork i^ inches. [Drawing on page 6, shows astragal door. 
 Drawing on page 8, shows rabbet built in brickwork. Drawing 011 
 page TO, shows rabbet made by angle iron.] 
 
RABBETED DOORS. 
 
 When the doors are made in two parts the edges of the doors 
 where they come together should be rabbeted, the single boarding 
 of each door extending over and fitting in that of the other about 
 i inch [see drawing on page 12], so as to make a close joint when 
 closed; these doors to be hung and hinges put on the same as 
 swinging doors, and the door that is closed first should be fastened 
 by bolts on the inside, top and bottom, let into sills and lintels; 
 and on the door that closes last, there must be placed a wrought 
 or malleable iron drop-latch (as shown in drawings on pages 12 and 
 18), with latch-guide firmly bolted to and through door by car- 
 riage bolts, and with catch placed on the opposite door in such 
 manner that the door can be opened from either side. 
 
 SILLS. 
 
 All sills must be of stone or iron and rest on the solid brick wall 
 with highest side at least 1^2 inches above the floor and to be 
 full width of the wall, and set in the brick jambs 2 inches and ex- 
 tend at least 3^ inches beyond the face of wall, both sides, so 
 that inclines even with top of sills may be used and not interfere 
 with the closing of doors. [See drawing on page 16.] 
 
IO 
 
LINTELS. 
 
 Lintels should be of stone or iron, but if wood lintels are found 
 in old arches the same must be protected by tin, put on the same as 
 on doors, edges flashed in brickwork. 
 
 OPENINGS. 
 
 When openings are over 4 feet in width and 7 feet in height, then 
 doors must be increased in thickness in proportion to the increased 
 size of said openings, but should not be larger than 6x8 feet, and 
 should be made of three (instead of two)., thicknesses (as shown in 
 drawing on page 2, and Section on page 17). 
 
 FIRE SHUTTERS. 
 
 All batten fire shutters should be made the same as rabbeted 
 doors, except two thicknesses of %-inch or not less than ^-inch nar- 
 row, tongued and grooved, soft white pine boards should be used, 
 the same as for fire doors, and the edges covered with galvanized 
 iron, in strips about 9 inches in width, forming a border to cover 
 edges and lap over on each side of shutter about 3^ inches, the 
 edges of same to be turned up to receive Terne Plate (in place of 
 tin) in order to form a proper lap joint; the Terne Plate to have 
 
 ii 
 
12 
 
no vertical joints except with border, and the galvanized iron 
 border to have joints, one at each corner; and all cross-lap joints 
 should be made in such a manner that water will not work in back 
 of plates to wood (the galvanized iron to conform as near as possi- 
 ble to the grade of I. C. tin). 
 
 Where shutters come together, they should be rabbeted, and 
 provided with strap hinges to run two-thirds across each, bolted 
 to and through same by carriage bolts, and hung to wrought iron 
 eyes built in brickwork, or by bolts passing through walls, held by 
 nuts and washers, so that they can close inside of brick jambs and 
 be fastened to iron cross-bar of not less than y& to ^ inch thick 
 by \y 2 inches in width, ends let in brickwork. [See drawing on 
 page 14.] 
 
 In cases where shutters cannot be properly placed to close in- 
 side of brick jambs, then they must be made to lap 3 inches over 
 the window openings (at sides and top), and arranged to close 
 tight on stone or iron sills. 
 
 The fastenings or latches at windows [see drawing on page 19], 
 above the first floor, should be so arranged, when required, that 
 they can be opened from the outside [see drawing on page 14]. 
 
 Where standard wood, metal covered, shutters are not required, 
 and 
 
 IRON SHUTTERS 
 
 are permitted, the said iron shutters should be made as follows: 
 If the window openings are of ordinary size, say 4 feet 6 inches 
 
mmmm 
 
 r 
 
 14 
 
by 8 feet 6 inches to 9 feet, the frame should be of 3-16 angle iron 
 ijxi% inches. 
 
 For openings of from 6xio feet, the frames should be not less 
 than Y* inch angle iron 2x2 inches. For larger openings than the 
 above, frames should be increased in proportion to the size of shut- 
 ter, and be covered with not less than No. 16 blue annealed iron. 
 
 For all shutters over 8 feet high, at least three eyes shall be 
 provided on each side, and if hung to iron hanger frames, at least 
 three anchors to brickwork, on each side, shall be provided. 
 
 All iron shutters should be hung to suitable iron hanger frames, 
 or to iron eyes securely fastened in the walls, and so arranged 
 that when closed, the shutters will be at least 4 inches free and 
 clear of all woodwork. 
 
 Shutters should be kept well painted. 
 
 ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTION. 
 
 In all the cases above-mentioned, work will be subject to the 
 approval of the Inspector of this Board, and should there be any 
 doubt as to the method of doing the work or any change or modi- 
 fication, further instruction will be given at this office. 
 
16 
 
i8 
 
INDEX. 
 
 A. 
 
 American Exchange Bank, 30. 
 Arches between beams, 36. 
 Automatic Sprinkler Pipes, 73. 
 
