A Treatise On The Principles And Practice Of Dock Engineering

394 DOCK ENGINEERING. The balconies on the dockside and roadside are hinged so as to be turned up or let down at will. The topmost floor is unsheltered and is used as an open quay space, upon which goods unaffected by the weather are deposited. The section through a similar shed is given in fig. 375. Antwerp Sheds. The older sheds at this port are mainly constructed in timber, having uprights, framing, and roof trusses of red pine with a covering of corrugated iron. One of these sheds is shown in section in fig. 376. The later sheds along the quays of the Scheidt are entirely constructed in iron. The struts and chairs for roof trusses and the column guards are cast; all the remainder is wrought. The sheds are disposed in groups of several spans, each of a uniform width of 40 feet, with their gable ends facing the river bank. The spaces between the groups range between 40 and 80 feet in width, and are- occupied by one or more lines of rails con- nected with the quay service by means of turn-tables. The depth of the sheds varies from 100 to 160 feet, and they cover an area of nearly 17 acres. The type of shed is uniform throughout and is illustrated in fig. 377. The roof trusses are situated at 11 feet 4 inches centres, bearing on longi- tudinal plate girders, 20 inches deep, which span the distance, 34 feet, between consecutive columns. These last are built of two channel irons connected by plates, so as to form a hollow rectangular interior, which is utilised to accommodate the rain-water spouts. The column bases are bolted down to a masonry foundation. The principal rafters are of joist iron ; the struts of cast iron, cruciform section ; the ties of round iron, and , the purlins of angle iron. Along the ridge on the north slope of the roof runs a continuous skylight, 7 feet in width. Warehouses and Sheds at Rotterdam. The oldest type of warehouse, constructed in the seventies of last century, has a length of 656 feet and a width of 120 feet. It is divided into five compartments by fireproof partitions, which project beyond the face and above the roof of the building by 6 feet 6 inches. The ground floor and its exterior platform are 3 feet 6 inches higher than the quay level. There are fireproof cellars with an area of 5,330 square yards, and, in addition to this, there are three floors. Along the first of these runs a balcony 23 feet wide; above there is a narrow gangway of 6 feet 6 inches in width. Contemporaneously with this warehouse were constructed eight sheds, entirely in wood, with an internal width of 59 feet. The floor rests upon piles, spaced 8 feet apart, which, however, are a cause of inconvenience from their continuous settlement and the consequent necessity for raising the floor. The roof covering is bituminous paper (papier-bitume) laid on