Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. LXX, Dec. 1910: A Concrete Water Tower, Paper No. 1173Kempkey, A.
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Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. LXX, Dec. 1910: A Concrete Water Tower, Paper No. 1173
Kempkey, A.
Civil engineering -- Periodicals; Water towers -- Design and construction
A description of the elevated tank, which is novel in design, with the
reasons for adopting the type of structure used, the method of
construction, and the detailed cost, form the basis of this paper.
The tower is on the top of the highest hill in the city, in the heart of
the most exclusive residential district, beautiful homes clustering
about its base. The necessity for architectural treatment of the
structure is thus seen to be of prime importance. In fact, the
opposition of the local residents to the ordinary type of elevated tank,
that is, latticed columns supporting a tank with a hemispherical bottom
and a conical roof, rendered its use impossible, although tenders were
invited on such a structure.
It is believed that under the conditions of location, three types of
structure should be considered: First, an all-steel structure, the
ornamentation being produced by casing in with brick or concrete;
second, a brick-and-steel, or a concrete-and-steel, structure, such as
the one actually erected; third, a typical reinforced concrete
structure.
Considering only that portion below the tank, the amount of material
required to case in a structure of the first type would be substantially
the same as that used to support the tank in a structure of the second
type. Consequently, the steel substructure, for all practical purposes,
would represent a dead loss, and, therefore, the economy of this type is
open to serious question.
A tender was received for a reinforced concrete structure identical in
outward appearance with the one built, but, owing to the natural
conservatism of the local residents regarding this type of construction,
it was not acceptable.
The tower, as built, consists of a hollow cylinder of plain concrete,
109 ft. high, and having an inside diameter of 22 ft. The walls are 10
in. thick for the first 70 ft. and 6 in. thick for the remaining 39 ft.,
and are ornamented with six pilasters (70 ft. high, 3 ft. wide, and 7
in. thick), a 4-ft. belt, then twelve pilasters (12 ft. high, 18 in.
wide, and 7 in. thick), a cornice, and a parapet wall.
A steel tank of the ordinary type is embedded in the upper 40 ft. of
this cylinder. To form the bottom of this tank, a plain concrete dome is
thrown across the cylinder at a point about 70 ft. from the base, the
thrust of this dome being taken up by two steel rings, 1/2 in. by 14 in.
and 3/8 in. by 18 in., bedded into the walls of the tower, the latter
ring being riveted to the lower course of the tank.
The tank is covered with a roof of reinforced concrete, 4 in. thick,
conical in shape, and reinforced with 1/2-in. twisted steel bars. The
design of the structure is clearly shown in Fig. 1.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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