The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-07-21

are yet to be built of this material. the
veteran inventors words have already
proved themselves true. Not only that, but
some big jobs Of this sort are being done
with much expedition and expertly. The
church in Brooklyn has been instanced
Church.
The passer-by will find it difficult to realize
that this structure is not a stone one. As
II stands 1t has cost only from a third to a
half what stone would. and yet there it is.
! pile of nicely fooled light gray blocks that
looks as much like stone as stone itself.
The church is an excellent example of
cement building in its complicated form. 1t
lacked only cement roof. the final triumph
OF the concrete builders art. The design
! called. however. for such an irregular roof
| that one of timber became necessary.
The Nassau County jail and Courthouse.
at Alineoia, L. l.. have both cement roofs
as well as walls. The roof of the latter is
somewhat extraordinary piece of concrete
work; 1t measuring i15 feet by IS feet. and
including dome IS feet by 80 feet. its apex
70 feet in the air. This shows what may be
done with this material that is only now
| coming effectively into use
~ How Buildings Are "Poured.''
The story of the way cement. or concrete.
walls are huilt gives the key to this new art
that Edison prophesies about. The forms. or
mods, are set up on the foundations-panels
Chat is, lengths of boards raised up to a
height Of about three feet, standards or
crosspieces that buckle these boards togeth-
er tightly. The standards reach up some
lctl tH0Il the pdIleiS- mus. Wnon
made ready. there is long wooden trench.
Its inner measurement the exact dimensions
of the wall that is to be constructed.
A staging is built alongside, and upon this
barrows of concrete are brought up from
the mixer They are poured over into the
trench" and pounded down until nearly
crete is so mixed that night will harden
Early thu. following morning carpenters
build up the panels another three feet,
StlCkIinp them together fha Of tho
standards. As matter Of precaution the
panels of the day before are left in place
are taken out and put in place above for
the third days work. And SO the wall goes
up. three feet day. say. with standards
viselike grip the work Of Yesterday yesterday and d
that of to-day. wooden trench that
mounts higher and yet higher into the air.
BILE wooden trench is invariably the sys-
TEN. Sometimes the circumstances Of build
. ing vary the method. On occasions. as in
the @
is a much greater depth of panels. a
trench" or form, that is far deeper than
three feet. But the general principle re-
Strengthening Concrete.
Pillars and columns and foundations are
nodded in like manner. the concrete poured
ctsely the size and shape desired. The inner
surfaces of. the boards are smeared with
sui sOdp. ana dlteT concrete or cement
has firmly set few smart blows with a
hammer knock them away Clearly. tsaving
the pier intact. The grain elevator at But
falo. very typical specimen. carries the
enormous weight it is designed to support
on a pile foundation with cement columns
of twelve feet centering upon 1t. and ce-
ment floor beams extending from these
thirty-six inches deep.
Making floors in this new direction Of
building is curious operation. There are
number of processes applied. all with the
design of Strengthening. Concrete as a
building material is strong in COMPRESSION,
but weak in tension. Thus in constructing
these floors that are to carry heavy weights
and in wall building well one plan is to
embed in the cement tension rods or bind
ers. len.ths of twisted iron or steel that
will take the tension from the artificial
stone.
These rods to the number of many
dozen. are laid in the concrete as it is being
heaped up. They are not Joined together,
but simply spread out loosely. The concrete
biting into them. makes them part of its
mass, a solid structure that takes up a
good portion Of the strain.
1t is quite easv to mold ornaments as
1t is a plain wall. Sometimes the forms are
built so that holdings of these ornaments
are part of the wall itself. But for very
artistic and finely decorative effects the
ornaments are nodded in separate pieces,
are molGS OF statuary.