After a long string of accomplishments Ransome continued to meet with skepticism and resistance . His techniques were vindicated when his 1897 '' ' Pacific Coast Borax Refinery ' '' in Bayonne , NJ in 1902 went through a massive building fire hot enough to melt brass ; the concrete frame was only slightly damaged and thereby concrete framed industrial architecture was shown to have a key superiority over competing steel and iron framed structures . Likewise Ransome 's two experimental buildings at Stanford survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake essentially without damage while the university 's newer , conventional brick structures literally crumbled around them . The published analysis of these two buildings by fellow engineer John B. Leonard did much to advance the safety of buildings in post-1906 San Francisco and nationwide . In his later career Ransome focused on mixing equipment , formwork , and integrated building systems . In 1912 Ransome and Alexis Saurbrey co-authored '' Reinforced Concrete Buildings '' . Ransome 's son was the notable American geologist Frederick Leslie Ransome ( 1868-1935 ) .
1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
Ernest L. Ransome