The hinges on these doors should be good strap hinges, tightly fastened to the door by bolts extending through it, and secured by nuts on the other side.  Good latches which keep the door in position when closed should always be provided.  In no case should the door be provided with a spring lock which cannot be freely opened, as employes might thereby be confined in a burning room.

Sliding doors should be hung on wrought iron runways, fastened tightly to the wall.  Wooden runways iron lined, which we frequently see, are not good, as the charring of the wood in the interior causes them to weaken and the doors to drop.  Runways should be on an incline, so that the door when not held open will close itself.  Care must be taken to have a stop provided in the runway, so that the doors may not, as I have frequently seen them, overrun the opening which it is to protect.  Doors should overlap the edges of the openings on all sides.  Large projecting jambs should never be used.

All doors contained in “fire walls” should have springs or weights attached to them, so as to be at all times closed.  Fire doors can be shut automatically by a weight, which is released by the melting of a piece of very fusible solder employed for this purpose.  So sensitive is this solder that a fire door has been made to shut by holding a lamp some distance beneath the soldered link and holding an open handkerchief between the lamp and link.  Though the handkerchief was not charred, hot air enough had reached the metal to fuse the solder and allow the apparatus to start into operation.

These solders are alloys more fusible than the most fusible of their component metals.  A few of them are:  Wood’s alloy, consisting of:  cadmium, 1 to 2 parts; tin, 2 parts; lead, 4 parts; bismuth, 7 to 8 parts.

This alloy is fusible between 150 deg. and 159 deg.  Fahr.  The fusible metal of D’Arcet is composed of:  bismuth, 8 parts; lead, 5 parts; tin, 3 parts.  It melts at 173.3 deg..  We can, therefore, by proper mixture, form a solder which will melt at any desirable temperature.  Numerous devices for closing doors automatically have been constructed, all depending upon the use of the fusible solder catch.

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STEEL STRUCTURES.

At a recent meeting of the Engineers’ Club of Philadelphia, Mr. James Christie presented a paper upon “The Adaptation of Steel to Structural Work.”  The price of steel has now fallen so low, as compared with iron, that its increased use will be actively stimulated as the building industries revive.  The grades and properties of the steels are so distinct and various that opinions differ much as to the adaptability of each grade for a special purpose.  Hitherto, engineers have favored open hearth steel on account of uniformity, but recent results obtained from Bessemer steel tend to place either make on equality.  The seeming tendency is to specify what the physical properties shall be, and not how the steel shall be made.