Building-Inspector Detectors To Make Skyscrapers More Affordable
by: Daniel Riehs
SEATLLE—Microbrand Technologies announced Wednesday that they had developed a building-inspector detector to be used in high-rise buildings.
"The detector is programmed to beep when placed in an area of a building that will be inspected sometime in the future," said Travis Steel, CEO of Microbrand, at a recent press conference. "Only installing safety devises in areas that will be inspected will drastically reduce the price of new buildings, and allow them to be built faster and more efficiently."
Steel came up with the idea of an inspector detector following the September 11 tragedy in New York.
"The failure of the World Trade Center buildings was due, in part, to inadequate fireproofing and nonexistent reinforcements in the fire stairs," mentioned Steel. "I was sure that this would prompt legislators to enact tougher building standards, thus raising the cost very tall buildings."
The first test of Steel's system will be in the construction of a 80-floor high-rise office building in Philadelphia. Head contractor Marvin Waters said "With this detector, we should be able to get away with using no more than four gallons of fire-proofing foam on the entire building." He then added, "We're also planning to only install sprinklers on the 27th, 40th, and 52nd floors."
Yesterday, President Bush commended Steel and his company on their "entrepreneurial ingenuity." He pointed out that there "is no practical reason to install safety devises in areas of buildings that will not be examined," and mentioned that the decreased price of new buildings should boost the economy and "aid in the war effort."
When asked how his company was able to invent a devise that could predict the actions of inspectors with such accuracy, Steel only said, "It's very complicated—a lot of stuff about quantum physics and the space-time continuum."
Dennis DeYoung, the former lead singer of Styx, has yet to comment.
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