THE HIGHEST STRUCTURE EVER BUILT.
By N. Y. Evangelist
ONE of the principal features of interest at the Paris Exposition next summer will be the Eiffel Tower, which is fast approaching completion. It is being constructed of iron, and will rise to a height of 984 feet. As the greatest height yet reached in any structure is that of the Washington Monument, 555 feet, some idea can be formed of the great distance upward that this tower will go. This tower will weigh, when completed, 7,000 tons, and will cost 4,500,000 francs [about $810,000]. One object of its construction is to light the Exposition grounds. There is talk of supplying it with electric lights of 19,000,000 candle-power. Four such towers, with a capacity173of 50,000,000 each, it is thought would light the whole city of Paris. The tower will be supplied with elevators which will land passengers 971 feet from the earth. It is an interesting fact that the great Paris Exposition sends to America for elevators to carry passengers the first 420 feet of its height. Otis Brothers, of New York, have the work in hand, and already have shipped most of the outfit. Some idea of the magnitude of the machinery may be formed when it is stated that the hydraulic cylinders for the elevators in our largest New York buildings are one foot three or four inches in diameter, while those for the Eiffel Tower are three feet two inches. The remaining height will be reached by some other system of elevator than the hydraulic, not yet determined upon. The Otis cylinders have been tested by a pressure of 400 pounds to the square inch, the required pressure being only half that amount. There will be two elevators, with a capacity for fifty passengers each, and they will run up the incline of the sides.—N. Y. Evangelist.