Fig. 10.—METHOD OF MOVING A HOUSE WITHOUT LIFTING IT.
RAISING AND MOVING MASONRY BUILDINGS.
The accompanying figures show the method employed in moving several buildings of different construction, and the peculiar arrangements that have been made, according to circumstances.
The instrument most commonly employed in the execution of such work consists of the following parts: (1) of a cast iron screw having a pitch of 0.56 inch; (2) of a nut provided with a shoulder and two projections that serve to fix it; and (3) of a cast iron plate that is interposed between the head of the screw and the beam upon which the latter is to exert its pressure. Moreover, each nut is set into an oak block, 4 inches in thickness, which rests upon the upper beams of the timber work that is designed to sustain the structure.
All the pieces of wood of the timber work, properly so called, are of spruce, and measure 6x6 inches. Those that are in a direction perpendicular to the foundation walls are 3 feet in length while the longitudinal ones must be long enough to support several screws in order to annul the effect of joints.
Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 represent a house at Buffalo belonging to the New York and Lackawanna Railroad Company, constructed of bricks and having a frontage of 90 feet. Between the openings in the latter there are pillars of dressed stone and cast iron columns. The building is four stories high, and the outer walls are 1 foot in thickness.
During the month of June, 1882, this structure was raised all in one piece and moved back 35 feet, in order to give greater width to the railway. This work was performed in so regular a manner that no interruption occurred in the business of the Company's offices.
The first operation consisted in running well squared spruce beams, 12 in. × 8 ft., through the walls and under the ground floor. These beams projected beyond the wall on each side and were spaced about 3¼ feet apart, and care was taken to have them in the same horizontal plane. After ramming down the earth upon which the timber work, f, was to rest, the first transverse beams forming the foundation platform were laid in place in such a way as to have between them the same spacing as between the cross-pieces, a, and so as to be exactly on the same level. These were afterward surmounted with longitudinal beams with alternate transverse ones until the desired height was reached. This framework having once been put in place, there were placed in the axis of each piece of timber work string-pieces, b, which ran without a break the entire length of the wall. Jack-screws, v, of the kind above described, were finally arranged in pairs under each of the cross-pieces, a.
On the front side (Fig. 3) particular precautions were taken to support the stone pillars and iron columns. To this end, apertures were made in the foundation, starting from the axis of the pillars and terminating at the axis of the neighboring columns. Spruce sills were put into these openings and others between the columns, the last-named ones having been put in place after the masonry had been completely severed. The cross-pieces, a, were thus under the sills, g, before the putting in place of the screws, v, and these latter were maneuvered in such a way as to merely support the structure without lifting any of its parts.
These preliminaries having been finished, all the pieces of the timber work were examined with the greatest care, while, at the same time, the joints were consolidated and the defects in leveling were rectified by means of spruce wedges.