1124





RECORD AND GUIDE





December 20, 1913





laid out by an architect's engineer with¬
out the assistance of a building owner
or manager, where it was found, after
the building had been opened and was
being operated that it was impossible to
produce a kilowatt of electricity for less
than six cents; while in another building,
which had a power plant which had been
laid out by the engineer with the assist¬
ance of a building specialist, current for
power and lighting was produced and is
figured as low as one cent per kilowatt
hour. You will readily see what a great
saving this must be to the latter office
building.

The reason for these conditions is that
in the latter building the office building
specialist knew exactly what was needed
for the building and he eliminated things
unnecessary and useless, at the same
time brought the equipment that was in¬
stalled up to its very highest point of
eflficiency for the work to be done.
Planning  the   Heating   Plant.

The question of the heating plant is
one which should have the careful study
of the engineer in association with the
building manager. From the time the
building is decided upon and the first re¬
ports are made public, the owner will
be harassed by salesmen who have heat¬
ing systems for sale. The use of the
word "system" in some cases is an ex¬
aggeration, for the reason that such com¬
panies have only an accessory to be used
in the heating equipment. As many ac¬
cessories to the heating system can be
eliminated, the advice of the office build¬
ing specialist is especially desirable in
connection with this part of the work,
for he knows from experience what the
results of the different equipmeui. acces¬
sories have been. He knows the expe¬
rience that other building managers have
had in buildings all over the country,
and especially so what has been the
common experience with equipments
equivalent to that which the new build¬
ing is to contain.

The Electrical Engineer's Part.

In the smaller building and in the
smaller architectural offices the electrical
engineer's work is combined with that
of the mechanical engineer, but in the
larger building it is absolutely necessary
to have a high-class, practical electrical
engineer to lay out the lighting and elec¬
tric power equipment for the building.
The eflficiency with which this portion of
the work is executed is an important
factor in the economic operation of the
building after it is completed.

The electric elevators, if there be such,
are part of this engineer's work, and as
the elevators are the very heart and soul
of the office building it should receive
the greater proportion of his study; and
every effort should be used by the elec¬
trical engineer and the building mana¬
ger to secure for the building the most
adequate practical service through its
elevator installation. There is evidence
all over the United States in buildings
of unquestioned merit of the mistakes
that have been made by architects and
engineers in the lack of consideration
and the proper equipment of the elevator
service, all of which goes to show that a
first-class, practical, electrical engineer is
almost as necessary as the architect.

Thousands of dollars are lost in al¬
most every building through a lack of
knowledge of the exact requirement of
the plumbing equipment for a modern
office building. Experiments have been
tried and mistakes been made time and
time again from this condition. There¬
fore in large oflfice buildings the ques¬
tion of the plumbing equipment should
be turned over to a practical plumbing
engineer who, with the assistance of the
building manager, should be able to lay
out an equipment that is exactly suited
to   the   building's   need.     The   building





manager should work in harmony with
each department and check each set of
plans carefully.

The Slavery of Precedent.

In an architect's office established pre¬
cedent is a big factor, particularly in the
specifications, and this tendency must be
battled with. The usual practice, in such
an office, is to select a set of specifica¬
tions used for some previous building or
a set borrowed from another office and
revise them to meet the new conditions.
Right here is where the value of a spe¬
cialist is unquestioned, for it is this prac¬
tice alone which installs in our modern
office buildings so much antiquated and
"ante-bellum" equipment. Hence it is
up to some one to get in touch with the
more modern equipment and investigate
its practicability, and who should be bet¬
ter fitted to do this than the building
specialist? Not the owner, surely, for
lie is rarely practical in this line of work.

The Renting Campaign.

The last but not the least person to
be employed in the erection of an office
building is the man who is to do the ac¬
tual renting of space. In the smaller
buildings, say of 100,000 rentable square
feet or less, a special man for this work
is unnecessary, as the building manager
can usually take care of this amount;
and where a building specialist is em¬
ployed it is unnecessary to have a special
man, because the building manager will
have time to handle the renting and he is
properly the one to take care of it. In
the first instance this man should be se¬
lected particularly with a view to his
ability as a salesman. His tact, diplo¬
macy, conversation and method of hand¬
ling convincing arguments should be fac¬
tors entering into this consideration. He
should report directly to the building
manager and be under his direction.

The first step requires a complete rent¬
ing campaign laid out systematically
with all the accessories, such as files,
card indexes, etc., of the very latest
type, so that every facility to the hand¬
ling of the renting campaign, together
with the solicitation of tenants, can be
availed of quickly and accurately. The
building manager should take particular
pains to train this man to the best of his
ability so that the man can, when the
building is completed and being opera¬
ted, become his assistant manager, and
thereby be of profitable assistance to the
manager.

