Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

STEEL-FRAME BUILDINGS. 15 weight on to the pier. One face of the edifice thus actually has an air space below it like an overhanging story of an old English house. Fig. 60.—CANTILEVER COLUMN SUPPORTS OF LAND TITLE BUILDING. the walls of the four stories im- mediately over the ballroom (as shown in Fig. 64) sustain twelve stories of bed- rooms, which, with their furni- ture and occu- pants, give a total load of over 1,000 tons. Fig. 61.—DIAGRAM OF STEEL FRAME OF TOWER OF METROPOLITAN In Great Britain we are accustomed to see large steam engines and boilers installed on massive foundations built on solid earth. So some interest attaches to Fig. 63, representing the An Elevated 79,000 horse-power gen- Power £ ,, .. erating station 01 the Station. & New York Metropolitan Street Railway Company, where eighty- seven 800 horse-power boilers, auxiliary machinery, and bunkers containing 1,000 tons of coal, are carried by a steel skeleton. The power station of the Manhattan Railway Company is a still more striking instance of the use of a skeleton frame to carry a heavy plant independently of floors and walls. In this case the load is sixty-seven 500 horse-power boilers and 3,000 tons of coal—the last bunkered in the third story. The famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel is notable for the manner Suspended in which an absolutely Stories. clear space was provided LIFE BUILDING, SHOWING WIND- BRACING. Fig. 62.—WIND - BRACING OF LAND TITLE BUILDING. for a ballroom 100 feet long and 80 feet wide. Two huge trusses built into