Steel By Frederick Thomas Hodgson

• Excerpt from Practical Steel Construction: Dealing With All Phases in the Construction of Our Modern Steel Buildings; With Illustrations, Drawings and Valuable Tables The introduction of steel in construction has become universal in this country during the last decade. Its extended use is evidently due, not only to its merits as a constructive material and the exceedingly low price at which it may be obtained, but also to the rapidity with which it may be assembled in the field. Without such a material the skeleton construction adopted for high office buildings and similar structures, which are being erected so generally in the principal American cities, would be impracticable; bridges would become more cumbersome and unsightly affairs, and the success ful construction of graceful and symmetrical roof trusses, and arched ribs of great span would be almost impossible.