1923 — March 31, water tank/tower on roof fails, Fuller Brush Co., Hartford, CT            —     10

–11  The Courant, CT. “Unwise Removal of Rods Led to Fuller Brush Catastrophe.” 1-16-2008.[1]

–10  Bridgeport Telegram, CT. “2 Probes of Hartford Shop Collapse Still On.” 4-10-1923, p. 2.

–10  Connecticuthistory.org. “Fuller Brush Tower Collapses – Today in History: March 31” 3-31-2017.

–10  Godfrey, Edward. Engineering Failures and Their Lessons. 1924, p. 176.

–10  North Adams Transcript, MA. “Two Arrests at Hartford.” 4-13-1923, p. 1.

 

Narrative Information

 

Connecticuthistory.org: “On March 31, 1923, a 56,000-gallon water tank dropped through 4 concrete floors of the Fuller Brush Company Tower, which was in the final stages of construction. Nearing completion, the 160-foot-high, 4-story tower formed the entrance and elevator shaft of the new plant on Windsor Avenue in Hartford.

 

“The collapse occurred at 11:40 a.m. when the 200-ton water supply tank for the factory’s sprinkler system, located on the upper 2 stories, failed taking out the south and west walls, as well as the lower half of the north wall….

 

“Ten people were killed and later investigations into the accident revealed that the removal of eight steel tension support rods from the tank the day before were the likely cause of the accident. The rods reinforced the four upright supports of the water tank but took up quite a bit of space. The company had suggested the use of the space directly under the tank as a likely location for a school to instruct branch managers and the support rods had been removed after consulting the engineers on the project.” (Connecticuthistory.org. “Fuller Brush Tower Collapses – Today in History: March 31” 3-31-2017.)

 

Godfrey: “A tank…was built at Hartford, Conn. It failed and ten men were killed. The failure is described in Engineering News-Record, April 12, 1923. In the issue of April 19 the reports of a number of engineers who examined the wreck are published. None of these reports make any mention of the fault in design exhibited in the heavily battered posts and absence of provision to take the thrust tending to cave in the bottom, and of course none of the reports attribute the failure to this fault in design….

 

“The tank at Hartford was 22 feet in diameter. It was a hemispherical bottom tank. It was carried on a tower of four steel posts, very heavily battered. The posts were 23.5 ft. high, 33 ft. apart at the base and 22 ft. apart at the tank. They are thus battered about one-quarter of their height. The inward thrust at the top of each post was about 15,000 lbs. There was an 18”x1/4” plate in the foot-walk, stiffened on the outside by a 3×3 angle. Reports on this tank state that because of the removal of diagonal rods and bottom ties in the steel tower the tank and tower rotated or twisted, and failure resulted from this cause. These posts had long riveted connections to the tank which should resist any tendency to start rotation. The bases of the posts were anchored to a reinforced concrete floor (The steel tower was built inside of a brick tower.)

 

“There is no doubting of the fact that the removal of bracing is a serious thing, but it is more rational to attribute the failure to lack of provision against this undisputed force of 15,000 lbs., not provided for in the design, than to initial twisting of the tower. There are many, many structures standing whose columns are not as well stiffened as the columns of this tank were before the collapse. The twisting of the tank and tower is easily accounted for. It would be practically impossible for the thing to fail symmetrically. Rotation is the most natural thing to look for after one of the legs of the tower has pushed in the side of the tank. One leg would be expected to fail first, as was the case in this tank.” (Godfrey. Engineering Failures… 1924,  176)

 

The Courant: “Alfred Carl Fuller founded a brush company in Boston in 1906, moved it to Hartford in 1909 and renamed it the Fuller Brush Co. The plant was located on Union Place, and the general offices were on Asylum Street. He moved the plant into a new, three-story factory building at 3580 Main St. on Dec. 19, 1922, and the general offices in February 1923. At the center was a five-story tower, 28 feet square and 113 feet high. A 200-ton, 5,000-gallon water tank for the factory’s sprinkler system was located in the tower’s two upper stories.

