Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-01-13

: ne tests were applied In manner
very Instantaneous to the material
: lnder examination probably speci-
mems fairly selected and properly dress
ed for the purpose would have given a
much better result. A stone measur-
ing l9 #. in length, having breadth
of II inches and depth of 7 inches,
was subjected to the strain arising from
suspending it by chain passing once
around its centre of gravity, it being
otherwise entirely unsupported; it
was lifted from its bed in this way and
showed no sign Of weakness or Of
bending during the operation. OBJ
serving block which appeared scaly
and otherwise defective we attacked it
at what seemed its most vulnerable
points with heavy stone-hammer but
only succeeded in separating some very
small fragments. Taking a few small
pieces which seemed fairly to represent
the average stone of the quarry, We
submitted them to the following Or
deals: Several of them were strongly
heated before the blow-pipe and plung-
ed, while at the highest temperature
attainable by this means, into cold wa
ter, and this alternate heating and
cooling was repeated until the stone
was wholly disintegrated Two such
operations produced no perceptible eff
feet; signs of crambling appeared af-
ter the third, while fourth and in
some cases a fifth were necessary to
complete the destruction of the stone.
Several pieces were heated by being
laid upon common kitchen stove in
which brisk fire was burning and al
lowed to remain there from half to
three-quarters of an hour; they were
then cooled by being thrown out of
doors, the thermometer marking "a
degrees Fab at the time this opera
ton was also repeated several times
and failed to produce any alteration or
weakening texture. Other pieces were
soaked in bot water until they had alb
sorbed as much Of the fluid as posi-
bic and were then exposed to a cold
equal to zero Fab this treatment
also was several times repeated without
producing any effect. We must not
omit to mention that the conducting
power of the stone is very low as was
shown by the following circumstance
after heating piece before the blow
pipe and cooling it as detailed above,
it was observed upon second heating
that while the point subjected to the
direct action Of the jet was white hot,
another point not more than haitian
inch distant from it remained quite
damp and cool; piece containing not
more than is Gu. inch was held be-
tween the fingers while subjected to
the blowpipe flame without inconven-
fence.
4 block which at the time Of our
visit was being dressed for base to
monument afforded an excellent OPP
portunity of seeing the stone dressed
at various angles This block was
about 5 feet square by Is inches deep;
its top and bottom surfaces were Of
course parallel with each other, the
sides made angles of about So degrees
with them and Of 80 degrees with each
other, while bevel Of 45 degrees ran
around the upper edge ; all these va
rious angles we're straight and true
throughout there was no sign of
splintering, or that any crookedness of
grain had prevented the workman from
working true corners in any part of
the block.
TO sum up, this stone is first, easily
accessible ID it can be obtained in
any quantity and of any required di-
mansions; Sd, the action of frost has
very little effect upon it; 4th, it resists
sudden. changes of temperature in a
very remarkable degree 9Th, its pow
er of conducting heat is very small so
that walls built of it would afford q
good degree of protection in case o.
fire on either side; 9th, it has no ten
dency whatever to scale either during
or after the process of working; 7th,
it can be dressed to any required an
gle, retaining constantly sharp true
edge; 9Th, it will carry with safety a
weight Of over three tons per superb
cial INCH, add finally, the position of
the LAYERS forming the quarry is the