2012.001

Purchase

Purchase

Museum Collections.

1901 - 1903

Date(s) Created: 1901-1903 ca Date(s): 1901-1903

Good

Notes: Archives 2012.001.0109 ==== page [1] cover: The New North German Lloyd Terminal at Hoboken, Port of New York. North German Lloyd Steamship Co., Oelrichs & Co., General Agents, 5 Broadway, New York. ==== [page 2 blank] ==== The New North German Lloyd Terminal at Hoboken, Port of New York. THE Hoboken terminal of the North German Lloyd was totally destroyed by fire on June 30,1900. The Company determined to rebuild on essentially the same site with enlarged and improved structures which should be as nearly fire-proof as it was possible to make them. The first consideration had in mind by the Company was the safety and convenience of their passengers, and they therefore concentrated their efforts on the selection of a system of construction that, while, in part, not wholly indestructible by fire—this, in the nature of the case, was not possible—would at least, by subdivision into compartments and by the materials used and manner of construction, render it possible to check and subdue a fire before it could gain any headway, and before it could present any element of danger to the lives of passengers. In the second place, the aim of the Company was directed toward securing advantageous conditions for the convenient handling of passenger and freight traffic. With these ends in view, it was determined to make the new structures of the very best workmanship and materials, and a general plan of reconstruction, involving a large expenditure of money during several years, was adopted. Plate No. 1 shows a ground plan of the new pier terminals herein described. The plan decided upon comprised a two-story brick, steel and concrete building on the shore and parallel with 3 ==== page 4: Plate No. 1 [a ground plan of the new pier terminals herein described] ==== the river, 900 feet in length by 130 feet in width, termed the Bulkhead Building, in which the passenger and freight traffic is handled. This building is absolutely fire-proof in every respect, as there is not a pound of any inflammable material used in its construction. From this fire-proof building three two-story piers extend at right angles into the river, one 905 feet long by 80 feet wide, the second 889 feet long by 80 feet wide, and the third 869 feet long by 90 feet wide, with an open-water space or slip 250 feet wide separating each pier from its neighbor. At these piers, which are treated as the arrival and departure platforms of a railroad station, the steamships land their passengers, baggage and cargo. The cabin passengers are landed on the second story of the piers, and immediately proceed to the large, fireproof Bulkhead Building, where their baggage is examined in a large, comfortable, well-lighted and protected hall on the second floor provided with all conveniences, such as seats, toilet-rooms, telegraph offices, soda-water stand, etc., while the cargo is discharged on the ground floor of the pier and is conveyed to the ground floor of the Bulkhead Building, where it is separated by marks and numbers, delivered to the consignees and removed by truck. Bulky goods that are intended for delivery by lighter are transferred to the lighter directly from the pier. Departing cabin passengers embark on the steamer from the second floor of the piers, while all cargo is put on board from the ground floor. Steerage passengers, both arriving and departing, are handled on the ground floors of the Bulkhead Building and of the piers. Thus cabin passengers are kept separate from steerage passengers and cargo, and cabin passengers are landed and embark without any annoyance, and in perfect comfort and absolute safety. Their friends who come to receive them, or to bid them good-bye, are provided with a spacious promenade on the roof of the fire-proof 5 ==== Bulkhead Building, whence they can in safety watch the docking of the arriving or the sailing of the departing steamer from a height 50 feet above the water, and permitting an extensive view up and down the river, without being obliged to crowd together in a mass of thousands of on-lookers on a narrow pier, exposed to dangers resulting from panic or from fire. Description of Construction. As a foundation for the easterly wall of the fire-proof Bulkhead Building, the Company constructed a substantial sea-wall along the entire water-front of the property. This sea-wall is of granite and concrete, extending from 7 feet above mean high water to 24 feet below mean low water, a total depth of 35 feet 6 inches to tne bottom of the caissons, into which the concrete below water was filled. The foundation for this wall is 30 feet wide at the top, and consists of piles spaced 3 feet from center to center each way, and stone filling between and outside of the piles, extending down to hard bottom, making a total width on the bottom of about 100 feet, depending upon the depth. Transverse walls of concrete, built in coffer-dams at right angles to the sea-wall, and a longitudinal wall of concrete on the westerly side, on piling cut off 1 foot below low water, form the foundations for the interior and westerly walls of the fire-proof Bulkhead Building. The ground floor of the building is of concrete laid on brick arches, the arches resting on heavy steel beams. The ground floor of the building is divided into six compartments by substantial brick transverse fire-walls, the openings in which are provided with heavy steel fire-doors so sensitively hung that they can easily be opened or closed by one man. 6 ==== page 7: Plate No. 2 Cross Section Bulkhead Building and Sea Wall ==== The easterly and westerly sides of the fire-proof Bulkhead Building consist of a continuous series