Hy-Rib was a brand name for a product manufactured by the

Trussed Concrete Steel Company The Trussed Concrete Steel Company was founded in 1903 by Julius Kahn, an engineer and inventor. Its headquarters were in Detroit, Michigan, and its steel factory was in Youngstown, Ohio. The long company name changed to a shortened versio ...

. It is an engineering reinforcement system for floors, walls, and ceilings of buildings and houses. This product is a derivative of the Kahn Trussed Bar for beams and columns that was invented by

Julius Kahn Julius Kahn may refer to: *Julius Kahn (inventor) Julius Kahn (March 8, 1874 – November 4, 1942) was an American engineer, industrialist, and manufacturer. He was the inventor of the Kahn system, a reinforced concrete engineering techniq ...

. Kahn engineered the Hy-Rib products and they were first manufactured in 1908. Hy-Rib is a steel

encasement Encasement is the coating over, covering or "encasing" of all building components, interior and exterior. This includes all roofing and toxic hazards materials, such as asbestos, lead-based paint, mold/mildew and other harmful substances, found ...

stiffened by rigid ribs used in reinforced walls, ceilings, and floors. They are

helical Helical may refer to: * Helix A helix () is a shape like a corkscrew or spiral staircase. It is a type of smooth space curve with tangent lines at a constant angle to a fixed axis. Helices are important in biology, as the DNA molecule is for ...

hooping units of steel sheathing forms used in concrete, stucco and plaster. Hy-Rib products are a derivative of the "wings" used in the patented Kahn System of reinforced concrete, invented by Julius Kahn in 1903. The products are made from a single plate of steel. Hy-Rib products were used in concrete doors, ceilings, and roofs. It was also used in sidings, partitions and ceilings to eliminate channels. Hy-Rib products were designed to take on plaster and cement to eliminate layout forms in the construction of buildings. The steel sheet form would be embedded with plaster or cement directly and would flow into the lath surface to attach itself to the steel and harden to secure the material into the steel.

Description and application

Hy-Rib products came in steel sheathing forms that could be bent, cut and connected together to make various size floors, walls, and ceilings. They were designed with the idea to reduce weight as compared to wood structures of the same building size. The steel forms of sheathing were stiffened by rigid high ribs and a complete unit was made with a single sheet of steel. This technique increased floor space because it cut down on center posts that were normally used in wood structured buildings. The Hy-Rib reinforced concrete floors, ceilings and walls were fireproof, being a major safety factor over wooden structures. The Packard automobile factory plant building number 10 is a demonstration of Hy-Rib product application of this reinforced concrete technique. This was the first time reinforced concrete products were used for automobile factory construction. Hy-Rib products are used in the construction of

tunnels A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube constr ...

, conduits,

flume A flume is a human-made channel for water, in the form of an open declined gravity chute whose walls are raised above the surrounding terrain, in contrast to a trench or ditch. Flumes are not to be confused with aqueducts, which are built to ...

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdom, ...

silo A silo (from the Greek σιρός – ''siros'', "pit for holding grain") is a structure for storing bulk materials. Silos are used in agriculture to store fermented feed known as silage, not to be confused with a grain bin, which is used t ...

cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are t ...

s, and

water tank A water tank is a container for storing water. Water tanks are used to provide storage of water for use in many applications, drinking water, irrigation agriculture, fire suppression, agricultural farming, both for plants and livestock, chemi ...

s. For these applications the lath sheet products come in curved steel sheets. They are locked together to form a complete tube or tunnel on site. The curved sheets are stood on edge in the case of silos, water tanks, cisterns, and chimneys. The connected form then is plastered with cement. In some cases a few steel rods are added for extra strength and connecting purposes. Hy-Rib products are used in flooring due to its ability to interlock prefabricated pieces. It has plaster applied to the underside creating the ceiling. The top would have wet cement poured on it to form the floor above. If the floor were required to carry heavy loads the Hy-Rib sheathing material could be bent into an arch to provide additional strength and then wet cement could poured as usual on top to make a floor.

Product

File:Four types of Hy-Rib.jpg, Four types of Hy-Rib File:Hy-Rib products.jpg, Hy-Rib ''lath'' and ''studs'' File:Hy-Rib steel sheathing.jpg, Hy-Rib steel sheathing File:Hy-Rib depths.jpg, Hy-Rib depths File:Hy-Rib sheets.jpg, Hy-Rib sheets

References

Bibliography

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External links

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, 1896–2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hy-Rib Composite materials Concrete Structural engineering

Description and application

Product

See also

References

Bibliography

External links