 B, 
 
 Beams, 35. 
 
 Boiler room, 44. 
 
 Bond stones, 29, 83. 
 
 Bonner, Chief, 85. 
 
 Braces, iron, 76. 
 
 Brick, 25. 
 
 Burnley Mills, England, 34. 
 
 C. 
 
 Cammeyer b'ld'g fire, 83, 86, 87. 
 Capitol at Albany, N. Y., 33. 
 Cast iron, 7, 9, not liable to rust, 
 
 8, 31. 
 Cellars, dampness in causes rust, 
 
 11. 
 
 Ceiling, wooden, 72. 
 Cement, 9. 
 
 Channels for pipes, wires, etc., 82. 
 Chimneys, 45, 46, 47. 
 Closets, 70. 
 Columns arranged for stripping 
 
 and examination, 9. 
 Communications, 48. 
 Conductivity, 12. 
 Contents of fireproof buildings, 
 
 destructibility, 21. 
 Conflagrations, 22, 23. 
 Courts as flues, 54. 
 Curtain walls, 25. 
 Cut offs, gas and electricity, 62. 
 
 D. 
 
 Doors between buildings, 48. 
 Doors, fireproof, 53, 75. 
 Dry rot, 71. 
 Dynamo rooms, 45, 62. 
 
 E. 
 
 Electric lighting, 45, 70, cut offs 
 
 at street for firemen, 62. 
 Elevators, 7, 42, 67. 
 Enclosing walls, 22, 68, thin, 25, 
 
 End construction, 36. 
 Expansion of iron, 11, 12, 34, of 
 masonry, 12, 13, 14. 
 
 F. 
 
 Fire escapes, 52. 
 
 Fire extinguishing appliances, 62, 
 
 73, 81. 
 
 Fireproof doors, 48, 53, 75. 
 Fireproof shutters, 53, 75. 
 Fireproof wood, 40, 80. 
 Fireproofing iron members, 7, 32. 
 Fireplaces, 45. 
 Floor arches, 36. 
 Floor boards, 40, 67, 76. 
 Foundation, 67. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gas, cutting off supply main, 62. 
 Glass windows, 6, wire glass, 54. 
 Girders, 35. 
 Guastavino arches, 77. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hallway, fireproof, 48, 49, 50, 51. 
 Heat of burning building, 22, 27. 
 Home Life Building, 75. 
 Home Building, 6, 21, 41. 
 
 I. 
 
 Insurance companies interest in 
 
 fireproof construction, 57. 
 Iron columns, 85. 
 
 Luxfer prisms, 41. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 M. 
 
 Melting points, 22. 
 Merchandise in high buildings, 16 
 Mills, Burnley, 34. 
 Mills Building, 7. 
 Mill construction, 63. 
 
 N. 
 
 New York Board rules for fire- 
 proof doors and shutters, 109. 
 Non-fireproof buildings, 63. 
 
 O. 
 
 Oil fires, sand for, 73. 
 Openings through floors, 7. 
 Outside stairways, 52. 
 
 P. 
 
 Parapet walls, 69. 
 
 Paint, 10. 
 
 Partitions should be fireproof, 
 
 16, 80. 
 
 Patent floor arches, 37. 
 Piers, 29, 84. 
 Pillars, stone, 30. 
 Post, George B., Col., 32. 
 Protected iron work, 7, 32, 35. 
 Pump room, 82. 
 
 R. 
 
 Recapitulation, 25, 59. 
 
 Rivets, 11. 
 
 Roof, 16, 43. 
 
 Rubbish, 71. 
 
 Rust, danger of, 8, 10. 
 
 S. 
 
 Safes, iron fireproof, 77. 
 Sand to extinguish fires, 73. 
 Sawdust spittoons, 71. 
 Schedule insurance rates, 63, 66. 
 Sheathing, wooden, 72. 
 Skeleton construction, 28. 
 Skylights, 42, 74. 
 Shims, 31. 
 
 Shutters, fireproof, 53, 109, self- 
 closing, 55. 
 
 Side construction, 36. 
 
 Slate roofs, 43. 
 
 Slow burning construction, 63. 
 
 Sprinkler pipes, 73. 
 
 Stairways, 7, 41, 67, 78, 82, stone 
 
 treads, 19, 20. 
 Stand pipes, 17, 79. 
 Standard building, 66. 
 Steam jets, 83. 
 Stone bonds, 29. 
 Stone fronts, 30, 78. 
 Stone treads, 19, 20, pillars, 30. 
 Stores and Warehouses, 63. 
 Summary, 25. 
 Steel, 8. 
 Steel rivets, 11. 
 
 T. 
 
 Tanks, 17, 52, 69. 
 Terra cotta arches, 38. 
 Tests of material, 56. 
 Templates, 52. 
 Tie rods, 36. 
 
 U. 
 
 Underwriters, interest in fire- 
 proof construction, 57. 
 
 Underwriters' doors and shutters, 
 109. 
 
 Universal Mercantile Schedule, 
 66. 
 
 V. 
 
 Ventilating shafts, 40. 
 Vertical stand (water) pipes, 17. 
 
