Show SAFEST MATERIALS LESSONS OF VALUE THE BIG proper construction of great buildings ascertained by committee of experts facts for builders ore ot tho standing committees ol 01 the national F re protection assoria tion devotes its attention to those features of construction which are best designed to choc the progress of s conflagration immediately alter the BaU inore disaster of february baat reports the new york chii committee entered upon an elaborate investigation of tie damaged property v ith a vie v to obtaining such fresh in tc mation aa m be afforded there b it was hoped that a report would be rea ly in tl e pring or early summer sotie ason its appearance wa dela ed m longer the document was distributed only a few days abo in pi e of its tardiness the ons then embodied will prove of immense value to insurance irs urance men architects owners of large buildings and to those municipal officers who have occasion to stud the essentials of ure resistive construction the committee was composed of 12 well 1 experts and in the per of this special task had the assistance of tour others so author an expression as that of these men has not appeared before in many years perhaps it is without precedent since the era of steel frame buildings opened the first topic treated in the con cl is ons at the committee Is the ne csuy for suitably shielding the metal columns floor beams and other steel and iron bemb rs of i modern str ati re the committee in po alve terms that nothing erves so effectively as well b ned brick laid in cement mortar hollow ti e lack stability they do not stay in place thay are also perceptibly affected by severe he t planter blocks are pro bounced inferior to terra cot a I 1 bilow t ie pro d factory for floor arche in baltimore for a variety of reasons some lines the arches had too wl ie a span to ins re strength sometime they were not properly overlaid with cement often the low er layer of the tile technical known as the web would break under in tens heat and thus weaken the rest of the tile almost invariably the lower flanges of the 11 earns in tl e floors showed that they had been ina pro one form of covering failed because it was held by exposed metal relps arother proved be ause the sl ev ba ka projections from the arch tile broke and re leased their b adon on the whole for arch colstr ft on cement seemed to stand up wall although it was not extensively i ed in baltimore for exterior walls tl ose in front ind rear noti arg has been feind that s compliable with food brick stone ainars much more from fire on the sides also the vails should 1 e of brick an 1 th ck eno gh to x a one if the bill lings collidge coll iDse even in partite us terra cotta plaster and lath proved the qualified its di approve aa by allm ting the ame to the present methods of employing these materials the bet type of partition tested in the bait more fire was one composed of five inch tile but the latter usual loo enad and hence to uch good tho ign of his pirt t the report is enhanced by n add comment of the commit tia relative to the proper s buivis on f birga floor spaces like those in a department store it declares that with ut a number of interior barriers the contents of a fire resist ive building are scarcely safer than in one of the most careless construe tion in the formulation of its report the committee of the national fire pro lection association has rendered an important sevi se vi e to the country |