Feiisile Traiisverse

strain str.iiii.
143 and 10-1
85
,,
10 6
104

9 9
,,
9
-.5
104

10-0
CiiAf. I. WALLS AND PIERS.
397
9 inches, No. f5, set in cement, weigliing 52 lbs., ci'uslieil with
16 tons 8 cwt 2 i|rs. 8ibs.
- . = 454 3 lbs. per sqiuire incli.
9j
inches, No. 4, set in cement, weighing 55,^ Ib.s., crushed with
'21 tons 14 cwt. Iqr. 17 lbs.
- -
= 568-5 lbs.

9 inches, No. 4, set between boards, weighing 54^1l>s. crushed
with 15 tons 2 cwt. qrs. 1 2 lbs. -
-
= 417-0 lbs.

JNIean
- - - - =521-0 His.
The three last cubes continued to support the weiglit, although cracked in nil directions;
they fell to pieces wlieii the lo.id was removed. All began to show irregular cracks a con-
siderable time before it gave way. The average weight supported by these bricks was
,33-5 tons per squire foot, equal to a column 58:5-69 feet high of such brickwork.
(
Fair-
biirn. .-Ipfilication, &c., page 192
)
1502. To crush a mass of solid brickwork 1 font square, requires 300,000 lbs. avoir-
dupois, or 134 tons Tg cwt.
1 >02o. Besides coiiipre<sion, stone is subject to delnisinn and a transverse strain, as when
used in a lintel. Of these strengths in stone little is officially known, but we are perfectly
aware of the danger of using any kind of stone for beams where there is much chance of
serious or of irregular pressures. Its weakness in respect to this strain is manifest from all
experimental evidence concerning it. Gauthey states the value of a constant S, for hard
limestone = 78 lbs
; for soft limestone = 69 lbs. Hodgkinson, taking the power of resisting
a crushing force as = 1000, notices

Black marble
------
Italian marble
- - . . _
Rochdale flagstone - . - - -
Yorkshire flag
_ . . . .
JMean
. . - . .
Common bricks, S = 64 lbs. (Barlow.)
1502/1. The danger above noticed is so great, that it becomes essentially neces.sary in all
rough rubble work to insert over an opening either an iron or timber lintel, or a brick or
stone arch, to carry the superincumbent weight, and thus prevent any pressure upon tlie
stone. This must be done more especially when beams or lintels of soft stone are used
;
the harder stones, as Portland, may in ashlar work support themselves without much
danger. In rubble masonry, the stone arch may be shown without hesitation in t'le face
of the work
; and also in domestic architecture, the brick arch may exhibit itself in the face-
work if thought desirable. Portland stone has been constantly used to extend over a
com]5aratively wide opening. All blocks set upon it should have a clear bed along thj
middle of its length. Thus cills to windows should always be set ith clear beds, or, as the
new work settles, they are certain to be broken. Lintels over even small openings worked in
Bath or some of tlie softer stones, are very likely to crack across by very slight settlements,
especially when supported in their length by a mullion or small pier, as is often introduced.
We need hardly add that where imj.act or collision is likely to occur, no lintel of stone
sliould be used.
15027. i^'arble m-intles may sometimes be seen to have become bent by their own
weight. Beams of marble have been employed in Cirecian temples as much as 18 feet in
tlie clear in the pro yhea at Athens
;
and marble beams 2 feet wide and 13 inches deep
were hollowed out, leaving
4|
inches thickness at the sides and
.3i
inciies at the bott ;m ; the.so
beams were about 13 tVet in the clear in the north portico of the temple at Bassa near
Phigaleia.
1502r. The cnheslce power of stone is seldom tested. The subject of crushing weights,
or the compression of timber and metals, will be treated in a subsequent section
(
1631 e.
et seq.) ; and the strength of some otiier materials will be given in the chapter Materials.
Of the Stability of Walls.
1503. In the construction of edifices there are three degrees of stability assignable to
walls. I. One of uiidoiib<^ed stability
;
11. A mean b^tucen the last; and the III. The
least thickness which they ought to ]50ssess.
1504. 'J'he first case is that in which from many examples we find the thickness equal to
one eighth part of the height: a mean stability is obtained when the thickness is one tenth
p.irt of the lieight ; and the minimum of stability when one twelfth of its height. We are,
liowever, to recollect that in most buildings one wail becomes connected with another, so
that stability may be obtained by considering thein otherwise than as indejiendent walls.
1505. That some id-.a miy be formed of the difference between a wall entirely isolated
and one connected with one or two others at right angles, we here give _/ii;s. 591, 592,
a;id 593. It is obvious that in the first case (./f.g. 59 1.) a wall acted upon by the horizontal
force MN, will iiave no resistance but from the breadth of its base; that in the second