Managerial Experience Necessary.

The oflfice building manager should be
selected because of his previous experi¬
ence in the management and maintenance
of office buildings. It is preferable of
course, that he has had experience in the
construction of a building also. It is
often the case that a practical build¬
ing manager who has had experience
in the construction and planning of
an office building can not be had in the
locality in which the building is to be
erected. In this event it would be well
to employ an oflfice building specialist,
one whose entire business is the plan¬
ning, erection, construction, operation
and maintenance of oflfice buildings and
one who is up to the minute in the latest
devices for the efficient operation, main¬
tenance and renting. Such a man in con¬
junction with the building manager will
produce an excellent building. It does
not necessarily follow that because a
man has rented an office building that
he is a successful oflfice building mana¬
ger. There is a great deal more to ef¬
ficient oflice buildin.g management than
tlie renting alone, and while a man may
be an expert in the renting end of the
game he would be an entire failure in
producing the required net revenue from
an office building. Consequently, the
owner should be careful in selecting his





manager and building specialist and try
to secure one who has had practical and
successful experience in management
and operation, as well as in renting.

It is true that the professions of of¬
fice building manager and oflfice build¬
ing specialist has come into existence
only in the last ten or twelve years and
then only due to necessity. These men
have usually passed through the school
of experience and are the products of a
demand for such a profession in this
economic age. It is not necessary to
hold the pioneers in such a work respon¬
sible for the many mistakes that have
lieen made, but in the face of these er¬
rors it is right and correct to criticise
the man or corporation who today plans
and erects a skyscraper without first
gathering around him the best special¬
ists  that can be employed.





WHAT KIND OF COAL TO  USE.





Let  the   Engineer   Keep  a   Daily   Tally
Sheet   of   Boiler-Room   Conditions.

GEORGE H. BAYNE, who is known
to many building managers in this
city as an eflficiency expert on coal con¬
sumption, recently conducted a compara¬
tive coal test in a well-known building
to help the manager determine just what
results he was getting from the coal he
was using. The test was extended to
include two other kinds of coal, and this
is how the data upon which to base
findings  were  obtained:

He provided the engineer with a ruled
chart, upon which was typed the follow¬
ing items:

Number of the boiler used.................

Name  of  fireman   .........................

Kind ot coal  (anthracite or bituminous)....

Supplied    by    .............................

Number   of   test   ..........................

Duration  of  test..........Hours   ..........

Date    of    test.............................

State    of    weather.........................

Condition  of  Coal.
Size   aud   condition   (slack,   run-of-mine   or

screened,  well  prepared or dirty)......

Total weight of coal fired during test......

Percentage of moisture in coal by weight.,.

Total ash and refuse.... From fire box......

From   ash   pit.....

Natur.e   ot   clinker.........................

Hard   or   soft.......Large   or   small.......

Thickness   of  fire   required.................

Bar   work   necessary.......................

Method   of   firing    (spreading,   alternate   or

coking    ...............................

Character ot Water.
Total   weight   of   water   fed   boiler   during

test    .................................

(If  a meter  is used  this  will be the  difference

between the initial and the final readings of

the meter, corrected  for the temperature of

the feed  water and  should be calculated in

pounds.)

Pressures.
Barometer   (if a barometer is not available,

14.7  pounds  per  square  inch  is  correct

for   all   practical   purposes.............

Steam pressure by gage per square inch....

Draught   at   stack.........................

Draught   in   furnace.......Over   fire.......

Draught in  ash pit   (this is only necessary

when   forced  draught  is  used).........

Temperatures.
Temperature ot feed-water entering boiler.,
Temperature of escaping gases (pyrometer),

.A complete set of charts was kept for
each kind of coal tested, with the result
that an accurate basis was obtained for
determining the actual evaporation, un¬
der the particular operating conditions,
each different coal produced, which,
after all, is more important than deter¬
mining the heat contents of the same
quantity of fuel.





—Real estate interests in Brooklyn
are anxious to know where the new court
Iiouse is to be. In all probability it will
lie on the present site with some adjoin¬
ing land in addition. .A decision to this
effect is expected before the year ends.





—Depression in the steel trade is less
acute, and idle woolen looms are be-
gining to restart now that they can bet¬
ter estimate the effect of the new tariff.
Bankers say the outlook for money is for
relatively easier rates, although such
can hardly be anticipated before the
middle of January, and some stringency
may occur in connection with the clos¬
ing of the year.