The construction went like a clockwork because it had been organized carefully for maximum efficiency. As soon as final plans were drawn for the ground floors, orders went out to the steels mills for materials. Architects then drew plans for the next floor. The drawings for the 80th floor were not completed until the time the steel frame of the ground floor was being built.
The steel for the frame was poured and set into girders in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. With military precision the girders were then sped to a waterfront supply yard in Bayonne, New Jersey, hauled by barge to Manhattan, and trucked to the building site, lifted in bundles on cobweb-like cables, and set in place. Each beam was marked with its precise location in the giant frame. Often the whole process took a mere 80 hours.
Because of lack of storage space along the narrow New York sidewalks, the supplying of building materials had to be synchronized to fit precisely with the [L3 425 / pace of construction]. Everything possible - windows, [G 14 / spandrels], steel strips, even slabs of stone - was fabricated at the site of origin in cities around the country, indeed around the world, and shipped in quantity to be installed, as if on an assembly line, without further hand fitting or stone cutting. Today the Japanese are noted for this super-efficient approach to manufacturing, known as kanban, in which
needed parts arrive at the factory just in time to be assembled into the final product.
[L3 426 / Trucks drove into the Empire State Building site] at ground level and unloaded the materials - everything but the steel, which was handled by hoists - into 20 rail cars. The cars glided on tracks on to specially designed temporary elevators, which carried them to the proper floors. Tracks, shunts and turntables had been installed on each floor - the materials were deposited right at the worker's elbows. The system was orderly and safe; it kept wastage to a minimum and allowed New York to get on with its business without blocked streets or sidewalks.
THE STEELWORKERS:
The immense pieces of steel were handled and assembled by various gangs of [L3 427 / steelworkers] - as many as 300 men. All of the [L3 303 / support services] they needed were provided including food, water and even medical care.
Working below ground level were the [G 08 / foundation] men, who drove the [G 12 / piers] through the [G 02 / bedrock] and placed the [G 03 / columns] on the foundation.
The derrick men operated the hoists that lifted the massive steel beams into place. The hoisting gang on the ground attached cables to the piles of beams. The hoist engineer, taking his signals from the bellman, then controlled the cable to lift the load. Another gang steered and shifted the load into place. Connecters then brought the beams and columns together, ready for the riveters to go to work.
A total of 16 electric derricks were used in construction. These were equipped with a new invention - automatic hoists. Such hoists were added because of an accident that occurred during the construction of the Chrysler Building. A derrick operator was knocked unconscious by a flying brick and had dropped his bundle of steel. The automatic hoists prevented this from occurring. Even so, 14 men were killed in various [L3 428 / accidents] during construction.
[L3 304 / Riveting gangs] worked in well-organized teams, like acrobats in the circus. The man known as the heater (or passer) heated the rivets in a forge, then tossed them to the upper floor. There the rivets were scooped out of the air by the catcher, who used a tin bucket. The bucker-up jammed the red-hot rivet into a hole in the steel and held it there while the riveter, or gun-man, drove the bolt home with a pneumatic gun. The rivets were carried to the gang by bolt boys, many of whom dreamed one day of joining the team.
After the columns and beams were in place, a plumber-up would drop a bob to measure their straightness. Finally, a safety man climbed on every part of the structure looking for loose boards, stray wires or forgotten tools.
In addition to the tradesmen - carpenters, bricklayers, electricians, plumbers, heating and ventilating men - there were inspectors, foremen, checkers, clerks and even men with watering cans to settle the dust.
The entire steel structure took a mere 25 weeks to build.
