Lally column From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A lally column is round thin walled structural steel column oriented vertically to provide support to beams or timbers stretching over long spans. A lally column is filled with concrete to prevent buckling. The advantage of a lally column over conventional structural steel is the ability to cut it to length on a construction site with simple hand tools such as a plumber’s pipe cutter. Lally columns are generally not as strong or durable as conventional structural steel columns. The term “lally column” is sometimes incorrectly used in reference to other types of prefabricated steel columns1.
The lally column is named after an U. S. inventor, John Lally, who owned a construction company that started production of these columns in the late 19th century. He resided in Waltham, Massachusetts and Boston during the period 1898 through 1907. He was issued four U. S. Patents on composite columns: #61472, #869869, #901453,and #905888. Pat. #869869 was assigned to the U. S. Column Company of Cambridge, MA.