14 BULIiETIlvr 801^ U. S. DEPAKTMEl^T^T OF AGEICULTUEE. 



intervals of 50 feet forming compartments 100 feet bj 50 feet in 

 size. When the building is first planned the story height should be . 

 so fixed that compartments thus formed will have a volume not ex- 

 ceeding the preferred limit of 72,000 cubic feet. Thus a building 

 may be constructed which has a low first cost but which may be im- 

 proved very economically later with an effective saving of fire hazard 

 and insurance charges. Another desirable method of reducing first 

 cost and yet providing for future improvements is to use a story 

 height of 17 feet (at the eaves) and provide corbels or pockets in the 

 walls to support a second floor to be built in later. In this way auto- 

 matic sprinkler protection can be given to a large capacity and later 

 the added floor and discontinuance of tiering will secure convenience 

 and economy in handling and advantageous protection for tlie cot- 

 ton. The sprinkler system would have to be extended so as to cover 

 the lower floor. This should be anticipated in the beginning and 

 supply pipes made large enough to care for the additional heads. 



The compress compartment demands, for practical use, a greater 

 area than is recommended for the storage compartment. Here tier- 

 ing of cotton is not to be countenanced from the standpoint either 

 of practical cotton handling or fire hazard. However, requirements 

 for good light and ventila,tiion, as well as the convenient operation 

 of some types of weighing apparatus in use, make a story height of 

 approximately 15 feet desirable. For these reasons the capacity ]3er- 

 missible is better expressed in terms of square feet of floor area. This 

 area usually should not exceed 22,500 square feet, this being equiva- 

 lent to a floor 150 feet square. Yfhere this space is not sufficient, a 

 similar compartment may be provided adjacent to the compress com- 

 partment and communicating with it through well protected fire 

 doors in the dividing fire walL 



Arrangements for the compress compartments are shown in figures 

 6 and 6. Figure 5 shows how the. compress may be divided into six 

 compartments, all communicating directly with the com^Dress com- 

 partment, without openings in the fire walls except for those doors 

 leading directly to the press room. These arrangements provide for 

 a detached boiler room which is always to be desired, though a cor- 

 ner of the press room may be cut off by fire walls for this use. The 

 second plan (fig. 6) provides compartments on each side of the 

 press compartment. Both of these plans may be adapted readily to 

 either fire-resistive or slow-burning construction. If slow-burning 

 construction is used, roof openings such as skylights should be of 

 metal, and wooden monitors should be placed at least 50 feet from 

 fire walls. 



The types of construction which are desirable for the warehouse 

 building are fire-resistive, slow-burning, and a modification of this 



