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[Entered at the Posi-Offlce of New York, N. V., as Seconrt-Class Mattei-.J 



A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



Eighth Yeae. 

 Vol. XV. No. 369. 



NEW YORK, February 28, 1890. 



Single Copies, Ten Cents. 

 $3.50 Per Year, in Advance. 



A^NEW SYSTEM OF FIRE-PROOF FLOOR-CONSTRUCTION. mortar composed chiefly of Portland cement. Its exact com- 



The Guastavino Fire-proof Construction Company of this position is a secret: but it adheres so closely to the tile, and^i.s 



city is now introducing a new system of fire-proof floor -con- so firm and solid when it has fully hardened, that its strength 



struction, which j has many features of superiority to the is about equal to that of the tile itself, and the whole arch is 



TILE ARCHES IN NEW PUBLIC LIBRARY BUILDING, BOSTON. 



ordinary system, and is especially valuable in that it reduces 

 the cost of a fire-proof floor by nearly one-third. 



The general features of the construction, as described in the 

 Engineering News, are the use, to form the arches, of a hard, 



practically a monolithic mass, showing no tendency to separate 

 at the joints more than at any other point. 



These tile arches are built in spans of five feet and upward, 

 and either as plain cylindrical arches or as dome arches, as 



A NEW SYSTEM OF FIRE-PROOF FLO0R-CO."^SrRUC TION, ARION CLUB BUILDING. 



well-burnt clay tile, about one inch thick, six inches wide, 

 and twelve inches long, laid flat, with the several courses 

 breaking joints. A very light centring is used, and the first 

 layer of tiles is laid with a quick-setting mortar, composed 

 princiiDally or plaster-of-Paris. The other layers are laid in a 



shown in the perspective view. The weight of the tiles is 

 about one hundred pounds per cubic foot: hence an arch built 

 of three layers of tile, which may be iiscd for spans as great as 

 twelve feet, will weigh about thirty -five to forty pounds per 

 square foot, or but little more than half the weight of the brick 



