The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.

by Edward W. Byrn

FIG. 237.—DETAILS OF INTERNAL CONSTRUCTION.

The construction of iron buildings began about the middle of the century. In 1845 Peter Cooper erected the largest rolling mill at that time in the United States for making railroad iron, and at this mill wrought iron beams for fireproof buildings were first rolled. In the building of the Cooper Institute in New York City in 1857 he was the first to employ such beams with brick arches to support the floors. The unifying of the iron work into an integral skeleton frame, for relieving the side walls of the weight of the floors is, however, a comparatively recent development, and this has so raised the height of the modern office building as to cause it to impress the observer as an obelisk rather than a place of habitation. An earthquake-proof steel palace for the Crown Prince of Japan is one of the modern applications of steel in architecture. It is being built by American engineers, and is to cost $3,000,000.

FIG. 238.—THE EIFFEL TOWER. HEIGHT, 984 FEET. TALLEST STRUCTURE IN THE WORLD.

FIG. 239.—WASHINGTON’S MONUMENT. HEIGHT 555 FEET, 5¹⁄₂ INCHES. HIGHEST MASONRY STRUCTURE IN THE WORLD.