The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1904-10-06
r~-cONcRETH STRUCTURES.

1917
al lmber becomes more scarce
rear 70 year and the price Of lurn-
ber and various Building mater
ials advances, the demand for a
material that is within the reach
Of everyone Is increasing, and
builders are watching with keen
interest the Improvements that
are being made in the methods
for the handling and manipula-
ton Of Portland cement-concfete.
In this substance made up of.
simple materials, which we have
around as in unlimited quantities
we have a building material that
can be nodded in any required
form and which for strength and
durability cannot be excclled.
Walls constructed by the ancient
Romans are still standing and
such portions OF the walls as were
constructed of brick or stone have
long since crumbled away but the.
concrete still stands intact. Ala
most everyone has read W the
famous concrete towers of relana,'
some of which are over 100 feet
in height. "A short time since one
OF these was undermined and
overturned and the force Of the
fall caused il TO embed itself I'M
the soil at least half Of its diane
ter but not the smallest fracture
could be found ON its surface.
No other form of masonry could
have withstood such a shock and
not crumbled into fragments.
AT the present time people are
but just awakening TO the vast
possibilities of this material. Al
building built Of concrete Is warm
in5winter and cool in summer and
is absolutely wind and frost proof
and unlike all other building
material il does not deterioratc
with age but on the contrary the
longer ii stands the stronger il
becomes. In Cincinnati, Ohio,
there is a sky-scraper, known as
the Ingalls, building, under con-
struction. This building is fif-
teen stories high and is being
constructed entirely of concrete,
even the floors being OF this ma
sEriai. ifT the concrete rae nna-
beded twisted steel rods and in
stead Of heavy masonry walls
four or more feet in thickness the
walls Of this building are less
than sixteen inches. This form
of construction, known as the
"Ransome SYSTEM has been
pronounced by eminent engineers
TO be one of the strongest known.
At Bayonne, n. ]. the Pacific
Coast Borax Co. had two immense
ware houses side by side, one
built entirely of concrete with
the exception of the roof, and the
other Of masonry and steel con-
Struction; the contents Of these
buildings were of a highly I'M
tlammable nature and caught fire
and the result of the conhagra-
ton was that the masonry and
steel construction was reduced to
a mass of crumbled stone and
twisted iron while the concrete
building stood intact with the
exception of the roof andanot a
fracture appeared in the walls or
floors.
The great hotels of ST.
Augustine, Fla, the new library
of the Leland Stanford University
of California and the Royal Bank
Of Canada at Havana, Cuba, are
examples of the possibilities of
ornamental concrete construction.
While many examples of con-
crete bridges and arches are in
existence, chief among these are
the ornamental bridges Of "Me-
lam steel concrete construction
in the Eden Park, Cincinnati,
Ohio.
The great secret of concrete
construction, and one that no
structural expert will neglect,
lies in making due allowance for
contraction and expansion. Com
crete when allowed to set in air
will contract slightly; this will
cause cracks to appear on the
face of the wall unless proper
provision is made TO take care Of
il. Any large mass of concrete
having its temperature raised
from any cause, as for instance
the heat from tie sun, will ex-
pand, and unless provision is
made to allow the mass to expand
the result is a buckled and crack
ed wall. While the tensile
strength of Portland cement-con-
crete is slight its resistance to a
crushing strain is immense and
by taking advantage Of these
.s..-In f.-k, k~.,sII.,D. -