New Chemical Engineering Building at Case School of Applied Science E. A. ARNOLD AND D. 0. HUBBARD, Case School of Applied Science, Cleveland, Ohio
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H E first unit of the new chemical engineering building a t Case School of Applied Science was completed and occupied in October. This unit, comprising about 40 per cent of the total proposed building, houses the laboratories for elementary and advanced chemical engineering, testing of fuels and lubricants, and physical and organic chemistry. It greatly improves departmental facilities for upper-class and graduate instruction and research, as well as for cooperative industrial research. The building, designed by Walker and Weeks and built by the Emerson Co., both of Cleveland, is of welded structural steel frame with reinforced concrete floor slabs and brick fating. It is of the modern industrial type, the horizontal lines being accentuated by continuous rows of full-length windows. The building is three stories high with a half-submerged basement. At the south end an annex, with floor a t the basement level and ceiling a t the ceiling level of the first floor, furnishes headroom for erecting towers and other tall apparatus.
At the floor level of the first floor, easily removable subway grating is laid over the I-beams to form a balcony. I n one corner of the annex, four concrete shelters have been built behind which high-pressure reactions can be carried on. All controls and gages for such studies are brought through a heavy steel plate in the front of the shelter. The fact that this unit is a part of a building to be ultimately finished has dictated in some measure the location of stairways and interconnecting hallways and materials of construction. Every effort has been made to obtain all essential facilities a t a minimum expenditure. The cost of construction, not including laboratory furniture, was about 45 cents per cubic foot as compared with an average of 35 cents for an ordinary industrial building of comparable size. The entire building is wired for 110- and 220-volt alternating current. All electrical circuits are equipped with circuit breakers instead of fuses. The 220-volt single- and threephase circuits are used for operating machinery, while the 110volt circuit is reserved for lighting and other minor uses. For
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steady voltage, current is obtained from one of two storage battery sets-one bank of 120 ampere-hour capacity a t 32 volts and one of 240 ampere-hours a t 4 volts-and is distributed to outlets from a standard plug panel board. Lighting is provided in the laboratories in the basement and first two floors by standard fixtures using a bowl-type diffusing unit and an enameled steel reflector. The offices, corridors, class rooms, and third floor are lighted only by the glass diffusing unit without a reflector. This provides an illumination of about 25 foot-candles a t the desk top. Under the balcony in the annex fluorescent tubular lamps in trough reflectors provide illumination without glare. General heating is provided by steam radiators and fresh air for ventilation is supplied by unit heaters, all thermostatically controlled. To obtain even distribution and prevent dead-air pockets in the large first-floor laboratory, the air supply is furnished by a heater and blower unit situated on the roof of the annex and is distributed by Transite ducts through louvered openings. The hoods along with auxiliary ducts serve in part to carry off the used air. By this system, the air in the large laboratories is changed about fifteen times per hour and throughout the rest of the building about ten. All motors and fans used for the fume hood systems are contained in a penthouse on the roof, but the control switch is located a t the hood. These switches are of the magnetic type with a small pilot lamp in the circuit which is lighted when the fan is in operation. The main switch is pulled for a moment a t the close of each day, shutting off all fans. The automatic distilled water system is located in the penthouse, where live steam is scrubbed, condensed in block tin, and stored in an acidproof 120-gallon stoneware jar. The cover is fitted with a float that automatically stops the flow of steam when the jar is full and starts it again when needed. From this jar, water is distributed by pure aluminum lines with all-aluminum snap faucets in the laboratories. The basement is an entire unit for the study of chemical engineering unit operations. This group is composed of a large general laboratory running lengthwise, flanked on the north by a group of small laboratories devoted to the study of special operations and on the south by the annex. The large laboratory is provided with three drain troughs approximately 60 feet long and spaced 9 feet from center to
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center to provide drainage for any equipment set up over them. To facilitate the mounting of equipment sixteen racks 3 feet long and 5 feet high, made of 2-inch pipe, are mounted over the drain troughs. To each rack are piped 15and 110-pound steam, gas, water, and air with shutoff valves a t the racks. Switches and outlet plugs a t each end of the rack provide 110-volt single-phase electric power. Around these racks equipment for research and instruction in fluid flow, meter calibrations, heat transfer, evaporation, mixing, filtration, centrifugal separation, etc., may be set up. The study of grinding and classification is confined to a small laboratory a t the north end because of the dust problem. Similarly, owing to the need of even temperature, another small laboratory a t the north end contains the equipment for the study of drying. A storeroom and balance room and an office with a connecting private laboratory make up this group. At the south end, the laboratory opens into the annex where heavier equipment and apparatus requiring more than average headroom may be set up to study distillation, adsorption, spray drying, and similar unit operations. For easy accessibility from the unit operations laboratory, the mechanic’s shop and mechanical storeroom are located in the basement. The storeroom is outfitted with bins and shelves for pipe, rods, angle iron, pipe fittings, spare pumps, motors, and miscellaneous engineering supplies. For repairs and construction of new equipment and special apparatus the shop is equipped with a 13-inch swing 6-foot bed screw-feed lathe, floor-stand drill press, 12-inch grinding wheel, milling machine, power saw, and ample work bench space. The first floor is designed to give maximum flexibility and to furnish all the common facilities required for small-scale industrial research and process development work. For this reason, the main laboratory is flanked on the north by three small rooms, the first of which is a room for high-temperature research, equipped with a gas-fired muffle furnace and two gasfired crucible furnaces. For calibration of thermal measuring equipment, ignition of samples, and high-temperature research four electric crucible furnaces, an electric muffle furnace, a Globar heated muffle, and a similarly heated tube furnace are provided. The Globar furnaces are equipped with temperature-recording and control equipment. I n the second room, equipment for glass blowing, pipe fitting, and light metal
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a blower in the penthouse. Each outlet can remove 25 cubic feet of gas per minute when all are opened. In the center of the room are two tables for mounting two drying ovens, a centrifuge, and automatic burets with standard solutions for general use. On the standard-type desks distillation columns for analytical and semiplant-scale separations can be mounted, with equipment for measuring vapor pressure, melting points, and liquid-vapor compositions of materials. The second floor organic laboratory has 10 center tables, duplicates of those in the senior laboratory, with lockers for 80 men. On the center tables are individual steam cones for distillations, and special stainless steel supports, replacing ring stands, which slide back under the reagent racks when not in use. A pair of tables and sink and a low distillation rack, duplicating those in the center of the senior laboratory, are also provided. Laboratories for physical chemistry, fuels, water, and lubricants research, and bacteriology are provided on the third floor, as well as a room for the storage and dispensing of instruments to service these departments.