of steel doors that can be opened wherever needed, for the purpose of receiving or delivering cargo, either from or to lighters on the easterly side, or from or to trucks on the westerly side. The ceiling of the first story of the Bulkhead Building consists of brick arches on heavy steel I-beams. On either side of the entrances to the piers in the Bulkhead Building there are substantial iron stairs and Otis electric elevators for the conveyance of passengers and baggage between the ground floor and the second floor of the Bulkhead Building. These stairs and elevators are enclosed in shafts formed by solid brick walls, fitted with steel fire-doors, which shafts can be entirely cut off from the building. Access is also had to the second floor and roof of the fire-proof Bulkhead Building by outside stairs leading up to galleries on the outside of the Bulkhead Building over the entrances to the piers. From these galleries doors open into the second story. The arrangement and construction of the second floor of the Bulkhead Building is similar to that of the ground floor, with brick fire-walls, forming six compartments, a concrete floor, and a roof of brick arches turned on steel I-beams. It is abundantly lighted through enormous sky-lights, and through large windows on the easterly and westerly sides. All these sky-lights and windows are provided with so-called wire-glass, set in substantial iron frames, which, in case it is broken by fire or other causes, is held together by wire netting running through the glass internally. On this second floor there is a commodious retiring-room for ladies, toilets, and all other comforts of a first-class railroad station. The iron stairs in the shafts from the ground floor continue up through the second floor 8 ==== page 9: Plate No. 3, Cross Section - Pier No. 2 ==== to the roof, where they land under cover. The concrete roof promenade of the Bulkhead Building is provided with a substantial brick and stone parapet on all sides, and affords an attractive view-point from which the moving panorama on the river can be enjoyed. Plate No. 2 shows a cross-section of the Bulkhead Building and the sea-wall with its foundation ; also some details of construction of the columns and girders, and the method of protecting them against fire Having described the construction of the fire-proof Bulkhead Building, in which the passenger traffic is handled, and in which a large part of the cargo is treated, we pass to the construction of the three piers running into the river from the Bulkhead Building Owing to the depth of the mud stratum, which at the river end of the piers is about 150 feet thick from the river bottom to rock or hard sand, it is impossible to construct any stone foundation for piers in New York harbor except in a few locations, such as the Battery, where the rock approaches near the river bottom It was therefore necessary to build the North German Lloyd piers on piles from 50 to 90 feet long driven through the soft mud and resting in it. These piles were driven 6 feet apart, in single and double transverse rows 9 feet apart, and in the side of the piers are sheathed down to 4 feet below low water, with solid horizontal courses of 10-inch pine timber bolted to the piles and covered with vertical splined oak 8 inches thick, making bulkheads which enclose the interior of the substructure of the piers, preventing any blazing substance in the river from floating under the piers. In the sides of this oak sheathing, above the water-line, there are openings cut 2 feet in height by 7 feet in length the entire length of each pier, to ensure ventilation under the pier. The space under each pier is also divided into three compartments by two similar transverse bulkheads under the pier 10 ==== floor. There are in the three piers about 8,600 piles, all 14 inches or more in diameter at the cut-off, and well braced by transverse and longitudinal diagonals above low water. These piles, where the mud is too deep to reach hard bottom, are given extra support in the mud by means of timbers 30 to 35 feet long bolted to the portion of the pile below the level of the mud before being driven. The floor beams are covered by diagonal planks 4 inches thick, on which the pier flooring of concrete is laid 6 inches thick. The sheds built upon the piers are of steel and concrete. They are 8 feet narrower and about 45 feet shorter than the pier decks upon which they stand, thus forming a 4-foot outside walk around the pier on two sides and a wide, open platform at the river end. The pier sheds, which are alike in construction, are two stories high, with the eaves of the main roof about 42 1/2 feet above the pier deck. They are constructed of two longitudinal rows of steel columns in the side walls with transverse bents 18 feet apart on centers, the ground floor between the two rows of columns being unobstructed for the full width of the shed. The roof trusses are rigidly connected to the sides of the columns and carry wide monitor trusses and the suspenders for the second floor transverse girders. The steel columns are about 62 feet long over all and project about 19 feet above the eaves. The tops of the columns are connected by horizontal longitudinal box girders, which serve to support the cargo tackles used for handling freight in and out of the steamships alongside the piers. Each shed is divided into three nearly equal longitudinal compartments on the ground floor, and on the second floor by transverse fire-walls of solid steel plates on steel framing reaching from the pier deck to the solid-web roof truss. These walls are built double, with 1/4-inch steel plates 12 inches apart with air space between them. The openings in these fire-walls are provided with large steel