Item of Interest May 7, 1932 Issue

Item of Interest

The last of the reinforced concrete basement walls and flooring of the former office building at 206 Massachusetts Avenue having been broken up by a thirty-three hundred pound ball raised repeatedly by a derrick and let fall upon it, steam shovels and trucks have fully cleared the site; and the excavation has been completed. The fence of the construction company erected about the entire plot for the new Publishing House has received its characteristic coat of gray paint with red stripe. The construction work, which began in Section "B," is rapidly coming nearer the Massachusetts Avenue end. In Section "B," where are located the Press Room, Stereotype, and Mailing Rooms, a small forest of timbers rises to the height of the second story. A close inspection of them reveals the framework for windows and doors, between which are already placed groups of reinforcing steel bars for the supporting concrete walls and columns.

One who is able to obtain a pass permitting him to enter the premises is greatly impressed by the details which must be prearranged. Every curve on the concrete reinforcing rods, of which there are thousands in the building, has some purpose; every wire must be placed at the proper point and at the right time. An enormous amount of conduit for wires to and from the electric substation has been constructed, and the concrete slab in which it rests is poured. All of these details must be foreseen by the architect and his assistants, and must be thoroughly understood by the builders.

The wooden forms or molds for the second floor of Section "B," which is in effect the ceiling of the Press Room, above which is the Composing Room, are in place, and by the time this Item is read the concrete flooring reinforced by steel rods will have been poured. After the concrete is dry or solidified—a process taking from one and one half to two weeks—the forms are removed to serve elsewhere. They can be used again and again, for there is much duplication in the building.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Note from the Publishing House