 

“Workers filled the tank between March 15 and March 20. At 11:40 a.m. on March 31, the tank fell. It tore out the entire south wall, most of the east and west walls, and the lower half of the north wall. The collapse knocked out gas and water valves and pushed a construction shack off its foundation into the street and against a telephone pole. Rubble scattered about 100 feet from the tower. Along Windsor Avenue it was about a foot deep. The accident killed 11 men….

 

“The water tank was supported by four 24-foot inclined steel columns tied together by four 4-inch channel irons and eight diagonal 1-inch steel braces, or away rods. Company officials planned to build employee classrooms on the lower floors, but the away rods interfered. The supports helped prevent the tank from lateral movement, but the engineers thought that the tower walls would provide enough wind resistance and approved removing the rods. Workers removed them March 30. Unfortunately, the channel irons also had been unfastened. The tank twisted in a clockwise motion before falling. Hartford County coroner J. Gilbert Calhoun said that removing the away rods made disaster a certainty. High winds on March 30 and 31 hastened it.

 

“Paul Sheldon, George L. Mylchreest and Edward J. Vaughn of Buck & Sheldon Engineers of Hartford were charged with manslaughter in connection with the deaths.

 

“In June 1923, Fuller built a new tower that did not include a water tank. Fuller Brush moved to East Hartford in January 1960. The company has been sold and is now located in Kansas. The factory and tower remain a Hartford landmark. The building now houses a variety of businesses.” (The Courant, CT. “Unwise Removal of Rods Led to Fuller Brush Catastrophe.” 1-16-2008.)

 

Newspapers at the Time:

 

March 31:  “Hartford, Conn . March 31 – Five workmen were instantly killed and several others seriously injured shortly after 11 o’clock today when the central tower on the new Windsor avenue factory of the Fuller Brush company collapsed. The weight of a 60,000 gallon water tank at the top of the tower which had been filled for a test was the apparent cause of the crash. The tank weighed about 160 tons.

 

“Police reserves and several fire companies were sent to the scene of the accident to assist in removing the killed and injured from the great heap of debris. One of the dead workmen was found to have been decapitated. The five dead and the men seriously injured were in the employ of the R. G. Bent Co., contractors building the new factory.” (Fitchburg Sentinel, MA. “Five Workmen Killed When Factory Tower at Hartford Collapses.” 3-31-1923, p. 4.)

 

March 31: “Hartford, Conn. March 31 — Bodies of five workmen had been recovered, and search was under way tonight for that of James Bent, vice president of the R. G. Bent Construction Company, at the ruins of the new 160-foot tower at the plant of the Fuller Brush Company, which collapsed this noon.  Just before quitting time at mid-day a steel girder supporting a 50,000 gallon water tank at the top of an ornamental brick and steel tower buckled, the tank crashed down tearing the tower to pieces, and burying workmen beneath the wreckage…

 

“The standing wreckage was razed at 9 o’clock tonight and a corps of workmen began removing the debris.

 

“Meantime State’s Attorney Hugh M. Alcorn and assistants, Building Supervisor Frederick M. Barrett of Hartford and the State and city police departments are conducting their investigations as to responsibility for the tragedy.

 

“The knows dead are:                         Bernard F. Featherstone, East Hartford.

William E. Brownlee, Hartford.

Harry Polanski, Cortland, N.Y.

Melville E. Neal, Hartford [carpenter foreman]

Charles Bingham, Philadelphia.

 

“The missing:                         James Bent, vice president of Bent Company, contractors, Hartford

 

“The injured are.                     John H. Miller, Wilson Station, serious.

Samuel Kelley, Middletown, internal injuries

 

“…The masonry in the factory was completed last fall and today a test was being made to see if the masonry would withstand the weight of the tank.

 

“Twelve men from the main factory climbed out on the great heap of debris and…lifted a girder and took from beneath it two bodies. Then by passing through a door into the tower a third body was found.

 

“Firemen got ropes about the tank and it was pulled down so there would be no further danger from it….

 

“The vibration which came with the collapse broke windows throughout the factory and in the neighborhood.” (Syracuse Herald, NY. “Big Water Tower Collapses.” 4-1-1923, p. 1.)

