John A. Roebling's Sons Co. and Early Concrete Floors in New York City, 1890s - 1910
Publication: John A. Roebling: A Bicentennial Celebration of His Birth 1806-2006
Abstract
Around 1892, John A. Roebling's Sons Co. introduced one of the first concrete fireproof floor systems to be used in the United States. The floor was designed to span between I-beams in steel-frame buildings. Made with stiffened wire-cloth manufactured by a Roebling's Sons Co. subsidiary, it was marketed as a lighter, cheaper alternative to terra cotta tile and brick arches. New York City's building code required tall buildings to be fireproof; however, the code in the 1890s did not allow concrete floors, and this hobbled the firm's floor business there. In the early twentieth century, after much political intrigue, the code was revised to allow concrete floors, and a great variety of concrete systems came on the market. For a short time the Roebling firm was the main contractor for concrete floors in the United States, and its floors proved their worth in several disastrous building fires and urban conflagrations. But eventually the business succumbed to competition and closed in 1914. Nevertheless, many buildings with Roebling floors are still standing.
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Copyright
© 2007 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Apr 26, 2012
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Beams
- Building design
- Buildings
- Concrete
- Construction engineering
- Construction management
- Design (by type)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering materials (by type)
- Floors
- Frames
- I beams
- Materials engineering
- Standards and codes
- Steel frames
- Stiffening
- Structural behavior
- Structural engineering
- Structural members
- Structural systems
- Structures (by type)
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