MOVED BODILY

Hokitika Guardian, 17 March 1932, Page 2

MOVED BODILY

EIGHT-STOREY BUILDING.

BUSINESS UNINTERRUPTED

At Indianapolis recently the general office building of the Indiana Bell Telephone Company, an eight-storey structure, weighing 11,000 tons, was moved 52ft,’ and then turned through an angle of 90deg. During the move all the activities in the building went on as usual. Elevators continued to run, gas, steam heat, water, electric power, and drainage facilities were maintained by flexible connexions, and long-distance telephone circuits were operated without interruption of service. In carrying out the operation a concrete mat was laid at basement level over the entire area over which the building was to be moved. Over this 6in by Sin fir timbers were placed, and on top of them steel railroad rails were laid about 4in apart to form tile surface on which the building moved. On each of the fifty-nine columns supporting the building I-beams were riveted to carry the load of the steel columns to the rollers. These were placed under two steel rail shoes on each side of the column; the average number under each shoe being nine, while the iota! exceeded 4000. Latticed trusses or I* beams tied the columns together with supplementary diagonal bracing, so that no shift in the relative positions of the columns was possible. This work required some 500 tons of structural steel.

Use of Jacks.

For the 52ft move eighteen 100-ton and 75-ton ratchet screw-jacks were used. These were placed laterally between .the I-beam construction on the columns -and the rear retaining wall,. and part of the extreme outside basement- wall was loft standing. After each foot of-movement the jacks were reset, and the base on which they rested was built up with timber. When the building bad reached the extreme southerly point of its travel the jacks weie placed under each column to relieve the pressure, and the positions of the i oilers and steel rail shoes were changed so that the former pointed toward the pivotal point near the south-west corner of the building, or at right angles to the direction in which the building was to be moved. Actual rolling of the building-was accomplished as before with the jacks placed .laterally at stra-. tegic points to push the mass ' in the proper direction, their efforts being supplemented by a pulling force supplied by a stationary-steam, engine, and tackle blocks using stranded steel cables.