Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

448 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. rollers, upon which the building was to make its journey. Lifted by Jacks. The next step was to provide an abutment for the horizontal jacks when the actual moving of the building took place. For this purpose 12-inch by 12-inch beams were laid parallel to the De Kalb Avenue wall of the edifice, and anchored by chains to the supporting crib work below the build- ing. Twenty-five jacks, manned by as many men, were then placed at regular intervals between the 12-inch abutment timbers and th© longitudinal 15-inch. I-beams—twenty on the outer wall and five on the inner wall. The screwing up of the jacks was done by signal, each man making a half turn when the whistle sounded. The work proceeded without any hitch, and in the course of a week the huge mass had been moved back 47 feet from De Kalb Avenue. In slewing the building round, the jacks were applied tangentially at the corners of the supporting framework, and the great building rotated exactly as a bridge revolves on its turnstile. When it had been turned through 87 degrees, it was pushed forward until its fagade fronted on Hudson Avenue. Here it was lowered upon a new foundation which had been built for it. The time occupied in transferring the edifice to its new site was three months. Somewhat different was the removal of a two-story brick building, weighing over 200 tons, of which we reproduce an illustration. It was trans- ported a distance of four miles in the neighbourhood of Pittsburg, most of the work being per- formed upon the water. From the moment th© house was lifted until it was placed upon its new foundation there arose Moving a House by Water. one complication after another. Th© long stretch of ground lying between the original silt and the river was of so soft a nature that the building was constantly in danger of collapse ; and when these obstacles had been overcome, and the house had reached the shore of the river, a very severe flood arose and surrounded the stranded house. To prevent it from being washed away, the edifice had to be weighted with heavy steel rails. When the water had sunk sufficiently, the house was moved on to a coal barge and towed down the Alleghany River. To pass four low bridges on the way the barge had to be scuttled repeatedly, and pumped dry again when a bridge had been negotiated. Furthermore, the craft had to be lowered through a lock, and at the end of the river trip the house itself had to cross three tracks of the Buffalo, Rochester, and Pittsburg Railway within thirty minutes. Dwelling-houses weighing from 120 to 250 tons are often conveyed bodily from one town to another in California. Such feats occupy from a fortnight to six weeks, and cost from £300 Removal zx by Rail. to £500, according to the diffi- culties of the task. A great courthouse, measuring 38 feet by 50 feet and 51 feet in height, and weighing 48 tons, was conveyed some two years ago a distance of nineteen miles along the Burlington and Missouri Railway on four freight car trucks. Chicago has been the scene of some very clever and even daring removal feats. The Normandy Apartment Building, an 8,000-ton brick struc- ture, was moved bodily a distance of some 350 feet to make room for an elevated railway. The work required the services of twenty-four men, with 800 jack screws and 600 rollers, for a period of ten weeks. END OF VOLUME H.