28 STABLE BUILDING AND STABLE FITTING. 



Concrete 

 floors. 



Mr. Hyatt's 

 system. 



Wood floors. 



much as possible from the action of the heat ; for the destruc- 

 tion of a building, in the event of fire, where iron girders are 

 exposed, may be pretty safely anticipated. Fig. lo shows a 

 longitudinal section in part, of a concrete floor composed of 



one part of Portland cement, 



Fig. IO. i. r j j r 



one part of sand, and four 

 parts of broken flints or pum- 

 mice-stone, sufficiently small 

 to pass through a ring if 

 inches in diameter; a layer, 

 2 inches thick, of metallic 

 paving is spread on the top of 

 the concrete, and the under surface covered with Hitchings* 

 patent fireproof plaster, forming a ceiling to the floor below. 

 A floor of this description, or finished with i\ inch of asphalte, 

 presents an excellent surface for mixing the food upon, and 

 the posts of the corn-bins, shown in Figs, i, 2, and 3, Plate 

 54, can be fixed firmly into the concrete while the work is in 

 progress. The concrete must be perfectly set where asphalte 

 is used, before it is laid on. 



The method of constructing floors by embedding wrought- 

 iron grills in cement or plaster of Paris (answering the purpose 

 of our concrete*), was first used by the French, and was adopted 

 for the floors of the Louvre. 



Mr. Thaddeus Hyatt has gone very deeply into the use of 

 concrete for floors, and has published a work, the result of 

 many experiments, which shows conclusively the great strength 

 of floors having wrought-iron cores embedded in this material. 

 Although preference should be given to these floors for corn 

 stores, and where machinery is used, over those of the ordinary 

 construction in wood, a very perfect close-jointed floor may be 



made of the latter material, in favour of which a 



strong 



pre- 



judice exists, as it is reputed not only to maintain but improve 

 the condition of grain. On Plates 47 and 48 will be found 



* The Systeme Thusne, Systeme Vaux, and others. 



