ANCIENT AND MODERN WORKS. 31 



tendent, Atlantic City, N. J.; Richard W. Marchant, Jr., Balti- 

 more. 



A water tower at Abeline, Texas, consisting of a steel tower 

 70 ft. high, surmounted by a steel tank 25 ft. in diameter by 20 

 ft. in height, collapsed immediately after completion (April, 1904), 

 an account of which is as follows: 



"When the structure was completed, except painting and 

 riveting of a balcony floor, water was pumped into the tank. 

 From the time spent in pumping there was supposed to have 

 been from 16 to 17 ft. of water in the tank, when the entire 

 structure collapsed, falling within its own foundations ard 

 making a complete wreck. 



"The examination of the wreckage pointed to the weakness 

 of the framework, as the tank came down in one piece, with 

 the bottom split full length, caused, the writer believes, from 

 its contact with the earth, as it appears to have struck on its 

 side. No one witnessed the fall its entire length. Two young 

 men were standing near the tower when they heard a crack, as 

 they explained, like the report of a rifle, and they turned and 

 fled." 



This completes the list of all failures of metal water-towers 

 and tanks to date, although a feature of the past two years has 

 been the many failures of elevated wooden tanks, the great per- 

 centage of which failed by the rusting out and subsequent rupture 

 of the flat encircling hoops. To such an extent has this cause 

 resulted in the complete collapse of such structures, that under- 

 writing agencies, who have in many instances specified such 

 structures for fire protection, are now insisting that all hoops 

 shall be made of round rods instead of the flat bands heretofore 

 largely used. 



Of the later failures, it will be noted that 3 were due to defec- 

 tive foundations; 4 failed during heavy gales; 2 were damaged 

 by ice formation, and i was wrecked simply by hydrostatic 

 pressure. 