doors on both floors of each pier, which 11 ==== can be opened or closed by one person. At every eighth transverse bent of the steel framework all the longitudinal members have a sliding joint, to allow for temperature expansions and contractions, which have a theoretical maximum range of about 1 1/2 inches. Plate No. 3 shows a cross-section of one of the piers and pier sheds, and shows the manner of protecting the columns and girders against fire and the concrete floor on the pier. The river ends of the sheds have about one-half of their vertical surface provided with windows, which are long and narrow in the upper story, and short and wide on the lower story. Between the windows the wall is composed of i-inch flat steel plates riveted to vertical studs. The sides of the monitor clere-story are glazed with i-inch wire-glass with steel sash bars. The sides of the sheds are entirely closed with steel plate doors whose widths equal the clear lengths of the panels between the columns. These doors are made in two vertical leaves each, in both the ground floor and the second story, and can be opened by being revolved in horizontal positions around axes on the second floor and eaves' levels. The floor of the second story is of wood laid double on joists covered with sheet iron and supported on steel longitudinal I-beams. The roof has a tar, gravel and felt surface on transverse pine planks 3 inches thick. The fire protection of the ground floor of the piers is most complete. The steel pier shed columns, which carry the entire weight of the pier sheds, are filled with Portland cement concrete, and are enclosed in a casing of 1/4-inch plates, leaving a space of 2 inches between the casing and the column. This space is filled with concrete, which protects the columns from corrosion and affords sufficient protection to the columns if exposed by fire. The transverse girders in the second floor are similarly protected by steel casings around them filled with concrete. To protect the under side of the floor between the transverse girders, a system of wooden 12 ==== page 13: Plate No. 4 [Map of Hoboken and Hudson River with North German Lloyd pier locations; text found on page 15: "shows the location of the North German Lloyd piers in their relation to the City of New York, and the location of the connecting ferries. This plate also shows the several Trunk Line Railroads connecting with the North German Lloyd piers by means of the lines of the Hoboken Shore Railroad."] ==== shutters encased in sheet-iron has been employed. These iron-encased shutters are bolted or hung between the transverse girders, covering the entire under-surface of the second floor. The roof trusses have not been covered with any fire-proofing material, as the second story is used for passenger traffic only, and no cargo of any description is placed on this floor. The lower story is completely isolated from the upper story by fire-proofing, and is so constructed that any fire in its contents would be confined there, without causing any serious structural injury to the framework of the building or spreading to the upper story. Provision has been made, however, in the design of the roof trusses, for extra material to give them extra strength in case they should be weakened by unexpected heat. The division of each pier into three transverse compartments, both on the upper and lower floors, by means of which a fire in one compartment can be localized, is a great additional protection. The structural protection against fire has been supplemented by a very complete system of water-piping, with hose connections every 72 feet, with self-acting valves that open on unrolling the hose reel on every pier floor, and by a full equipment of fire-buckets and extinguishers and numerous fire-alarms connecting the piers with the fire headquarters of Hoboken. The mechanical devices for loading and discharging steamers, consisting of cargo and coal hoists, are run by electricity, which is also the motive power used in the Otis elevators in the fire-proof Bulkhead Building. There are 500 arc and 552 incandescent electric lights installed in the Bulkhead Building and on the three piers, the electric current for which is supplied by the United Electric Company of New Jersey. Steam is conducted through the Bulkhead Building and the piers, to prevent the freezing of the water pipes and to furnish heat for enclosed portions of the Bulkhead Building, in which fruit and perishable cargoes are 14 ==== handled, and for heating the various offices on the piers. The steam is supplied by three boilers situated in a special boiler-house on the premises, outside of the terminal buildings. An inspection of these new terminals will convince the public that the North German Lloyd have spared no effort and no outlay of money to construct buildings that will in all human probability secure and protect their passengers and patrons from loss of life or of property caused by fire, while at the same time providing for their comfort and convenience on landing from, or embarking on, the steamers of the North German Lloyd in the Port of New York. Plate No. 4 shows the location of the North German Lloyd piers in their relation to the City of New York, and the location of the connecting ferries. This plate also shows the several Trunk Line Railroads connecting with the North German Lloyd piers by means of the lines of the Hoboken Shore Railroad. OELRICHS & COMPANY AGENTS BOWLING GREEN OFFICES, 5 BROADWAY NEW YORK 15 ==== page [16], back cover: vignette of the S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II with several tugboats; a ferryboat is in the background. Sackett & Wilhelms Litho. & Ptg. Co., New York. ==== Status: OK Status By: dw Status Date: 2012-08-14