Abstract
MR. H. T. YOUNG, who is connected with the installation and contracting section of the electrical industry, gave his presidential address before the Institution of Electrical Engineers on October 22. In the early days, electrical installations in buildings were for lighting and bells. Wood casing was used, and, so far as possible it was concealed from view. Cables, wires and equipment were placed anywhere where they would be out of sight. Now new and larger buildings are being erected all over the country, and electrical contractors are having difficulty in doing their work satisfactorily under the new conditions. The steel and concrete buildings of to-day, if once completed, are almost impregnable to electric services. The item in electrical accounts entitled “cutting away and making good” averages about ten per cent of the cost of the whole installation. In new buildings which are planned and designed for electrical services, this item is much smaller and the time of building is accelerated; Mr. Young urged that channels, ducts and conduits for the reception of wires and rabies should be considered in the future as an integral part of the building from the point of intake to the outlets. In the United States and Canada, underfloor duct systems have been adopted for more than ten years as standard practice in nearly every type of building, except private houses. The ducts are made of steel or fibre and are laid in the floor during construction. In Great Britain, a beginning of the duct system has been made. Three ducts are used, one for telephones and signalling wires, one for heating and power, and one for lighting.
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Electric Services in Buildings. Nature 138, 752 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/138752b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/138752b0