A. Kempkey

“ Soc. C. E. (by letter) .—It appears to the writer that in the design of this structure two features are open to criticism. The first is that such a high structure was built of plain concrete without any reinforcement. Even if the computation of stresses did not show the necessity for steel reinforcement, some should have been embedded in the work. As a matter of fact, the writer believes that, with the present knowledge of the benefit of reinforced concrete, a structure such as this should not be built without it. This applies mainly to the tower below the tank. ”

“ Couchot's statement, that the 3-in. inside and outside sheets forming the tank casing do not act together, is quite true, and it was not expected that they would, other than to protect the steel and form an ornamental covering for it.
There is certainly adhesion between concrete and steel, even though the steel be in the form of a thin shell, and in a structure of this kind where the steel is designed, with a low unit stress, to take all the strain, and where the load is at all times quiescent, it is difficult to see how this bond can be destroyed ”

“ The barrel of the tower was carried up to a height of 66 ft. A special set of inside forms, about 2 ft. high, extending to the springing line of the dome, was then put in, and the dome forms were set up on it. The idea was that this 2-ft. form could be knocked out piece by piece and the weight of the dome form taken on wedges to the last 6-ft. form, these wedges being gradually slackened down in order to allow the dome form to settle clear of the dome. As a matter of fact, this was done, but the dome forms, being very tight, did not settle, and had to be pried off a section at a time. ”

“ Before filling, the inside of the tank was given a plaster coat, consisting of 1 part cement to 1-3/4 parts of fine sand. This proved to be insufficient to prevent leakage, the water seeping through the dome and appearing on the outside of the structure along the line of the bottom of the rings. Three more coats were then applied over the entire tank, and two additional ones over the dome and about 8 ft. up on the sides, and, except for one or two small spots which show just a sign of moisture, the tank is perfectly tight. ”

“ The rapid increase in population, together with the fact that in recent years very little had been done toward increasing the water supply, resulted in the necessity for remodeling the entire system, and there are very few cities where this would involve as many complex problems or a greater variety of work. ”

“ Water is drawn from Elk Lake, situated about five miles north of the city; thence it flows by gravity to the pumping station about four miles distant, and from there is pumped directly to the consumers. ”

“ Above the taper base and except in the 4-ft. belt and cornice, collapsible forms were used on the outside also. There were six sections extending from column to column and six column sections, all [339] bolted together circumferentially and constructed as shown in Fig. 2. ”