

HEAVY TIMBER MILL CONSTRUCTION BUILDINGS 



should be made automatically self-closing by means of springs 

 or weights and chain. Doors should never be blocked open, 

 even temporarily. Where it is necessary to allow a door into 

 a stairway to stand open, it should be held open by some simple 

 automatic mechanism, arranged to release the door and allow 

 it to close when fire occurs. Stairs may be of timber construc- 

 tion if the building is equipped with an automatic sprinkler 

 system and stairways are enclosed by fireproof walls. 



The proper design of walls for stairways and elevators is 

 discussed in Chapter II. 



Shutters and For severe or dangerous exposures it is desir- 

 Wire Glass able that all openings in exterior walls should 

 be protected by tin clad, solid steel, or sheet- 

 metal shutters. Shutters should overlap the sides and top of 

 the window opening or close into the opening, so as to prevent 

 cracks through which fire might pass. Modern practice has 

 determined that steel or hollow metal wire glass windows are 

 substantial in construction, and practical under most conditions 

 of exposure. Such windows furnish a fair degree of resistance 

 to fire, and where the exposure is not severe, they will prevent 

 the spread of fire from one building to another, or one story 

 to another in the same building. Two types of windows are 

 commonly used "steel sash" made of rolled steel sections, and 

 hollow metal sash and frames made of galvanized sheet metal 

 or copper of suitable gauge, reinforced by steel bars and angles. 

 Wire glass is used in both of these types. 



The fire-resisting qualities of mill construction are exem- 

 plified by the following extract from "Fire Prevention and 

 Fire Protection" by J. K. Freitag: 



"A wonderful illustration of the slow-burning qualities of slow-burning 

 construction was afforded by the fire which destroyed the storage warehouse 

 of the George Irish Paper Corporation, at Buffalo, N. Y., Jan. 16, 1911. 

 The building was six stories in height, 70 by 200 feet in area, and of mill 

 construction without sprinklers or other special fire protection equipment. 

 Because of the type of construction of the building, and the great weight 

 of the paper stock known to be stored therein, the firemen flatly refused to 

 enter the structure, so that the flames were fought merely from the outside. 

 The fire raged for upwards of 80 hours and was the longest fire known in 

 the City of Buffalo, yet after 36 hours of fire the front windows in the top 

 story were practically intact. No better example of 'slow-burning' construc- 

 tion could possibly be given." 



Page thirty-seven 



