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When steel was developed as a logical upgrade to iron, its innate strength was such an outstanding feature that long pieces, which we know as beams or girders, were initially produced with a rectangular profile, just like wooden beams. Wood can’t be shaped and molded in the same way, so it took a particular individual’s progressive mind to realize steel can benefit from such a process.
That person was a Belgian engineer by the name of Alphonse Albou, who patented the i-beam in 1849, and it made its high-profile debut in the Rand McNally building in Chicago in 1889. This was an early example of a steel framed building, a high-rise structure that housed everything from offices to a bank and an opera house. Although modest by today’s standards, it was remarkable in its day, and the i-beam was crucial in its design.
In the English alphabet, traditionally the capital I was a downstroke with narrow horizontals at the top and bottom. Over the years, with the advent of printing and development of different typefaces (also known as fonts) this distinctive style has been replaced in many cases by a simple downstroke (which can lead to confusion with a lower case L, for instance) but the i-beam is in that original style and can therefore only really be seen as a cross-section. It has nothing to do with the computer age, specifically the Apple company, use of the lowercase i, as in iPad, iPhone, and when seen from the side or diagonally from underneath, as beams often are, what we see are a top lip, a bottom lip and a middle section.
Whatever the visual characteristics of the i-beam, the practical result is an increase in strength through resistance to bending, and it has become indispensable in the construction world.
Strength is one of the prime qualities of prefabricated steel buildings, and the i-beam plays a vital role in that. The way metal buildings work is that a frame is constructed in the basic shape of the end product and the walls and roof are fitted to the frame. The frame bears all the weight and is responsible for the integrity of the building. The interlocking steel panels that make up the walls and roof add some rigidity, but it is the frame that determines its overall strength, in the same way as the skeleton in the animal world determines the body shape while the flesh, muscles etc. are practical additions.
In many cases i-beams can be used to support whole steel buildings, making columns, pillars and poles unnecessary. This has many advantages depending on what a building is used for. Most people know how annoying it is to be seated behind a column in a theatre, religious building or some other public edifice. You get a restricted view. Although in very old buildings – notably in Ancient Greece – columns were inevitable and therefore designed with elaborations that made them attractive elements of the building, in the modern age they are intrusive and inconvenient.
Even in purely practical buildings such as warehouses and hangars, pillars and posts just get in the way, so if the support can be handled purely by i-beams and some intelligent design, so much the better. While decorative columns once served a purpose, modern steel design offers open, unobstructed interiors without the need for such features.
Using i-beams instead of columns and pillars makes sense in other kinds of prefabricated steel buildings, too. In agricultural buildings such as barns and livestock buildings, owners want to create distinct areas in sizes and shapes that suit them, not to have the layout dictated by the presence of poles that are holding the roof up.
Can Your Project Rely Solely on i-beams?
Every project is different. If you were buying or renting an existing building you would have to work around what was there, but if it is yours, designed for your particular needs, you can have it exactly as you want in the first place. That is why we encourage clients to talk to us about their project, their industry, the challenges they need to avoid and the advantages they want to have built-in. Our designers will apply their wealth of talent and experience to your parameters and preferences, and the mighty i-beam will play a key role in the design.
As the leading metal building company, we ship direct from factory, which means that we provide the very best pricing in the industry for all types of projects – from residential, to commercial, agricultural, and more.
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1100 Park Central Blvd S, Ste 2410, Pompano Beach, FL 33064
