corrugated iron sheet

MT Hopper

MT Hopper

MT Hopper
Sep 9, 2007
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Winnipeg, MB., CANADA
Can anyone tell me the width and lengths corrugated iron siding was available in during the 1930's and 1940's? Even the Corrugated Iron Club (Yes there was such a club) didn't post width and length dimensions.
I am guessing that the siding during the time period I'm looking at would have been the 1" pitch "ripple iron" siding with 3" pitch for the roof.
As to sheet widths and lengths I have seen 3 foot by 6ft,8ft,12ft long and 16ft. I have also seen 26inch width by 10ft long. Then there's 35inch width by 12ft long!
The trouble is I suspect some of these dimensions are too modern for my chosen time period. I am trying to find a size to use on the side and roof of a Cuban sugar mill model circa 1930 - 1949.
Cheers
MT Hopper
 
M

MasonJar

It's not rocket surgery
Oct 31, 2002
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Maybe if the CIC has some weight data, you could work out what a panel of each size weighs and judge whether that's reasonable for manual labour to handle...?

The Library of Congress plans & blueprints (link in Plans & Blueprints forum) might have some details aw well...

Andrew
 
MT Hopper

MT Hopper

MT Hopper
Sep 9, 2007
118
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16
Winnipeg, MB., CANADA
Hello CIDCHASE and Mountain Man,
I also wouldn't be surprised to find a "ripple counter". With my luck such a person would show up after I'd spent months building the mill and it would go something like......"Say, Cute mill. But did you know that in Cuba in 1937 they changed from 1 inch ripple siding to 2 inch? Oh and by the way they changed the galvanizng so it weathered differently.Did I mention that Ricardo Ronaldo Jorge Smith retired and that Tomas Tiberius Eduardo Jones took over as head purchaser?",....followed by the sound of my eyelids slamming shut as my acoustic input devices switch off.
Sorry chaps. As you can tell I've had the "once bitten twice shy" experience.
Cheers from the Heart of the Continent
MT Hopper
 
MT Hopper

MT Hopper

MT Hopper
Sep 9, 2007
118
0
16
Winnipeg, MB., CANADA
ps
In their defence I will credit the "ripple counters" with spurring me on to try and make my models more accurate or at least more credible. My objection is, if they are such founts of knowledge how come they aren't sharing in forums such as this one?
(Read with tongue in cheek). Now I shall continue my exploratory journey of the prevelance of cocco thrinax in Cuba plus the variations in the plants morphology dependant upon regional location.
Cheers from the Heart of the Continent
MT Hopper
 
MT Hopper

MT Hopper

MT Hopper
Sep 9, 2007
118
0
16
Winnipeg, MB., CANADA
DeckRoid said:
Here is a nice article that might help out... didnt read it all...

http://www.heritage.nsw.gov.au/docs/events/warr_a.pdf

Here is another...

http://www.abp.unimelb.edu.au/staff...ilding/pdfs/metals/metals-corrugated-iron.pdf

That one does say what dimensions were available in Australlia. I am thinking Cuba might have had the same stock available?

George
Click to expand...
Thank you useful information indeed. The second cited instance points out the problems with regard to pitch and sheet size. It acknowledges the problem with American sizing. I should imagine that the American sheeting would be the source for Cuban Mills of the period.
Cheers from the Heart of the Continent
MT Hopper
 
Canopus

Canopus

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Mar 16, 2006
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I spent a long time researching some corrugated iron and asbestos buildings nearby for a prototype layout that I was going to build. The buildings ranged from early 1930s to late 70s. I measured a bunch of the sheets to figure out what materials I'd need to buy to scratchbuild them. You can buy corrugated styrene sheets in various corrugation sizes.

I found that your average, joe blow corrugated iron sheet was 6 foot 6 inches by 3 foot, and that the average corrugated asbestos sheet was 7 foot by 3 foot. The corrugated iron sheets overlapped eachother by one or two corrugations, and the next row above it overlapped the row below it by 6 inches. The corrugated asbestos was basically the same. The largest sheets I've ever found were on the side of a 1943 rotary kiln building, and they were 8 and a half foot long by 4 feet wide.

It seems that a lot of these sheets were cut to size in awkward places like gable ends, or over awkward spans that were too small for two standard sheets but too large for one.

I also found that with corrugated asbestos the older the building, the smaller the corrugations were, with 2 inch corrugations being common during world war 2. 3 to 6 inch corrugations were more common to industrial buildings and the larger corrugations only seem to exist in asbestos form. The largest iron corrugations I've seen were on a garage roof, and they were 4 inch. As far as I know the corrugations were designed to add structural strength to the sheets without adding too much weight, and the size of the corrugations depended on factors like roof surface area, rain runoff, number of battens, loadings, etc. So I'd say a larger building would want larger corrugations to reduce weight and increase rain runoff. Just a guess though.

In my experience of measuring prototype structures for modelling, the vast majority of buildings with corrugated roofs and sides have had 3 inch corrugations, and 6'6" by 3' sheets.
 
MT Hopper

MT Hopper

MT Hopper
Sep 9, 2007
118
0
16
Winnipeg, MB., CANADA
Canopus, thanks for your help. I was beginning to suspect the 3 foot wide would be proper for a pre 1950s Cuban mill but was uncertain about the length. If I am lucky through a friend of a friend I should at least get a photo of a person ( of known height) smack up against the sheeting on the Pepito Tey mill . I can only imagine what he thinks about this odd request from a loco hombre del Norte, pero viva el vapor!
Cheers from the Heart of the Continent
MT
 
Canopus

Canopus

Member
Mar 16, 2006
208
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Cornwall UK
MT Hopper said:
Canopus, thanks for your help. I was beginning to suspect the 3 foot wide would be proper for a pre 1950s Cuban mill but was uncertain about the length. If I am lucky through a friend of a friend I should at least get a photo of a person ( of known height) smack up against the sheeting on the Pepito Tey mill . I can only imagine what he thinks about this odd request from a loco hombre del Norte, pero viva el vapor!
Cheers from the Heart of the Continent
MT
Click to expand...

Generally speaking if you just keep the sheets to about 6 foot by 3 foot nobody will question it. I don't doubt that in Cuba they use whatever sheets they can get!
 
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