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The physical chemistry laboratory is equipped with a balance table, six flat-top double center tables, and a furnace table, with two electrical furnaces for thermal analysis and an 8-foot wall table with locked cupboards, services, and end sink. The services on the center tables are gas, water, 110-volt alternating current electric power, and constant-voltage current. The direct current is distributed to outlets on the center tables and to three other small laboratories from a distribution board in the physical chemistry laboratory. Through a system of jacks, plugs, and cords voltages are provided in 2-volt steps, from 2 to 32 volts, to any outlet on the system from the panel referred to above. The fuels, lubricants, and water laboratory is allotted a space 20 by 60 feet, one end of which is divided into two smaller rooms. One of these small rooms is used for calorimetric measurements on solid, liquid, and gaseous fuels while the other is outfitted for bacteriological examination of water. In the main laboratory are two center tables, 12 feet long and 4.5 feet wide, with an end sink and three 6-inch drain cups. Service for gas, steam, water, and electric power is supplied in pipes in the reagent racks. The lower sections consist of 72 locked drawers, about 12 inches square on the front and 20 inches deep, for student samples and glassware. Three 8-foot tables and one 6-foot table hold gas-analysis equipment, an electric oven, and an electric muffle furnace. One open-front hood is equipped with two 6-place steam baths, water, steam, gas, electricity, and a 6-inch hemispherical drain cup. There are six closedfront hoods, four 3 feet wide and two 4.5 feet wide, primarily for permanent installation of special equipment for fuel or lubricant analysis requiring limited fume removal. The understructure is composed of steel cupboards for general storage. All cupboards and sash are supplied with locks.
mork is provided in a student shop, so that the students may construct equipment needed in research and pilot-plant work, The third room is used as a balance room and instrument storeroom to service the main laboratory. The south end of the main laboratory opens onto the balcony in the annex, where bulky equipment may be set up. Eight standard center tables provide locker space for 64 students in two groups. For semipermanent equipment for industrial research and process development 8 special tables are installed. Two tables 3 feet wide, 6 feet long, and 20 inches high separated by an Alberene stone sink 36 X 18 X 12 inches deep constitute a unit. Lengthwise along the center is a double-faced rack 7 feet high divided into two %foot sections over each table. Keyhole slots placed on 6-inch centers are located in the vertical channels and top plate, so that a lattice of rods can be installed to support special equipment. Service lines for low- ressure steam, air, gas, water, and electricity are located in the racis in the center line of the table; high- ressure steam lines are provided a t the floor to be carried into t i e racks as required. To remove fumes that cannot be easil absorbed, a suction line with snap closure t o p is placed on eacx rack, connecting through Transite pipe to
The building provides seven offices for the staff, each with a connecting private research laboratory of similar size. There are also two recitation rooms and a lecture room large enough for 60 students and a lecture demonstration table. The laboratory furniture is lead-coated copper-bearing steel finished in olive green acid-resisting enamel, with the exception of the physical chemistry laboratory, where existing oak tables were used and additional equipment was purchased to match. The center tables for the senior, organic, and research laboratories were assembled from a single basic unit. Electricity, water, gas, and low-pressure steam are provided in the reagent rack, with all fittings of black oxidized brass. All chemical drains are acid-resisting high-silicon iron, and two 6-inch hemispherical sinks are placed under the reagent rack on each side of the sink. The hoods in the senior and organic laboratories are open front of a modified Cornel type. The superstructure of all hoods is a standard construction of impregnated Transite set in a reinforcing frame of lead-coated steel. Steam, gas, water, and electrical services are supplied in each hood with remote controls through the apron in front. All piping is exposed under the ceilings, with the vertical risers in the fume duct shaft, so that if repairs are required or extensions desired all lines are easily accessible.
