Foundation

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

act of founding or fixing the base; the base of an edifice; ; rise; origin; that part of a original building which rests on the ground; the base or groundwork of anything; establishment. A donation or legacy to support an institution; an established revenue, particularly for charity; . a endowment; settlement; institution In architecture, the word foundation to the surface or may be applied either bed on which a building rests, or to the lower part of the building which rests on the natural bed. (1) Foundation as the bed. The best that can be had is solid rock, or any kind of resisting incompres- Where sible stratum, free from water. there is no chance of water, sand forms a solid foundation. When the soil is soft, loose, and shifting, a solid bearing can be obtained only by driving piles or long at the end beams of wood sharpened , through the soft soil, till they reach a or hard bottom. This is then planked sulaid with cross beams, on which the perstructure is built. The piers of many bridges are formed in this manner. shifting Where the soil is soft, but not , as in the case of made or deposited earth, the method of converting is adoptedlaid with broken i. e., a large surface is metal or gravel, and run together with hot lime, so as to form a broad, solid, artificial rock, on which the building may rest. (2) Foundation as the base of the larger the building. The broader and , the lower course of the mason work should, if stronger the wall. The stones possible, extend through and through, each side of the wall. and project on The Romans formed solid bearings of . In the dark concrete as above described when there want of knowledge combined with want of materials and means, many buildings fell from the yielding of the foundations. But knowledge came with experience, and the foundations of later buildings, during the 14th and 15th centuries, were built with virgin soil; the extreme care, and on the stones being as finely dressed as those above ground, were necessary to resist a strong thrust. FOUNDING. Act of casting metals.