No Wood in This Building

1905

Baltimore Architects Seem to Have Evolved Fireproof Structure

Two Baltimore architects have drawn plans for a building entirely without wood. It will be six stories and will have a frontage of 41.5 feet. The entire structure is to be of reinforced concrete and steel. Even the doors, trims, window sashes and door jambs are to be of metal.

The windows will be glazed with wire glass. The frame for the show windows will be of steel, into which the plate glass will be fitted. The side walls, columns and rear walls as well as the supporting columns of the front walls will be of concrete. The floors will also have a top dressing of cement one and a half inches thick. The stairs will be of concrete, with slate treads and wrought iron balustrades. The elevator shaft will be of concrete, as will also the enclosure around the stairway and the elevator hall. The cellar and roof are to be of cement.

In order to eliminate all wood, even the flagstaffs on top will be of steel. — Engineering Mining Journal.


Busts in Butter

Not long ago a dinner was given by a novelist in London, at which all the butter on the great table was in miniature busts of noted authors.

Wood for Resisting Fires

1896

A report from Consul Robertson on the free port system of Hamburg, just published by the State Department, contains the curious item of information that in the great new warehouses constructed in the German port wood is being substituted for iron to secure better protection against fire.

These buildings were originally provided with iron beams and girders, but when one of them was burned some years ago it was found that the iron had been so bent and twisted by the heat as to become a source of great danger to the adjoining structures. "In all the warehouses, therefore, which have since been built," observes Mr. Robertson, "it has been deemed advisable to substitute wood for iron as much as possible." Probably a heavy wooden beam, imbedded in some non-conducting material that would exclude the air, would be as nearly fireproof as anything except brick or stone. It might be charred on the outside, but the interior would probably remain sound in any ordinary heat.

It is a curious speculation to imagine what would have happened if the present method of construction in Chicago had been in vogue before the great fire. A twenty-five-story, steel-cage building warping into a corkscrew and boring a hole in the sky would be a spectacle worth going miles to see.


Derivation of Whiskers

The word whiskers is derived from whisk, and the Anglo-Saxon wisch, which means a slight brush. Less than a century ago the expression was unheard of, the whiskers as well as the mustache being spoken of as part of the beard. It was only when the latter was divided, and the true whiskers disappeared as well, that their name was changed to the mutton chop part of the beard left on the cheek.

Armored Car In Warfare

1915

European Armies Have Found It of the Greatest Value in Their Operations

Although an engine new to warfare, the armored motor car has proved extremely useful, especially for outpost and scouting duty. Fast, silent, and mobile, it covers a vast amount of ground on the splendid roads that crisscross the field of war in western Europe.

Most of the cars are encased in a light frame of tough steel plate that ranges in thickness from three-sixteenths of an inch to a quarter of an inch, and that is impervious to rifle and machine-gun fire. All the vulnerable parts of the motor, such as the radiator and steering gear, and in some of the newest cars the wheels, are protected by the steel covering.

The wheels, both wood and wire, are said to withstand the roughest sort of usage. Accidents to the tires are much less common than anyone would expect.

The cars carry a light armament — one or two machine guns so mounted that they can be swung through a complete circle — and a large supply of ammunition. The crew, which may number from four to eight or more men, are armed with rifles and revolvers. Some of the cars have a steel superstructure that rises from the chassis frame high enough to enable the crew to stand upright, and that is capped with a domed roof, from which bullets and shrapnel usually fly off at a sharp angle without even denting the steel. — Youth's Companion.

Real Gratitude — Guilty Man Happy With Not-Guilty Verdict

1914

When Blaine was a young lawyer and cases were few, he was asked to defend a poverty-stricken tramp accused of stealing a watch. He pleaded with all the ardor at his command, drawing so pathetic a picture with such convincing energy that at the close of his argument the court was in tears and even the tramp wept. The jury deliberated a few minutes and returned the verdict "not guilty." Then the tramp drew himself up, tears streaming down his face as he looked at the future "plumed knight" and said: "Sir, I have never heard so grand a plea. I have not cried before since I was a child. I have no money with which to reward you, but (drawing a package from the depths of his ragged clothes), here's the watch; take it and welcome." — Pittsburgh Chronicle Telegraph.


New Idea for Belting

Those who buy belting for machinery will not have to worry about the price of leather in the years to come if a certain sort of belting which is being manufactured by a firm in Connecticut proves to be a success. The new product is called flexible steel belting and is really a step further than the chain and sprocket idea. The belting is made in a complicated series of links and can be used on all pulleys of from two inches in diameter to the largest size. It has been designed especially for service where atmospheric conditions are bad for leather and rubber belts.