Akt. VI. — Modern Fireproof and Watertight Building 

 Materials. — Traegerwellblech and Asphalt. 



By Peter Behrendt, C.E. 



[Read 10th May, 1883.] 



Mr. President and Gentlemen — 



The subject of the paper which I have the honour to offer 

 for your consideration this evening must be viewed from 

 two standpoints. 



The first has in view the anomaly which is apparent in 

 the manner in which large warehouses are being carried out 

 around us. With massive walls of masonry, which give to 

 the exterior a stately and noble appearance, the interiors are 

 fitted up with staircases, floorings, and partition walls of 

 the most combustible materials. The question of insurance 

 alone is thus affected in a marked degree. 



The second involves the consideration of sanitary measures 

 and precautions against the insidious influence of clamp. 



Actuated by a conviction that these matters merit the 

 most earnest consideration, I shall now proceed to describe, 

 from diagrams and other suitable illustrations, some building- 

 materials of comparatively recent invention, which I have 

 reason to believe are not yet before the public in this part of 

 the world, and which, I hope to convince you, fulfil all the 

 requirements calculated to bring about a desirable and much- 

 needed reform in the whole art and process of building. 



The building material I shall speak first about is of a very 

 ingenious character ; it is fireproof, and a covering and bear- 

 ing material at the same time. I shall use further on its 

 German name, 



Traegerwellblech, 



which means a bearing corrugated-iron plate. Traegerwell- 

 blech was first used in Belgium as a material for bridge 

 plates, but having only very flat corrugations its bearing 



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