Concrete Stairs Ransome System. Aberthaw Construction Co 7 EXCHANGE PLACE, BOSTON INCORPORATED. Concrete Engineers and Contractors for concrete masonry of all Kinds. TELEPHONE CONNECTION. member Master builders association. CIRCULAR NO. 3. tl Section through Stairs TWiSTIO STf C L Section xx Design for Long Span. CUT L Supports at top and bottom CUT M . Shows concrete beams and soffit of a long flight THE USE OF CONCRETE AND STEEL Is too familiar to need an introduction. The oldest and best type of tin’s construction is the Ransome System, which employs square rods of steel, twisted cold, embedded in the bottom of the concrete. These rods take up the tensile strain, and by their means large spans may easily be made. The concrete acts only in compression. By means of this system we can construct Ions: flights of stairs made of an absolutely fireproof material, and a material at the same time so cheap and so easily worked that we haye the lowest priced fireproof stair in the market. The only reason for introducing a new construction is that it is better and cheaper than any now in use. For further information regarding details of the Ransome System, see Kidder's “ Architects' and Builders' Pocket Book," or Kidder’s “ Building Construction and Superintendence," or send for our general catalogue. MARK YOU, CONCRETE STAIRS ARE ABSOLUTELY FIREPROOF. They will remain cool and passable for a considerable time even under the direct action of fire. 1 he stair well is, as a rule, subject to a fiercer fire than any other part of a burning building, yet unprotected iron stairs are used in build- ings, whose specifications call for all other iron to be thickly coated with fireproofing. Our stairs are made of the best fireproofing material itself. They will remain passable long after an iron stair is at a red heat. Compared with iron stairs they are very low priced. SOCKET EMBEDDED IN STRING TO RECEIVE BALASTRADE CUT N. Concrete Stairs, with Granolithic finish. Mr. John Lyman Faxon, Archt. Mayhew School, Chambers and Poplar Sts., Boston. Conform to any Design VI CUT O. Chapel, Mt. Auburn Cemetery. Mr Willard T. Sears, A relit. Concrete steps supported by walls. For construction see cut at right. Concrete; Stairs Between Walls CUT P. Fockets cut in brick walls for bearings. CUT Q Town Hall, Revere, Mass. Greenleaf & Cobb. Archts. MARBLE COMPOSITE TREADS. GRANOLITHIC RISERS REGARDING FINISH. Stairs are made with or without nosing, open or closed string as desired. A GRANOLITHIC finish is durable, and not at all slippery. THE COLOR may be varied to suit the design. MARBLE, MARBLE COMPOSITE treads and risers, or other finish, may be attached. The SOFFIT may be finished with gran- olithic or with plaster, applied directly to the stair construction. VIII CUT R Enclosed Fire Escape, Mayhew School, Boston Mr. John Lyman Faxon, Archt. These stairs get their bearing from the hollow con crete column and the walls. cut s. Highland School, Revere, Mass. Mr. Penn Varney, Archt.. Lynn, Mass. Concrete nosing, Granolithic finish. Short Spans, Supports top and bottom. CUT T. I\ CUT U Short Flight. Flat Soffit, Granolithic finish. For construction see cut at left. X NO CONCRETE STAIRS EVER FAILED WHAT WE HAVE DONE ONCE WE CAN DO BETTER NEXT TIME r~ ' m ■ CUT V. \ . M. C. A., Salem, Alass. Mr. Walter J. Paine. Archt. Stairs, Floors and Landings Concrete construction, with Marble and Mosaic finish. XI handsomer than l RON CUT W. V. M. C. A., Salem, Mass. Main landing carried on concrete beams of twenty-foot span. concentrated at the center. Mr. Walter J. Paine, Archt. Tested with a load of five tons, XII FROST HAS NO ACTION ON GRANOLITHIC THE FINISH IS WATERPROOF Hotel Mountfort, Beacon Street. Steps supported by concrete buttresses. FOR OUTSIDE STEPS, concrete is being used more and more each year. We can construct our steps like our stairs with support only at the top and bottom or at the sides, thus saving the expense of filling and giving a passageway underneath. XIII CUT Y. Steps, Oliver Ames Estate, No. Easton, Mass. Support top and bottom. FOR STEP WORK concrete has the primary advantage over stone of LOWER COST. Further, it may be worked into almost any form to suit special designs. When properly made, it weathers perfectly. Well finished concrete steps are very handsome and are indestructible. XIV CUT Z. Highland School, Revere, Mass. Steps and plinths of columns, Concrete with Granolithic finish. Mr. Penn Varney, Archt., Lynn. Mass XV Self-supporting Steps, Garden St., Cambridge. Picked faced Concrete Panel: “THE NEED OF IMPROVED METHODS FOR E XTI NGU ISH I NG FI R E I N HIGH BUILD- INGS,” an article in the “Engineering News” of Dec. 22, 1S9S, contains the following : — “ Again, in the case of the burning of the Temple Court and the M anhattan Savings Bank buildings, the slate treads of the stairways yielded to the heat, leaving the staircase with openings the full size of the tread, which made them impassable. Marble and bluestone, which are also con- tinually used for stair treads, have proved equally insecure when attacked bv fire and water. So little confidence, indeed, is felt in such stone treads, that a well-known authority on fireproof construction, has recently expressed the opinion that the staircase construction of ninety per cent, of our great office buildings would prove utterly unreliable for the use of firemen, in the event of a fire of serious proportions.”