THE METCALF RESEARCH LABORATORY AT BROWN UNIVERSITY HARTLEY C. ECKSTROM Brown University, Providence, R. I.
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divided into small laboratories, all equipped with light-tight blinds. On the second floor are located offices, a conference room, research rooms, and service rooms which include a storeroom, an instrument room, a balance room, and a conductance room. Altogether, there are twenty-two research laboratories capable of accommodating thirty-five laboratory workers very comfortably. Numerous rooms are provided for special purposes; they include the microphotometer room, grating room, spark room, special spectroscopic laboratories, two darkrooms, and compu ting room. The combined chemistry, mathematics, and physics libraries are housed on the third floor, where there are two levels of stacks accommodating 60,000 volumes. In addition, there are a reading room, three offices, and a small conference room, Additional reading room is provided by means of carrells along the south and north walls a t the end of the stacks. A small freight elevator connects all three floors and the basement. It is located next to the stock rooms, thus providing an easy means of transporting heavy equipment and stock from one floor to another. The entire building was designed so that it may easily be adapted to any type of research. The only permanent floor fixture in any laboratory is the sink. All sinks are Karcite and are provided with steam and steam mixers. All chemical desks and tables are constructed of steel with Transite tops and are portable. Around the walls of all laboratories, pipes for gas, water, and air are attached to racks by means of small brackets and a special pipe for water drainage is hung below these. This arrangement permits the moving of tables, desks, ammonia benches, and special apparatus to any
H E new Metcalf Research Laboratory, the construction of which was made possible by a gift of half a million dollars from former Senator Jesse H. Metcalf, stands on the Brown Campus adjacent to the Jesse Metcalf Memorial Laboratory, a gift from Mr. Metcalf in 1922. The architecture of the new laboratory, like that of the older structure, is Georgian and harmonizes with other nearby buildings. In addition to the building, Mr. Metcalf’s gift provides for much new research equipment and endowment for research. The new laboratory is a three-story structure, with basement, having a length of 130 feet and a width of 48 feet. Its primary purpose is to provide research facilities for the staff and students of the Department of Chemistry. It also houses the laboratories of undergraduate physical chemistry and the combined libraries of the Departments of Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics. The arrangement of laboratories and service rooms will be evident from the floor plans. The corridor malls divide the building so that the laboratories on either side have a depth of 19 feet. The corridor ends at a transverse partition wall a t the west side in order to provide some larger rooms, 30 X 45 feet, which may be used intact or divided suitably to meet the need for laboratories of unusual size and shape. In the basement are laboratories for photochemical and spectroscopic research, the machine shop, generator and switchboard room, storerooms, and the air-conditioning unit. Undergraduate physical chemistry is provided with a large laboratory on the west end of the first floor, as well as several small laboratories, a dark room, and a storeroom. Except for one office, the remaining space on the first Aoor has been 56
ANALYTICAL EDITION
JANUARY 15, 1939
Above. LAYOUTOF LABORATORY 213
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part of a laboratory with the necessary services always available. All the services-water, gas, air, and steam-that supply a laboratory mny be shut off in that laboratory, so that any necessary changes may be made in a laboratory without disrupting the work in any other part of the building. Since all pipes and electrical conduits are exposed, changes may be easily made. Each laboratory is also provided with 110- and 220-volt alternating current, 110-volt direct current of 35 amperes capacity, and two special circuits with a carrying capacity up to 100 amperes. These circuits run directly to the switchboard in the basement. In all laboratories, the 110-volt alter-
nating current circuit is run along the walls in a 4 X 4 inch steel trough with hinged front, fastened to the wall racks above the pipes for water, gas, air, and drain. Whenever it becomes necessary to add other electrical services, the conductors may be laid in this trough. All laboratory circuits, except special circuits, are provided with individual circuit breakers. The special circuits terminate in safety switches. This, again, permits changes t o be made in the wiring of any laboratory without inconvenience to workers in the rest of the building. The photographs illustrate the flexibility of the arrangement adopted. The steel trough conduit, the water, gas, and air pipes, and the water drain are clearly visible. A unit of two circuit breakers and a special circuit safety switch is visible in Laboratory 213. The design and construction of the ammonia benches and the manner in which they are connected to the services may also be seen in Laboratories 204 and 213. Since the building is fire-proof throughout, with the interior walls and facing of vitrified tile, it mas necessary t o provide an easy means of hanging pipes, conduits, and wires, and of suspending special apparatus, such as galvanometer suspensions. This m-as accomplished by means of ceiling inserts which are regularly spaced a t 4-foOt intervals in all laboratories, starting 1 foot from all walls. By means of special hangers, any type of apparatus or pipe may be re:tdily hung without boring holes in either the walls or the ceiling. In Laboratory 213 the pipes for gas and air are run across the ceiling to the middle of the
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room for use with a blast lamp and two galvanometer suspensions and numerous wires are shown hung from the inserts in Laboratory 5 . The undergraduate physical chemistry laboratory and several other laboratories are equipped with hoods which are constructed of black composition stone with glass doors. Each hood is provided with a sink, and with water, gas, air, steam, and electrical services. The table tops in the hoods are removable, so that racks, similar to those of the ammonia benches, may be set up inside the hoods. Each hood is provided with an individual exhaust fan. All other laboratories me provided with ducts for fume ventilation. Not more than two laboratories are connected to one exhaust fan and all fans have a capacity of 900 cubic feet per minute. The ducts are constructed of Transite pipe. The fans are placed just under the roof, and each fan has its own exhaust to the atmosphere, so that there is no danger of a down draft returning the exhausted fumes to another laboratory. Near the south wall in the basement of the building provision has been made for hanging a 110-foot absorption tube for spectroscopic work. On the west side, in the basement, a special thermally insulated room has been provided for a 21foot grating which will be used with a modified Eagle mounting, and has been so arranged that the grating may be used in conjunction with the absorption tube. The machine shop, which is 50 feet long and 18 feet wide, provides ample facilities for machine work and apparatus construction required for research purposes. In one corner of the shop, a small student shop has been provided and equipped with a small lathe, drill
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press, and other tools. The shop is lighted by means of mercury vapor lamps. Fume ventilation is provided by means of an open-faced hood. All machines are individually driven by means of three-phase motors. Since the basement laboratories have no windows, it was found necessary to air-condition the basement. The air-conditioning equipment has a capacity of 2,000 cubic feet per minute. On the second floor, a special room has been fitted up for conductance work. In this laboratory is a shielded, soundproof room which holds the bridge used for conductance measurements. Connected to the balance room is a thermally insulated room which is used to house a microbalance. The balance room itself is used only for special balances of high sensitivity; other balances are distributed in the various laboratories as needed. Every effort has been made to ensure adequate lighting in all parts of the building. Each research laboratory, depending upon size, has from two to six ceiling fixtures, each of 350watt capacity. In addition, a special ceiling receptacle with its own switch is provided to supply additional lights as required. Each research laboratory is furnished with a chemical desk which has three drawers, plain tables, a glass-blowing table, an ammonia bench, a storage cabinet, a clothes locker, and a desk with lamp and chair and a bookcase. Each ammonia bench is furnished with gas, water, air, and electricity. The chemical desks are open underneath and have no lockers for storage; adequate storage space is provided in 72 X 36 X 18 inch cabinets.
