426

THEORY OF
ARCIIITECTUUE. EooK IT.
ri
jlLl
Fig. 6 lot.
incli deep; bottom flange G-67 inclies wide, GG inch deep; the areas being -720 and
4-1 inclies. Tlie rib was 2()G inch thick, and the total depth 5~ inches, 'I'he constant or
C was found to be 514 for cwts., or 2G for tons. (Warr.)
lG29a. ]t will scarcely be within our province to describe all the forms of sections, and
the results of the experiments made by Fairbairn in obtaining his box beam or plate girder
in wrought iron, but it is to be noted that all the cylindrical tubes broke by extension at
the rivets before the tube could fail by compression. Fairbalin in his Application
of
Cast
and Wrovght Iron to Building Purposes, edit. 1857-8, p. 80, notices that although the platt
girder be inferior in strength to the box beam, it has nevertheless other valuable proiierties
to recommend it. On comparing the strength of these separate beams, weight for weight,
it will be found that the box beam is as 100 : 9:5. 'I'he plate beam is in some respects
superior to the box beam; it is of more simple construction, less expensive, and more
durable, from the circumstance that the vertical jila'e is thicker than the side plates of the
box beam. It is also easier of access to all its parts for the purposes of cleaning. tS:c.
1G29/). Fairbairn has formed a comparison between a tcrovght iion and a cast iron
g
rder for
a span of 30 feet. The plate girder, jig.GVMi, would be 31 feet G inches in length, and would
be composed of plates 22 inches deep and j'^ths thick
;
with angle iron <
-\..
|ths thick, riveted on both sides at the bottom of the plate, and
'
angle iron
i
inch thick at the top, the widtii o\er the top being
7i
inclies, and" the bottom
5r,
inches. The breaking weight of this
,. ,
"__
.j.rtrfC ^,. 6 X 2.2
X
75
beam, takmg the constant at 1
5,
would be j- = \\
;
or

^^^^

=27-5 tons in the middle, or 55 tons distributed equally over the

surface. In the edition of 1857-8, the angle irons are described as
3 inches by 3 inches,
i
inch thick for the bottom, and 4 inches by
4 inches,
|
inch tliick at the top; it would, therefore, be
85
inches
over at the top, and about
6i
inches at the bottom. Now a "ast
iron girder of the best form and strongest section and calculated
to support the same load, would weigh about 2 tons, the plate beam about 18 cwts., or
less than one half. To secure
uniformity of strength in a rectangidar box beam, the top
is required to be about twice the sectional area of the bottom; hence resulted the use oi
cells in that portion.
lG29c. Fiq. 613/. is ii. plate beam having a single plate for the vertical web, while each
of the flanges consists of a flat bar and a pair of angle irons riveted to each other and to
the vertical web. Fig. 613w. is a
box beam, in which tl)ere are two
vertical webs. Fig. G13. is a plite
girder of greater dimensions than
Jig.
613/. ;
the flanges contain
more
than one layer of flat bars, and the
web, which consists of plates with
their largest dimensions vertical, is
stiHened by vertical T iron ribs at
the joints of those plates, as shown
in the plan or horizontal section
Uttered A. The pieces shoidd abut
closely and truly against each other,
having end surfaces made exactly
perpendicular to the axis of the
beam. Tlie thickness of the web is seldom made less than |ths inch, and except for the
largest beams, this is in general more than sufficient to resist the shearing stress. Above each
of t!ie points of support, the vertical ribs must be placed either closer or made larger, so
tlwt they may be jointly capable of safely bearing as pillars the entire share of the load
which rests on that point of support. A jiair of vertical T iron ribs riveted back to back
through the web plates (as A,
Jig
613.) may be held to act as a pillar of cross-shaped section,
1629c?. The rib or web of a plate beam, as fig. 613/, having little or nothing to do with
the pressure directly, has been replaced in some cases by simple upright struts or diagonal
braces between the flanges, which in cast iron girders are in one casting, but experience has
proved this not altogether politic, particularly in cast iron. Hodgkinson remarked that
such beams were weaker than those with a solid rib. Rankine observes that transverse
rib or feathers on cast iron beams are to be avoided, as forming lodgments for air bubbles,
and as tending to cause cracks in cooling. Open work in the vertical web is also to be
avoided, partly for the same reasons, and partly because it too much diminishes the resist-
ance to distortion by the shearing action of the load.
16i!9e.
"
Where the span renders it impracticable to roll a beam in one piece," Fairbairn,
page 91, notices that "convenient weights might be rolKd into sections of the proper form

and being united by properly proportioned covering plates at top and bottom, and tC'