Kahn system

The Kahn system is an industrial construction technique for reinforcement of

Kahn system
buildings that was engineered and patented by Julius Kahn. The Kahn system is an
industrial construction design using the Kahn T
russed Bar as the bases. This steel bar
was a new type of reinforcing bar used in concrete and had unique engineered
features to distribute stress.[1]

Kahn saw problems with the concrete reinforcement systems used in building
construction at the end of the 19th century. The existing technique of construction of
the time was using concrete with a plain straight steel in the center of a concrete
beam. The steel in the concrete would slip if there was even the tiniest bit of room
between the hardened concrete and the steel and it would break adhesion. The main
reinforcing bar had plain steel beam members rigidly attached to it. This diagonal
tension fractured the reinforcing bar beams since the adhesion was broken. This
caused weakness in the concrete/steel reinforced beam and a failure that could cause
catastrophic results. The problem was that the plain steel beam separated from the
Trademark
concrete causing a failure since the two materials were no longer working together
for strength.[2]
Process type Physical
Industrial Structural
sector(s) engineering
Main Reinforced
Contents technologies or concrete
sub-processes
1 Description
2 Kahn trussed bar applications Feedstock Concrete and
steel
3 See also
4 References Inventor Julius Kahn
5 Bibliography Year of invention c. 1900
6 Additional reading Developer(s) Trussed
7 External links Concrete Steel
Company

Description
A reinforced beam bar in the early 1900s consisted of a plain straight steel in the
center of a molded concrete form. The beam would fail along the lines of principal
stresses in the concrete through shearing. The plain straight steel was placed into an
encased mold and concrete was poured in. This formulated mixture of steel and
concrete then hardened and became the reinforced beam bar. But in some cases there
was a tiny air gap between the steel and the hardened concrete which allowed the
Kahn system of reinforced concrete,
steel to move and slip. This weakened the reinforced beam from its original full
patent no. 736,602 dated August 18,
strength capability. This meant then this weakened fractured beam could fail and 1903
[3]
break under the heavy load of the building it was supporting.

Kahn discovered that concrete was much stronger in compression than tension, so came up with the idea of distributing the
stresses.[4] He did scientific engineering experiments and came up with the concept that if the steel beam edges were bent back at a
45-degree angle forming projecting tabs or "wings" before going into the molded form led to better stress distribution.[5] The winged
sheared members are cut and turned up to form an angle from the thin edge of the
steel bar but are still permanently attached.[6] When the wet concrete mixture poured
in hardened there was no slippage of the steel beam because the tension stress is
distributed throughout the beam.[7]

This new style constructed steel beam was called "the Kahn trussed bar", sometimes
shortened to just "the Kahn bar".[8] The trussed steel bar had bent up "wings" on
each side. The "wings" on the steel bar provided 2030 percent additional strength to
a reinforced concrete beam from the old technology of just plain straight smooth
steel bars or rods.[3] The main concept of the Kahn bar was that it gave
reinforcement in both the vertical and horizontal plane at the same time which
simplified construction.[9] The principal lines of shear stresses in a beam average a
Kahn trussed bar from 1904
45-degree angle, so the angled "wings" transmitted the tension down to the main catalogue of the Trussed Concrete
reinforcing steel beam.[4] Steel Company

The Kahn bar is of high grade steel with an elastic limit of 42,000 pounds and tensile
strength of 70,000 pounds per square inch.[10] Kahn formed his own company in
1903 called Trussed Concrete Steel Company (aka "Truscon Steel Company")
located in Youngstown, Ohio, to manufacture these special steel bars used in
reinforced concrete beams.[11]

Another new engineered innovation of Kahn was steel forms built with "ribs"
instead of "wings". It was a derivative from Kahn's 1903 patent. This advanced
technology was marketed by the Trussed Concrete Steel Company with the brand
name of Hy-Rib products.[12] The Kahn System of reinforced concrete is the first Packard plant no. 10 during
time an automobile factory was constructed and it was for Packard automobile construction using the Kahn system
factory plant building number 10 designed in 190305.[13][14][15][16] The Kahn
system of reinforcement products had been used in over 1500 buildings in the
United States by 1907.[17]

Kahn trussed bar applications

Kahn's patented invention is a steel bar of 45-degree diagonal "wings" as several
minor members that are rigidly attached to the main member.[18] The idea of the
"wing" technique is that the stresses are distributed throughout the main reinforced Packard plant no. 10 blue print 1905,
showing Kahn system of construction
beam.[2] The steel then doesn't slip within the hardened concrete.
[2]
 No steel reinforcement in Straight steel horizontal Only loose steel stirrup Kahn bar reinforcement
concrete causes reinforcement causes bar reinforcements causes test to destruction
breakage like a piece of separation from concrete uneven stress showing ideal stress
chalk distribution distribution

[19]
Another significant feature of the Kahn Trussed Bar and Kahn System of reinforced concrete was its resistance to fire.