 W. 
 
 Walls, thickness of etc., 22, 
 
 Thin, 25, 27. 
 
 Watchman for high buildings, 18. 
 Waste, 71. 
 
 Water tanks, 17, 52, 69. 
 Water proof floors, 39, 70. 
 Well holes, 41, 73. 
 Western Union Building, 12. 
 Window frames, 78. 
 Wire glass, 54. 
 Wooden sheathing on side walls, 
 
 ceilings, etc., 72. 
 
WHY TO INSURE IN AN AMERICAN COMPANY. 
 
 AMERICAN COMPANIES ARE THE LARGEST; 
 
 of the six companies (including the "Continental") 
 reporting OVER TEN MILLION DOLLARS IN ASSETS, 
 only one is foreign, and its U. S. assets are less than 
 those of the "Continental". 
 
 AMERICAN COMPANIES ARE THE STRONGEST; 
 
 of the five companies (including the "Continental") 
 whose reports show a surplus to policyholders EXCEED- 
 ING FIVE MILLION DOLLARS, none are foreign. 
 
 COSTS NO MORE. 
 
 Why patronize foreigners when you can get the same 
 thing at the same price from fellow-countrymen? 
 
 GIVES BUSINESS TO THOSE WHO GIVE YOU BUSINESS: 
 
 Stockholders of the American Companies are their part- 
 ners and as they are distributed throughout the United 
 States, they are doing business with you. 
 
 PROFIT, IF ANY, REMAINS IN THIS COUNTRY, 
 
 contributing to the general prosperity, which in turn 
 benefits YOU. 
 
 THE 
 
 CONTINENTAL 
 INSURANCE 
 
 COMPANY 
 
 of New York. 
 
 WHY TO INSURE IN THE CONTINENTAL. 
 
 Is an American Company, owned by Americans and managed by 
 Americans. 
 
 Does business under the Safety Fund Law, making its policy 
 "Conflagration Proof." 
 
 Assets ($11,599,011.) and surplus ($5,901 ,328.) to policy- 
 holders are larger than those in the U. S. of any foreign 
 company. 
 
 Paid in full all losses incurred in the great Chicago and Boston 
 conflagrations. 
 
 Since organization its loss payments to policyholders exceed 
 Forty-Seven Millions of Dollars. 
 
 You secure, if desired, the advantage of inspection by experi- 
 enced men, and will be furnished on request with in- 
 formation regarding safe construction of buildings, etc. 
 
 Prompt attention to loss adjustments ensured by the organized 
 force of travelling men which the Company's large busi- 
 ness enables it to maintain to cover every section of the 
 country and which a smaller company could not afford. 
 
 Organized in 1 852, its fifty years of successful business prove 
 its financial strength, conservative management and 
 fair treatment of polh 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
FIRE INSURANCE. 
 
 Every CONTINENTAL policy is issued 
 under the " Safety Fund Law" of the 
 State of New York, and all policy holders 
 obtain the additional security provided 
 by that law. A CONTINENTAL policy is 
 < ' Conflagration Proof. ' ' 
 
 RENT INSURANCE. 
 
 A lease is usually terminated by a par- 
 tial or total destruction of the building 
 by fire. The owner not only suffers loss 
 on the building, but also on rents. At 
 small cost you can insure against such 
 loss in the CONTINENTAL. 
 
 TORNADO INSURANCE. 
 
 Official figures (U. S. Government) show 
 368 tornadoes in the United States since 
 1899 causing loss of over twenty-three 
 millions of dollars. These figures refer 
 only to wind- storms having the peculiar 
 features of tornadoes as technically 
 known. Hurricanes, cyclones and ordi- 
 nary wind-storms are not included, a 
 CONTINENTAL tornado policy covers loss 
 or damage from any of these. 
 
 j ,";, -V.T-" Agents everywhere. 
 
 CONTINENTAL FIRE INS. CO., 
 
 46 Cedar Street, New York. 
 
 Rialto Building, Chicago, Ills. 
 
 "Insure in an American Company." 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW 
 
 EDWARD LANNING, Secretary. 
 J. E. LOPEZ, 
 E. L. BALLARD, 
 
 CO. 
 
 < NOV 11 1915 
 
 } JAN 19 If 
 
 i 14Jan'59WW 
 i 
 
 [)50.16 
 WO.OO 
 )20.00 
 250.00 
 136.11 
 )86.90 
 558.64 
 
 RECD UC 
 ] JAN 14 BE 
 | NOV 2 119741 
 
 V 
 
 s 
 c 
 c 
 
 ^ LSI 
 
 03.60 
 59.41 
 10.68 
 )0.00 
 K).00 
 J8.12 
 
 m ores 74 L81 
 
 i ^ i - 
 
 RDY. 
 
 A 
 
 J c 
 
 K 
 E 
 
 
 P 
 
 30m-l,'15 
 
 ent. 
 
 Ass't Secretaries. 
 
 Western Dep't, Rialto Building, Chicago, Ills. 
 
 GEO. E. KLINE, General Manager. 
 
 C. R. TUTTLE, Ass't Gen'l Manager.