No_6_July_and_August__1949 — Page 78

ALL-WELDED STEEL FRAME BUILDING

Fig. 2. Unique multiple connection

A new mechanical engineering building of all-welded design is being completed by Fenn College of Cleveland, Ohio, Welded as a part of their long range expansion programme. design for the building was specified by Fenn in order to speed the completion of badly needed facilities. In five days the building was completely erected and readied for welding, and two welders then welded the entire building in ten days. In addition to the speed of erection, the silence of welding eliminated any disturbance of nearby classrooms.

Since the building was originally designed for welding, there are no comparative cost figures. but it is interesting to note that one bid received on riveted construction was £500 higher than that quoted for the welded structure.

The structure is 100 feet wide by 99 feet deep, three stories high with a total steel tonnage of 130 tons. It will house eight classrooms, two drafting ooms, mechanical shops, two offices, tool room and locker foōm.

In order to provide a maximum of down-hand welding, shop, fabrication was used wherever possible. Connections such as seat angles and wing angles were welded in the shop as far as was practical. The entire structure was first erected with the members bolted, and was then plumbed and guyed ready for welding.

Columns for the structure varied from 8-inch to 10-inch beams, milled to provide a single vee joint at the base plate. They were welded in the shop to the base plates with 3,8-inch fillet welds. Fig. 1 shows a base plate to column weld. The plate is 16 inches by 28 inches by 3 inches and anchored with a 1-inch by 24-inch bolt. Erection of the columns was accom- plished with a splice plate 5 inches by 3/8-inch by 1 foot bolted to each side of the web.

In the final welding, these web splice plates were welded with a 1/4-inch fillet weld and two splice plates, 12-inch by 2 feet, were welded to the column flanges with 3/8-inch Allet welds made with 5 32-inch diameter "Fleetweld 5" electrode. The splice plates on the flanges were 1 2-inch narrower than the flange to provide space for the weld. The two extreme 40-foot tower columns to the front of the building lack bracing in two directions, so to provide additional stiffness a box sec- tion was made out of the columns by welding a plate between

the flanges.

General view of welded frame structure

Beam and girder connections were made using both angle seats and wing angles. Shop welded angle seats were used wherever non-interference with the finish line permitted. From the photographs it can be observed that the majority of the connections were made with the field welded wing angle, resulting in a compact design that permitted holding the finish line close to the structural work.

Figure 2 shows a unique connection that was designed to answer the problem of joining a beam where the connec- tion could not be made to the web of the column. The connection is between a 15-inch by 30-inch girder, a 7-inch by 16-inch beam and a 10-inch column. The beam is con- nected to the column through a bracket which is cut from in 21-inch "I" beam. The wing angle joining the web of the beam to the Range of the bracket is connected with 1/4-inch Allets. The wing angle of the 30-inch girder connects to the column through the web of the bracket.

In addition to the main objectives of speedy and silent erection Fenn College has achieved in this all-welded struc- ture a more compact, streamlined design in keeping with the modern approach followed with this building. All weld- ing was done with "Fleetweld 5" electrodes and petrol engine driven 200 ampere machines manufactured by The Lincoln Electric Company who are represented in Hong Kong by J. P. Inglis & Sons Ltd.

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THE LINCOLN

AMPS. WELDING GENERATOR

SHIELD ARC WELDERS'

AUTOMATIC WELDING EQUIPMENT

FLEETWELD ELECTRODES

Stocks carried by

J. P. INGLIS & SONS LTD.

Corner Chatham & Ma Tau Wei Roads, Kowloon

P.O. Box 140

Hong Kong

Tels. 58954, 59528

Cables INSONS

Representatives for Hong Kong & 5. China

For

THE LINCOLN ELECTRIC CO.

AUSTRALIA PTY. LTD.

Fig. 1. Base plate to column weld

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