8
RECORD AIO) GUIDE
July 2, 1910
MANHATTAN BOROUGH.
Recommendations for Releases of Authorizations:
Construction of new Court House and Prison for Third Dis¬
trict Magistrates' Court, on the site of old Essex Market Court
House, Borough of Manhattan, $23,000. County Clerk, -New
York County, steel filing cases and furnishings, $49,600- Ex¬
tension of Riverside Drive to Boulevard Lafayette, $60,000.
New Hall of Records, equipment of offices, $1,000. Erection of
a new building for Children's Court, First Division, $150,000.
New Authorization of Corporate Stock:
Construction of new Court House and Prison for Third District
Magistrates' Court, on the site of old Essex Market Court
House, Borough of Manhattan, $300,000. Repaying streets.
Borough of Manhattan, $385,000. Filing cases. Bureau of Sew¬
ers, $6,000. Installation Of Swimming Pool in East 54th St-
Bath, $54,000. Installation of house tank, house pump and
extra piping at East 54th St- Bath, $2,000, Installation of
gymnasium equipment at four public baths: Carmine st, Cherry
and Oliver sts, Rutgers pl and East 54th st, $11,900. Furniture,
filing cases a^d new equipment at No. 220 4th av, Borough of
Manhattan, for the Bureau of Buildings, $15,000. ■ Preparing a
survey of the sewer system, in the Borough of Manhattan, and
of a plan for gradual reconstruction, $35,000. Open air class¬
room, Carmine St. Bath, $8,000- Permanent betterment, im¬
provement and equipment of public buildings, $100,000.
BRONX BOROUGH.
Schedule A—Releases of Authorization of Corporate Stock:
Improving the junction of Franklin av and 3d av, Bronx,
$2,000. Construction and equipment of a Court House, $49,999.
Storage yard at Park av and East 180th st, $14,000. Rebuilding
sewer in Hunts Point road, $10,000. Bridge to carry Jerome
av over to Mosholu Parkway Drive, $5,000. Grand Boulevard
and Concourse, construction of transverse roads at Bast 165th
st, East 167th st, Burnside av and East 204th st, $4,000. Web¬
ster av relief sewer, $2,500-—Official total, $88,924.46.
Note.^Amendment of repaying fund authorization reducing
existing authorization by $160,000, is recommended in a separate
report by the Corporate Stock Budget Committee- This makes
available for 1910 for this purpose in the borough $409,000, of
which $309,000 has been released or represented in contracts
registered since January 1, 1910, to date-
Schedule B—New Authorizations of Corporate Stock:
Fund for Topographical Bureau, $59,000. Regulating, grading
and repaying East 149th st, from Morris av to Mott av, $25,000.
Construction of transverse roads in connection with Grand
Boulevard and Concourse in Bronx Park road. 170th st, 174th
st, $390,000. Construction of two bridges and approaclies in
Gun Hill road, $175,000. Construction of a bridge over the
tracks of the New York and Harlem Railroad at Pelham av,
$225,000. Improvement of Pranklin and 3d avs, $2,000. In¬
stallation of lighting equipment, Municipal Building, Crotona
Park, Borough of the Bronx. $10,000.—Official total, $880,000.
BROOKLYN BOROUGH.
Schedule A—Releases of Authorizations of Corporate Stock;
Brooklyn Disciplinary Training School—for the purpose of
erecting new fire-escapes, $1,850. Improvement of the sanitary
condition of Gowanus Canal. Borough of Brooklyn—Subtitle
No. 1, construction and equipment of pumping plant—for the
purpose of letting contract for screen and power plant, $51,-
809- New Municipal Building, erection of, $90,000. Public
market in the Eighth Ward, preparation of land—for com¬
pletion of work already begun (dredging and bulkheads), $5,245.
Total, $148,904.
Schedule B—New Authorizations of Corporate Stock:
For the construction of relief sewers. Division No. 2, Section
4—Gold st system. Myrtle av branch, sewers in Myrtle av, from
Carlton av to Raymond st, and for the construction of relief
sewers. Division No. 1, Section 1, main line—plans, profiles and
details of sewers in Clason av, from outlet chamber to Park
av, and in Park av, from Clason av to Skillman st, $444,000-
Fund for Topographical Bureau, Borough of Brooklyn, $40,000.
Repaying streets, Borough of Brooklyn, $177,496. For dredg¬
ing In connection with the preparation of land for the public
market, in the Eighth Ward, $25,000. For the construction of
new bulkheads and for the completion of bulkheads partly built,
in connection with the preparation of land for the public
market, in the Eighth Ward. $10.000—Official total, $696,496.40.
QUEENS.
Schedule A—Releases of Authorizations of Corporate Stock:
Street cleaning—new stock or plant, $2,386. Public comfort
stations—construction of two, $2,194. Queens County Court
■ House—Rebuilding of, $20,962. Queens County Court House-
furnishing and equipping. $11,876.—Total, $37,419.
Schedule B—New Authorizations of Corporate Stock:
Fund for Topographical Bureau, $89,000.