 

April 2: “Hartford, Conn., April 2. – Another body was taken this morning from the wreckage of the Fuller Brush Co. tower which collapsed Saturday, making eight known dead in the accident….the body was that of a workman…Peter Normandin, an iron worker, of this city. It was believed at least one more body was under the mass of steel and concrete which piled up when the tower collapsed and a 50,000 gallon water tank plunged from the top….

 

“One of those killed was James F. Bent, vice president of the R. G. Bent Co., contractors in charge of the construction of the building and tower….

 

“S. M. McCarter of the McCarter Iron Works, Norristown, Pa., makers of the water tank, visited the scene of the accident this morning…Mr. McCarter said he wanted to correct the impression that the 50,000 gallon tank had given way under test, as it had been filled three weeks ago. He said that his company was to make an independent investigation.

 

“Edward J. Vaughn, a civil engineer for Buck & Sheldon, architects and engineers of the tower, said today that he was in the tower and under the tank about an hour before it fell. He noticed nothing wrong at the time, he said. Buck & Sheldon are to conduct an independent Inquiry as to the cause of the accident.”  (Fitchburg Sentinel, MA. “Locate Another Body in Wreckage of Water Tank.” 4-2-1923, p. 1.)

 

April 2: “Hartford, Conn., April 2, Associated Press — Two bodies were taken Monday from the wreckage of the tower of a new building of the Fuller Brush Company, which collapsed Saturday, making nine known dead.” (San Antonio Express, TX. “Two More Victims of Collapsed Tower Found.” 4-3-1923, p. 3.)

 

April 9: “Hartford, April 9. – Investigations into the cause of the collapse of the Fuller Brush Co. tower on March 31, in which ten lives were lost, entered their second week this morning. These studies have now narrowed down to the hearings being held by Coroner J. Gilbert Calhoun and State’s Attorney Hugh M. Alcorn, who are co-coordinating the results of the half dozen independent investigations instigated by contractors who worked on the tower and city officials.” (Bridgeport Telegram, CT. “2 Probes of Hartford Shop Collapse Still On.” 4-10-1923, p. 2.)

 

April 13:  “Hartford, Conn., April 13 – Paul Sheldon and George Mylchreest, treasurer and vice president respectively of Buck & Sheldon, civil engineers, and Edward J. Vaughn, engineer employed by the firm, were arrested on bench warrants today, charged with causing the deaths of ten men through the collapse of the tower on the factory of the Fuller Brush company on Windsor avenue, March 31. The three were released under $5000 bonds each and the trial has been set for the June term of the criminal court.”  (North Adams Transcript, MA. “Two Arrests at Hartford.” 4-13-1923, p. 1.)

 

Sources

 

Bridgeport Telegram, CT. “2 Probes of Hartford Shop Collapse Still On.” 4-10-1923, p. 2. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=11215329&sterm

 

Connecticuthistory.org. “Fuller Brush Tower Collapses – Today in History: March 31” 3-31-2017. Accessed 1-23-2020 at: https://connecticuthistory.org/fuller-brush-tower-collapses-today-in-history/

 

Fitchburg Sentinel, MA. “Five Workmen Killed When Factory Tower at Hartford Collapses.” 3-31-1923, p. 4. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=29676889&sterm

 

Fitchburg Sentinel, MA. “Locate Another Body in Wreckage of Water Tank.” 4-2-1923, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=29676901&sterm

 

Godfrey, Edward. Engineering Failures and Their Lessons. Pittsburgh, PA: Self-published, 1924. Accessed at: https://archive.org/stream/engineeringfailu00godf#page/n6/mode/1up

 

North Adams Transcript, MA. “Two Arrests at Hartford.” 4-13-1923, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=62197040&sterm

 

San Antonio Express, TX. “Two More Victims of Collapsed Tower Found.” 4-3-1923, p. 3. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=67905077&sterm

 

Syracuse Herald, NY. “Big Water Tower Collapses.” 4-1-1923, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=37431095&sterm

 

The Courant, CT. “Unwise Removal of Rods Led to Fuller Brush Catastrophe.” 1-16-2008. Accessed 3-26-2014 at: http://articles.courant.com/2008-01-16/news/0801150619_1_water-tank-rods-new-tower

 

 

 

 

[1] While possibly a correct death toll, all other sources seen indicate the death toll was ten.