Tubi Dalmine. Sperimentazioni e brevetti per edifici a struttura metallica - Dalmine's tubes. Experimentations and patents for steel buildings.

Dalmine was already in the first part of 20th century one of the most relevant companies of the Italian steel industry and thanks to the swift reorganization of the production plants and the sales network after the Second World War, participated in the reconstruction process supplying steel tubes that were used in many engineering fields, such as the building of water and oil piping, telecommunications towers and steel scaffolding. In the mid-1950s, the strategy of continuous expansion of the market involved the development of researches on the possible use of tubes in less experimented and potentially profitable sectors. Following the example of some international competitors, such as the German Company Mannessmann or the French Company Escaut et Meuse, that used steel tubes for the structures of their new headquarters, the Italian company began new studies for the construction of “big buildings”, seizing a period of progressive increase of the building activity. In particular, the researches guided by the Carpentry Centre of Dalmine Company and Centre of Studies about Steel Construction, established with the collaboration of the University of Pisa, led to the registration of some patents and the construction of residential and office buildings in the major Italian cities between 1960s and 1970s. This essay aims to retrace the development of studies, experimentations and patents linked to the use of tubes in the building structures with bibliographical and archival references provided by the Dalmine Foundation.