RICHMOND BOROUGH.
Schedule A—Releases of Authorizations of Corporate Stock:
Construction and equipment of Borough building, in the Bor¬
ough of Richmond, $11,156. Refuse destructors, Borough of
Richmond, plans, $5,000- Street cleaning, new stock and plant,
$17.025.—Total $33,181.
Schedule B—New Authorizations of Corporate Stock:
For construction of engineers house at destructor works at
West New Brighton, $9,000- Por oonslructioa of stable for
Bureau of Street Gleaning, Clifton, $15,500. For cost of con¬
struction of a refuse destructor at Clifton, $100,000. For ac¬
quisition of land and construction of a refuse destructor at
Tottenville, $13,000. For construction of storage houses and
improvement of storage yard in connection with Bureau of
Highways, $S,500. For construction of an addition to the build¬
ing now occupied by the County Clerk, at Richmond, $9,000.
For repaying streets, $107,000. For Topographical Bureau,
$64,000. Sanitary sewer for Sea View Hospital, $84,200.—Total,
$410,200.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Department of Bellevue and Allied Hospitals—Releases of au¬
thorizations of capital stock under Schedule A, $579,336-94.
Under Schedule B, $680,000-
Department of Health—Total of items under Schedule A, $358,-
236.31. Under Schedule B, $240,000.
AVOIDABLE DANGERS IN REINFORCED CON¬
CRETE MILL CONSTRUCTION.
IN a recent discussion of the possible dangers incident to the
use of reinforced concrete in mill construction, Mr, Leonard
C. Wason, president of the Aberthaw Construction Co., of Eos-
ton, was led to speak from his experience. He at once showed
that practically all of the possible dangers are avoidable; that
they are entailed by incorrect design or poor workmanship,
and that there is nothing inherently dangerous in the use of
reinforced concrete. So far as strength and structural featurea
go, it has few limitations, discrimination in use being controlled
principally by its adaptability. Recognizing the common im¬
pression that almost anybody can mix and place concrete, Mr.
Wason emphasized the vital importance of employing skilled
men:
First-—Because the reinforcement might otherwise be im¬
properly placed, perhaps too high in the beams and girders, or
in the top of the floor slabs, thereby introducing serious sources
of weakness. To the ignorant laborer such misplacement would
mean nothing; in fact it being a not uncommon practice to
spread the concrete out over the forms and lay out the bars
on top. Under sucli conditions the laborer is more apt to spread
the concrete thick than thin, because if very thin the stone in
the concrete interferes in the spreading.
Second-—Because of the errors which may arise through tho
selection of the wrong size of bars for reinforcement. It is a
simple matter for a man to overlook the difference of an eighth
of an inch in diameter, which in small bars may make a differ¬
ence of 50 per cent, or more in the strength. Sometimes the
wrong number of bars may be used.
Third-^Beeause an unskilled or careless foreman may
erroneously read his plans- Sometimes he may set the bars at
right angles to the correct position- In columns, the bars are
usually placed near the surface to avoid flexure; but It la
easier to place the concrete if they are nearer the middle. If
nearer the middle, however, the (lexurd-is not taken care of and
the tie between the floor and column is not so rigid.
Mr. Wason referred to some of the failures of reinforced
concrete which have been reported, and stated that although
usually sworn to as caused by the drawing of the form work
too soon, the fact is usually that the failure really has been
due to Improper setting of the steel and to careless placing o(
the concrete- In a failure which occurred in Philadelphia
about two years ago, sawdust and shavings were found in th«
columns where they had fallen before the concrete was placed.
The effect was lo reduce the cross sectional area of the column*
by fully 50 per cent.
The difference in strength between tamped and untamped
concrete was shown to be 30 per cent., due largely to the fact
that under the latter conditions it does not flow around the
reinforcement. As a consequence voids are formed. It waa
also pointed out that when the concrete is mixed dry it doea
not properly grip the bars. Mr. Wason asserted that It has
been pretty conclusively proven by disinterested engineers who
have carefuly examined such failures that they were due to
carelessness on the part of the contractor and his workmen,
and that none of them were due to incorrect principles of
design.
In a word the danger lies in hidden defects—which once
covered from sight are revealed only by disaster.
EQUITABLE PLANS.—The deathless rumor that the Equit¬
able Life Insurance Society will erect a new building at 120
Broadway was revived during the week by a statement that an
alteration has been made in the plans, and that when the so¬
ciety has disposed in some manner of the stock of the Mercan¬
tile Trust Company and the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company
something "definite" will be done about a new building. It is
also now said that the revised plan when made public will
show a building having but 32 stories, which will be erected in
sections, the Nassau st side first. The fact that the safe de¬
posit company held a long term lease on the basement has
been one of the ascribed causes for deferring the erection of
the new building. On the valuation of $12,000,000 the present
structure does not make a fair return and neither is it big
enough for the society's business, as some of the Equitable's de¬
partments occupy rented quarters in the vicinity.