Timbers of Fir 2l Years Otd Do Heavy Duty

Old Beams and Girders Carry Excessive Loads in Large Glass Warehouse

Pouglas fir timbers have carrie d f.or 2L years what are said to be the heaviest loads on floors in -any San Francisco warehouse with no visible deflection in ihe beams or indication of overloading, according to information given R. T- Titus, Bureau field engineer, iuring a recent viiit to the glass-warehouse of the W. t. Fulle? paint Company ofthat city. This building contains over 600,000 teit of Douglas fir timbers, planking, and flooring, most of it ap- parently in as good a condition today as *hen it was firit put ln.

Both first and second floors are laid over 3xl6r' Douglas fir joists, spaced 10 inches apart. The lower floor is s-up- ported by timber and iron girders resting upon concrele po9ts, The second floor is supported by-fir -girders, two lxl.6" pieces bolted together, - iesting upon Er posis 16 i1cles square_and 2O fe{t high, spaceill4 ieet one way and 18 feet the other.

Tremendous Weights Held

The weights upon both floorJ are tremendous. From

WING BEAMS OF LINDBERGH'S PLANE MADE OF SPRUCE WOOD

It was wings gro\,vn on the shores of the Pacific that carried- Captain Lindbergh to the aerial conquest of the A_tlantic. The Ryan Airplanes Company, which built the "Spirit of -St. Louis," annbunced that-the wing beams were made _of Sitka spruce obtained froma mill 1t Hoquiam, Washington. Tliis wood came into fame for airplani construction during the war, when the government-mobilized the known weights of boxes of glass on the second floor Mr. Titus computed the loads as 800 pounds per square foot on the area actually covered with glass. He estimated that 90 per cent of the area was loaded. On the main floor the weights were even greater. And yet he was told by a man who has been in the rvarehouse since it was first built that there has never been any sign of the Douglas fir timbers refusing to carry the excessive loads placed upon them.

The roof consists of Douglas fir boards with asphalt on top and is nailed to 2x8" rafters. The roof is supported by trusswork, the lower chords being 8x10" fir beams place upon 8x8" posts.

Mr. Titus was told that the only replacements in this building have been trvo floor joists-whiih showed dry rot a few years ago. llolever, since these were in the basement, this condition lgas believed due to accumulated moisture against rvhich no wood is proof. Despite'heavy truck' ing, much of the original Douglas fir 1x74" flooring is still in place.

30,000 men in the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen to get it out of the forests of the Pacific northwest for the American aviation forces, as well as to supply the military airplane factories of the allies. Spruci^is the pre- ferred wood for airplane framervork beciuse of its lilhtness, straight grain, and the ease and accuracy with whieh it can be worked up into "sticks" of small cross section. Sitka spruce being a tall straight tree yields long "clear" pieces free from knots and all other defects.