EXTERIOR SHEET METAL WORK 



THE most striking features of this contract 

 were the ornamentations, hip rolls, crestings 

 and the dormer windows of the dome in the 

 36th, 37th, 38th and 39th stories; and the turret, 

 technically known as the "lantern," surmounting 

 the dome and forming the crowning feature of the 

 Tower. 



With the exception of the floors this lantern 

 consists entirely of highly ornamented copper, built 

 around a steel cage of angle channel and beam work 



and the topmost "lift" of the four central columns 

 of the Tower. 



Looking at it from Broadway one does not readily 

 realize that the lantern is really 64 feet 5 inches in 

 height, or as high as the average five-story house. It 

 contains the 40th to the 45th stories. 



Elevator No. 6, the highest rise elevator in the 

 building, lands at the 40th or Observation Floor. 

 From here steep open stairs and ladders lead to the 

 45th story, which is the highest "attic" in the world, 

 with the highest "roof scuttle." This is fitted with 

 an ingenious trapdoor, opening outward to form a 

 small platform, more than 600 feet above the side- 

 walk, from which the Singer flag is raised and lowered. 



All of the work consists of 18 oz. cold rolled 

 copper. 



Besides the items enumerated above, this con- 

 tract comprised the furnishing and erecting of all 

 flashings, gutters, exterior leaders, ventilators, sky- 

 lights, covering or siding of bay windows and roof 

 houses; all roofing, not only that of copper, but also 

 that of slate and tile; and snow guards. 



The skylights were made with metal bars and 

 glazed with best f-inch wired glass, and there are 

 wire guards over them. 



To gain light and space, practically all the windows 

 fronting on the interior courts of the Singer Building 

 are built in the form of bays, covered with copper. 

 The siding of the roof houses is of copper clapboards. 



The flat portions of the roofs are covered with 

 Akron, Ohio, self-glazed roofing tile, 6 in. x 9 in. x 

 1 in., bedded in asphalt cement and five layers of 

 heavy tarred roofing felt. 



The dome of the Tower is covered with Maine 

 roofing slate, 10 in. x 16 in., yV m - thick. To get 

 this, likewise the copper work, into place was one 

 of the most difficult and dangerous undertakings 

 encountered in erecting the Tower, as the steeply 

 sloping sides of the dome afforded practically no foot- 

 hold. The men handling the big sheets of copper at 

 this great height were in constant danger of being 

 blown off and had to be roped on for safety. 



This entire contract was executed by the Herr- 

 mann & Grace Co., sheet-metal contractors, of 

 Brooklyn, N. Y. 



[41] 



