Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

& r 20 ing the largest single-office building in the world. Architects are not yet satisfied with their conquests. Buildings loftier than the Metro- politan are already in prospect, the projected sixty-two story one of them structure for Loftier Structures to come. foundation, a Fig. 70. ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. the Equitable Life Assurance Company. This is to have a height of 909 feet. Nor need the advance stop here, for even under the existing build- ing regulations of New York, which limit the weight to 15 tons per square foot of height of 2,000 feet might be attained. If the laws were made less stringent— as they might be quite reasonably— some hundreds of feet might be added. But a consideration of quite another kind—that of transporting the large number of persons inhabiting a colossal building such as could be built—will probably place a practical limit on height long before the theoretical limit is reached. In this connection we should say a few words about the modern lift which, equally with responsible for the rapid growth of the sky- scraper. Slow - moving lifts of the type which is generally employed in London to- day would require from ten to fifteen minutes to make an ascent of the Metropolitan Tower, and would be quite worthless to the business woman. In a New York steel-frame the elevator installation is as and elaborate as a railway Like a railway, it includes “ and local services. not stop until a lofty floor is reached —the fifteenth, twentieth, or the for- tieth, maybe. On these long “ non- stop runs ” they take full advantage of the 600 feet per minute speed limit allowed by law. Over every lift en- trance are two electric lamps, which illuminate the word “ Up ” or “ Down,” to inform you of the direction in which express mild steel, is The High- speed Elevator. man or building intricate system. express ” The express lifts do ■