See also
Albert Kahn Associates
Hy-Rib
Manistee Watch Company
Truscon Laboratories
Trussed Concrete Steel Company

References
1. Bucci 2002, pp. 3133.
2. Shor, George G.; Shor, Elizabeth Noble; Spiess, Fred Noel (1979)."The George H. Scripps Memorial Marine
Biological Laboratory of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography
, University of California, San Diego"(http://content.c
dlib.org/view?docId=kt1q2nc2q9;NAAN=13030&chunk.id=ss1.4) . SIO Reference. Scripps Institution of
Oceanography (7926): 89.
3. Matuz 2002, p. 47.
4. Sedlar, Frank (June 24, 2013)."Engineering Industrial Architecture: Albert Kahn and the rTussed Concrete Steel
Company" (http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/98436/Sedlar_Engineering_Industrial_Architectu
re.pdf) (PDF). 20122013 MLibrary Undergraduate Research A ward Maize Award for Single-Term
{{subst:lc:Projects}}. University of Michigan.
5. Bucci 2002, p. 31; Skinner 1997, p. 13.
6. Webb & Gibson 1916, p. 48.
7. Ferry 1970, p. 11.
8. Bucci 2002, p. 31.
9. Bucci 2002, p. 31; Buel 1904, p. 337.
10. Trussed Concrete Steel Company 1910, p. 8.
11. Matuz 2002, p. 47; Ferry 1970, p. 10.
12. Hughes, Allen & Hecht 2001, p. 142.
13. Hildebrand 1974, p. 31. "Thus Plant Number Ten represented a clear advance in factory construction for Packard
and for the automobile industry in general, as it was the first automobile plant to be built of reinforced concrete."
14. Sedlar 2013, p. 31. "The Packard #10 building was the first to utilize reinforced concrete with Julius Kahn's Kahn Bar
but also as previously discussed, the full range of steel building products from therussed
T Concrete Steel
Company."
15. Kahn, Albert (January 14, 2004). Bund, Sally Linvill, ed."Albert Kahn papers" (http://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bhlead/umi
ch-bhl-0420?rgn=main;view=text). Bentley Historical Library. University of Michigan. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
"Kahn's first factory built of reinforced concrete in Detroit was Building Number 10 for the Packard Motor Company
(1905)."
16. Nelson 1939, p. 10. "The first reinforced concrete factory in the country
, designed by Albert Kahn, made its
appearance in 1903."
17. Cody 2005, p. 38.
18. Cody 2005, p. 37.
19. Trussed Concrete Steel Company 1910, pp. 1213.

Bibliography
Bucci, Federico (2002).Albert Kahn: Architect of Ford. Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 978-1-56898-343-1.
Buel, Albert Wells (1904). Reinforced Concrete. The Engineering News Publishing Company
. LCCN 04028218.
Cody, Jeffrey W. (2005). Exporting American Architecture 18702000. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-80487-9.
Ferry, W. Hawkins (1970). The Legacy of Albert Kahn. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-1889-4.
Hildebrand, Grant (1974). Designing for industry: the architecture of Albert Kahn
. The MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-
08054-5.
Hughes, Agatha C.; Allen, Michael Thad; Hecht, Gabrielle (2001).Technologies of Power: Essays in Honor of
Thomas Parke Hughes and Agatha Chipley Hughes . MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-51124-7.
Matuz, Roger (2002). Albert Kahn: Builder of Detroit. Wayne State University Press.ISBN 0-8143-2957-8.
Nelson, George (1939).Industrial architecture of Albert Kahn, Inc. Architectural Book Publishing Company
.
LCCN 39005868.
Skinner, Joan S. (1997). Form and Fancy: Factories and Factory Buildings by W
allis, Gilbert & Partners, 19161939.
Liverpool University Press.ISBN 978-0-85323-612-2.
Kahn System Standards: A Hand Book of Practical Calculations and Application of Reinforced Concrete
. Trussed
Concrete Steel Company. 1910.
Webb, Walter Loring; Gibson, William Herbert (1916).Concrete and Reinforced Concrete: A Condensed Practical
Treatise on the Problems of Concrete Construction, Including Cement Mixtures, Tests, Beam and Slab Design,
Construction Work, Retaining Walls, Etc. American Technical Society. LCCN 16005347.

Additional reading
Siri, Joseph."The Architecture of Earthquake Resistance: Julius Kahn's ruscon
T Company and Frank Lloyd Wright's
Imperial Hotel." J. Soc. Of Archit. Hist., March 2008. pp PP. 78105.
Structurae. "Robert Maillart." International Database and gallery of Structures. W
eb. April 20, 2013
TRUSCON. "TRUSCON: The First Fifty Y ears, 19071957." April 1957.
Trussed Concrete Steel Co. "Kahn Building Products." 1913.
Trussed Concrete Steel Co. "Kahn System of Reinforced Concrete." June. 20, 1904.
Trussed Concrete Steel Co. "United Steel Sash." 1912.

External links
Kahn system of reinforced concrete
Concrete and metal construction, patent # US736602 A
Albert Kahn and his "Kahn-crete": The Revolutionization of Factory Architecture
Video on "Engineering Industrial Architecture: Albert Kahn and the Trussed Concrete Steel Company"
Michigan Historical Collections, Bentley Historical Library
, University of Michigan, Albert Kahn Papers, 18962011

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